Vacation Time

I wanted to update you that I will be away for a few weeks on a little vacation to Costa Rica! Hope to have a post by the end of November! Thank you!

Tombstone Tuesday ~ Kolb

The sign posted in the Dublin Cemetery, Dublin, Alameda, California for the Kolb Family. It reads as follows:

"Kolb Family~The Kolb Family settled in Dublin in the 1870's. George Kolb operated the General Store and farmed. His sons Edwin and Harold also ranched and farmed. Harold (H.W. Kolb) was a trustee for the Murray School District for 17 years and was a noted authority of local history."

Below are the headstones for Edwin, Harold and William Kolb along with pertinent information regarding them.

I recently posted about Margaret Kolb (she was married into this family) who I unexpectedly ran across in this cemetery the day I came to visit and take pictures. I knew Margaret. The link to the post regarding that find is below.

http://graveyardrabbitofsouthalamedaco.blogspot.com/2009/09/tombstone-tuesday-kolb.html

Happy First Birthday to GYR of South Alameda Co!

It has come to my attention that today is the first birthday of this blog! A year? Really? Wow!

I have to admit that I have been rather busy and feel quite bad that there haven't been many posts here lately. Sometimes life just seems to get in the way, doesn't it? Even though I retired (basically) as of last January, I have found that my days have really filled up. The traditional "work week" Monday through Friday has been well filled for me again. Although I am not "officially" working, I am doing "jobs" now I truly enjoy.

Some of this has entailed quite a bit of learning and has been time consuming for me also. Progress has been made and I am looking forward to having more of a "set" schedule very soon, so I can spend more time blogging again!

I thank you for following this blog! I am anxious to start blogging for the second year!

Happy First Birthday to Graveyard Rabbit of South Alameda County!

Wordless Wednesday ~ Something Different-Costa Rica

Tombstone Tuesday ~ Flanagan

This stone is in the Dublin Pioneer Cemetery. I like the scroll announcing the burials. Those buried here are:

Kate Flanagan - Died May 4, 1914

John Flanagan - Died June 2, 1915

Eva Mary Flanagan - Died October 10, 1951

There is a Flanagan Lane in Dublin and knowing that many of Dublin's early settlers are buried in this cemetery, we can be rest assured John and Kate were a part of Dublin's beginnings. I found there was a John Flanagan who was a trustee for the school district, with a wife known as Lizzie around the 1890 time frame.

The Flanagan Plot is in Section A, Row 6. It looks as if Mother, Father and another Eva are also buried there. I could not find their death dates.

Oak Knoll Cemetery - Part 10 - The Secret

William Mendenhall was Gregg’s great-great-great-grandfather. Descending downward, there is an Asa V. Mendenhall, whose son was Gregg’s grandfather. One day, Gregg (who shared this story with me), his mother and grandmother attempted to visit the family grave sites at Roselawn Cemetery. The three drove several miles to get to the cemetery, not one of them lived in Livermore. So very disappointed were they to find the cemetery gates were locked. The grandmother, I am sure was reminiscing a bit while sitting in the car. She stated that when Asa passed away, they was very poor. The family did not have the money to bury him properly in the cemetery, and had to take care of things themselves. One night, in the middle of the night when no one would be able to see them, she and her husband, Asa’s son, went to the cemetery and buried Asa’s urn outside the cemetery fence!

So, somewhere outside the cemetery, a Mendenhall is buried. When Gregg first came to the cemetery and we met, he had stated to me that he wasn’t doing so well. The reason was because there has been a lot of construction done on two sides of the cemetery, which surprised and disappointed him. One day he hoped to try to find Asa’s urn. His mind told him that the two areas where there had been construction, was where Asa would have been buried. Although I hadn’t been in the car when this story was told, I felt that Asa might have been buried in a different area. If I were his family burying him, I would want to bury him as close as possible to the rest of the family, which would be one of the other two sides of the cemetery. One of those sides would be the main road, so someone could have seen the family digging around. The other side though was off the main road and closest to the family plot, and it has basically been untouched. What were the parameters of the cemetery when Asa was buried? Could they have changed?

Gregg is looking for permission to poke around a bit to see if Asa’s urn can be found. This is one of the main reasons for bringing this story forward. Can you imagine, a Mendenhall being secretly buried outside the cemetery in Livermore? The three of us had discussion on how to proceed, and Jeff was going to look into a few things.

Gregg and I spent the majority of the day together. Jeff invited us to an opening of the old historical garage which we attended and was quite fascinating. From there, I was able to show Gregg Mendenhall Middle School. We drove to the grounds of the Oak Knoll Cemetery and walked the area together. We had lunch. We talked and talked and talked. I have learned so much, and hope this fascinating story doesn’t end here.

I did my job, kept the secrets I was suppose to keep and introduced Gregg and Jeff. From here on out whatever procedures there are will be between Gregg and Jeff. I do hope I am kept in the loop with updates however!

Wordless Wednesday - St. Michael's Cemetery

St. Michaels Cemetery. May 10, 2009. Livermore, California. Digital Image. Held by Cheryl [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE] California. 2009.