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From: "Barbara Wylie" <>
Subject: Tombstones as Proof?
Date: Tue, 21 Feb 2006 13:23:17 -0600

My 3rd great grandfather is buried on a small family plot in southern
Missouri, along with his Sweet Young Thing and her son. Court records show
that he was accused of adultery but the case was quashed. Her probate file
clearly calls her Jane Mize; the two children born after her husband died
used the surname Mize. Her original gravestone identified her as Jane Mize.



Several decades later, a falling tree destroyed her tombstone. Even later,
one of her descendants replaced the broken stone with one that identified
her as Jane Brixey. It was an innocent--though uninformed--mistake. His
grandmother had told him that the only graves in the little cemetery were
those of her father, mother and half-brother. The debris of the original
stone had been removed and he assumed that her parents had married. He felt
rather sheepish when he learned of his error but, as far as I know, that
gravestone still stands. At least one cemetery book has been published since
the new stone was erected.



Just one example that what's carved in stone isn't always true!



Barbara Brixey Wylie

This thread:

• Tombstones as Proof? by "Barbara Wylie" <>