Tombstone Tuesday : Henry Pierce Family Plot

Source: Maplewood Cemetery (Anderson, Madison County, Indiana), Pierce family plot, photographed by Travis LeMaster, 23 June 2009.

The PIERCE family plot in the Maplewood Cemetery in Anderson, Madison County, Indiana contains the following stones: Eva PIERCE (1877-1949), Frank PIERCE (1862-1919), Simeathy PIERCE (1834-1918) and Henry E. PIERCE (1833-1901).

Source: Maplewood Cemetery (Anderson, Madison County, Indiana), Eva Pierce marker, photographed by Travis LeMaster, 23 June 2009.

Eva PIERCE was born June 21, 1877, probably in Madison County, Indiana, the daughter of Henry Eldred and Simeathy (SMELSOR) PIERCE.  Eva died in 1942.  Nothing further is known at this time.

Source: Maplewood Cemetery (Anderson, Madison County, Indiana), Frank Pierce marker, photographed by Travis LeMaster, 23 June 2009.

Franklin T. PIERCE was born August 21, 1861, probably in Madison County, Indiana, the son of Henry Eldred and Simeathy (SMELSOR) PIERCE.  He died in 1919.  Nothing further is known at this time.

Source: Maplewood Cemetery (Anderson, Madison County, Indiana), Simeathy Pierce marker, photographed by Travis LeMaster, 23 June 2009.

Simeathy (SMELSOR) PIERCE was born in 1834 in Indiana, to unknown parentage.  She married Henry Eldred PIERCE on February 14, 1855.  They resided in Lafayette Township, Madison County, Indiana.  Simeathy died in 1918.

Source: Maplewood Cemetery (Anderson, Madison County, Indiana), Henry E. Pierce marker, photographed by Travis LeMaster, 23 June 2009.

Henry Eldred PIERCE was born October 10, 1833 in Piqua, Miami County, Ohio, the son of Francis S. and Rebecca (PAGE) PIERCE.  He and Simeathy raised six children in Lafayette Township, Madison County, Indiana.  Henry died in 1901.

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Henry was the older brother of my Edmund G. PIERCE, and I have much more to discover about his family.  

Tombstone Tuesday – To participate in Tombstone Tuesday simply create a post which includes an image of a gravestone of one or more ancestors and it may also include a brief description of the image or the ancestor. This is an ongoing series at GeneaBloggers.

Heritage For Sale

I put your family heritage on eBay today. I’m hoping to get top dollar.  I struggled with the idea at first, but in the end I succumbed to my capitalistic urges.  Because I would never want to have my own heritage up for sale, I thought I would warn others so they don’t suffer the same fate as your ancestors.

I bought the photos of your great-grandparents and relatives, including the little baby in the casket, at the local auction house.  You see, I truly enjoy going to auctions and estate sales.  It’s part of the same pack-rat, “collector” mentality that draws me to genealogy.  What drew me to this sale was the fact that I knew your parents, and the local memorabilia and ephemera was simply too much for me to resist.  I made an emotional purchase, taking all of the box lots containing your family photos, scrapbooks and other newspaper clippings.  I told myself that I wanted to preserve the local history – keeping it out of the hands of the flea market dealers.  But in the end, I realized that it was not my responsibility to preserve your heritage.

Oh, I struggled with the decision to sell the photos – they were the types of photos I wish I had of my own ancestors.  Most of them were even labeled!  I found myself on Ancestry.com, searching your ancestry instead of my own.  When I reached that point I knew that I needed to purge myself of these extraneous photos.

I don’t know why your family wasn’t interested in preserving these family heirlooms.  To me, knowing they exist and not having them would create a void I would yearn to fill.  Perhaps someday, one of your descendants or an extended family member will be interested in genealogy.  Maybe they’ll ask you if there are any old photos lying around.  You’ll have to be the one to break their heart and tell them that all the pictures were sold at an auction.

The genealogist in me wouldn’t let them go into the night without trying to preserve them in some manner.  I made scans of all of them and uploaded them onto the website, DeadFred.com before placing the originals for sale.  At least this way, they will be preserved in some manner.  I may even contact your cousins on Ancestry.com and email them digital scans as well.  That should keep me from feeling too guilty.

So the next time you eat at the local Cracker Barrel, and you see someone on the wall who looks familiar – it may just be your family.

A Matter of Perspective

Had a good visit with my mom's cousin and his wife today, and was able to take my Flip-Pal scanner with me on the road to capture scans of some great photographs, some of which my mother had never seen.  Of great interest were the photos of my grandfather in military uniform, as well as those of my grandmother when she was younger.

William Lee "Johnny Bill" Wright, Florida, c. 1944

My cousin even had some older photos from generations that he was not familiar with, including one of my 4th-great grandmother and her family, taken on her 81st birthday, January 9, 1914 in Norton, Kansas.  She died on March 9th of that same year.

Residence of Hannah Mills Poe, Norton, Kansas on her 81st birthday, January 9, 1914

There were also photographs that came from his grandparents family, my-great grandparents, and thus I was greatly interested in hearing some of the family stories.


One thing that I've learned is that so much of family history is a matter of perspective.  The way someone views a family member and the legends that develop and get passed down are colored by the perspective of the teller.  It is interesting to get a point of view from a different family who may have differing insight into why someone behaved the way they did.


I was able to sit back and observe, letting my mother and dad and mom's cousin and wife talk about people, places and events without interrupting them too much.  It definitely gave me insight, and fodder for future questions to ask about the family.