Unfortunate Events - Two

This is another walk that should take less than an hour that you can take to visit the final resting places of local residents who long ago met unfortunate ends.  All of these stops are located to the right of the road running up the hill by the chapel.  Some are on the side of the hill, others further on.  A map, either from this blog or from the cemetery office will be very helpful.  As you search for the stops, be sure to look around you.  There are many, many interesting headstones and monuments, and if you keep a sharp eye you'll see all sorts of birds (including turkeys) and animals, from woodchucks and fox to white tailed deer.

As always, watch your step, as there are uneven places and animal burrows, and don't lean or, sit on, or step on old stones. Safety first!

One quick note, my walks are mostly centered on folks who traveled "to the land beyond" a hundred years ago or more.  There are a couple reasons for this choice.  First off, the old monuments and headstones tend to be more interesting than modern markers.  But also I am interested in relating historical stories, and do not want to stir up any unhappiness in visitors who might remember the person buried beneath the stone.

1. Alice Crosby (block 30) It's impossible to miss the pretty marble column topped by a girl with a scroll and anchor, pointing (with a missing finger) toward heaven.  Alice was the daughter of a wealthy family, sent East to boarding school when she passed away after having contracted scarlet fever.

2. Forbice Simpson (block 31) The Simpson monument is an attractive red granite column, topped with a sphere. The Simpsons were from Scotland. She and her husband James were asphyxiated by fumes from their kitchen stove.

3. Albert Kalvelage (block 33) The Kalvalege monument is a large gray granite rectangle, topped with a shape that looks something like a roof. Albert studied law, and was the official court reporter in Janesville.  He apparently was distraught after the accidental death of his young daughter, and he took his own life by both jumping off a bridge into the Rock River and shooting himself.

4. James Monroe Edwards (block 33) The Edwards family monument is also a gray granite stone shaped a little like a house, and there is a palm leaf inscribed around the initial "E." James worked on the railroad. He slipped and fell between a caboose and a freight car on the Madison to Milwaukee line and later died of lock-jaw.

5. Dr. William Judd (block 38) The Judd family monument is still another good-sized gray granite rectangle with a slanting top.  Dr. William Judd, one of a family of several physicians, was accidentally killed in an automobile accident.  He was struck in the street by young Robert Bliss.

6. Rose Allen (block 40) Mrs. Allen's headstone is a small gray granite one.  She was killed in Solon Springs, hit by a train when she went to the station to meet her daughter. The newspaper said there were two trains coming, and when she stepped out of the way of one, she was hit by the other.

7. Ellen Addy (block 48) A large gray monument marks Ellen Addy's final resting place.  Her story is a sad one, and not the only one like it at Oak Hill.  The elderly woman was a widow, residing alone, her children all living out of town.  She was found on the floor in her night clothes, covered in coal dust.  She had been trying to rebuild her fire when she collapsed.  Though friends found her while she still lived, she died soon after.

8. Humphrey Roberts (block 60) Another gray granite monument, this one with a curved top, serves the Roberts family.  Humphrey was shot and killed in the farm of J.C. Jenkins.

9. Amy Yeo (block 64) This time you are looking for a narrow four-sided column, under some pine trees, not far from a road leading up the hill.  Mrs. Yeo, also a widow, was somehow injured on her foot, and died two months later of gangrene.

10. Benjamin Franklin Downing (block 65) The white marble Downing monument is nearby, on the side of the hill.  You will spot it easily, because the smaller monument to their young daughters has fallen off its base and is propped up. Downing, originally from Pennsylvania, was fatally injured on his farm during a wind storm.  The heavy door of his barn blew violently against him and fractured his skull. Years later his wife was seriously injured on a railroad accident, which left her an invalid, until she finally succumbed to the effects of a stroke.

Interested in learning more? Visit Find a Grave, Oak Hill, Janesville, and type the name of whoever you want in the search box.  All of these people have photos of headstones, and often more information.