An Unplanned Excursion Worth Taking!

 Anyone who knows me well knows that I'm a planner. I'm detailed and goal oriented. I make a plan and I follow it! I have learned to deal with ambiguity, but I prefer a plan.

Today, I knew the route I was taking to get from Riverside, PA to Ft. Wayne, IN. I could have taken a route I know well, it was 3 minutes faster but it was along I-80 and had tolls. But I chose to take the alternate route and that was my plan. It was a direct shot to Ft. Wayne and I didn't plan any site seeing along the way.

The Excursion

Me in front of one set of Jim's
Great-Great Grandparents Graves

As I was half-way through Ohio, and not on the part of Ohio we normally travel to Michigan, I realized that Molly and I might just be passing close by a cemetery where my husband's family was laid to rest. Since I was driving and couldn't do this on my own, I quickly called Jim, who happened to be talking with one of our daughters and I asked them if they could help navigate me to the Liberty Chapel Cemetery in Liberty, Mercer Co, Ohio. (I really marvel at technology and what we can actually do on the fly, I do love the time we are living in!)  They did and I altered my route and drove about an extra hour today that I hadn't planned, but I had the time and it was worth it!

Background

Peter Monroe Baucher &
Mary Lucinda Howell

Jim's maternal great-grandparents, Peter Monroe Baucher and Mary Lucinda Howell were both born in Ohio. Mary was actually born in Liberty, where the cemetery is located. They both came from farming families. Peter's grandfather's family originally came from Pennsylvania (Bachar) slowly moving westward into Ohio. Peter was the 11th child of 12 and his father died when he was 10. He grew up farming, which is what he knew but by the time he was married (1892), there wasn't much farm land to be had. He worked as a blacksmith (according to 1900 census) and then sometime before 1910 found farmland to buy in Crystal, Montcalm, Michigan and was a farmer until he died in 1930. Mary Lucinda was from a Howell farming family that had been in Ohio for many generations.

Find-A-Grave

I love Find-A-Grave and have taken and uploaded hundreds of photos to it about my family and also from our local cemeteries. In fact, early during COVID, one of my daughters and I spent weekends in cemeteries around our local area finding and photographing gravesites that people had requested. In those early months when people were afraid to get out of their houses, it was a great way for us to get out of the house but go where no living people would be and do something for others. I love these crowdsourcing websites where people can help other people find their relatives. I highly encourage everyone to do this, even if they aren't into genealogy. (And there are other sites like Billion Graves).

The Headstones

Both sets of their (Peter Monroe & Mary Lucinda) parents are buried in this cemetery. I knew that and I actually already had photos of their headstones, thanks to Find-A-Grave, but there is something about actually being physically in that space. Driving out there and seeing the Ohio farmland all around. The town of Liberty has less than 1,000 people and quite honestly from what I saw, I have no idea where they all live! At some point, I imagine there was a church (or at least chapel) next to the cemetery but there's no sign of it now and it seemed like about 1/3 to 1/2 of the people buried in the cemetery were related to these two. While I didn't actually learn anything new, it was interesting to see that someone is still caring enough for the graves to put out a wreath. I'm sure there are relatives of Jim's still in the area. I don't have any photographs of these four great-great grandparents, YET, so maybe one day I will connect with a descendant of one of Peter's 11 siblings or one of Mary's 10 siblings who may have a photo of their parents?!