Tombstone Tuesday - Baby Great Aunt

Tuesday, June 15, 2010


Today for Tombstone Tuesday I chose to share a photo of my Great Aunt's tombstone. No one ever talked about her so when I came across her during the beginning of my research, some of us were shocked that Grandma had a baby sister who had died. Although Grandma was the youngest of her siblings, Betty had died before she was even born.

It really makes you wonder - here was a family that came from Sweden with one daughter, settled in the small town of Ruthven, Iowa, then had another little girl who died before she was even two years old. What happened to her? Was she ill? Did she get into an accident? How sad for my Gr Grandparents who lost a baby in a new land. They could not mourn with their parents or other siblings they had left behind in Sweden. The sorrow must have been unbearable. Years later they were laid to rest beside their baby Betty.

This post is dedicated to my Great Aunt Betty Nelson. She was the very first family member buried at Crown Hill Cemetery in Ruthven, Iowa. Since then, many family members have joined her in this special cemetery. A couple of years ago I had the priviledge of visiting the gravestones of of Betty and many other ancestors there.

2 comments:

Cindy Bergeron Scherwinski said...

It is a blessing that Betty has a stone to mark her grave and even more of a blessing that you have honored her in today's posting for Tombstone Tuesday. Thank you for the inspiration to mark my great-aunt's life in a future Tombstone Tuesday post. She died before her 3rd birthday and is buried in an unmarked grave.

Terrific blog, I look forward to reading more of your postings.

Cindy Bergeron Scherwinski

mjhellman said...

What encouragement Cindy. Thanks for the comment. I hope to hear about your great aunt soon.

Thanks again.