EBENEZER and MACEDONIA cemeteries

EBENEZER and MACEDONIA Cemeteries were the last two I had started last Fall that I needed to finish.  Morning cemeteries.  I needed a morning that wasn't going to be too dewy.

I took this picture at Ebenezer Cemetery last Fall before the cold set in.

EBENEZER CEMETERY is located on the southwest corner of the intersection of 1100N and Meridian in Union Township, Miami County, Indiana.  Readings were taken by Jean C. and Wendell C. Tombaugh in 1977, 1978 and 1987.  In that work, the rows run north and south, are numbered from east to west, and the stones are read from north to south. These are accessible online at the Fulton County Library site.  Once again I didn't follow the previous reading pattern, I simply went row by row starting from the front to the back, trying not to let the sun prohibit me from deciphering vital information.

This time I chose to take 19 North past Doud's Apple Orchard, and enjoyed the scenery very much.  All I could see everywhere were fields of yellow.  Dandelions! Everywhere Dandelions!. I bet BethAnn's mom would have had enough of them to make quite a few pots of jelly!!! How my mind wanders when I do this!

As I had noted most of the graves at Ebenezer's faced the East so the morning sun helped keep any shadows off those stones but not quite so the ones facing West unfortunately.  Luckily the sun was already high enough in the sky that the problem was minimal.  Hopefully most of the information will be readable and I will be able to use the previous readings as well.
On the South side of the cemetery there was a bird house attached to a tree, not as rustic as the one found at Mount Pleasant Cemetery (Wabash Co) but quaint all the same and I tried myself at some close-ups of leaves etc.  Gotta practice...
Find-a-Grave lists 296 interments at Ebenezer cemetery with 86% accompanied by pictures.  Not sure how up to date this information is as this is still an active cemetery and people are still being buried in there.  Lots of recent stones mixed in with some older ones.  I took a fancy for this one... Why an Anchor?... A quick look up about cemetery art symbolism states that an anchor is used to represent a mariner.  It would make sense if we didn't live in the middle of Farm country and if I had not done a background check that told me that Rebecca KEPLER's husband Jonathan was indeed a farmer...  Some further research indicates that an "Anchor – disguised cross; hope; steadfastness in Christ" - Now, this I can accept as they were Christians.  The Anchor stands out beautifully on the stone...  She died on Christmas Day... I wonder...  Let's make a small detour today...
Sometimes an obituary can reveal a lot about a person too.  Unfortunately the only thing I found that was connected to Rebecca here in terms of news is her son Charles' obituary and she is not even named.

 (Using my subscription to Newspaperarchive.com)

CHARLES KEPLER FOUND DEAD IN BED AT BROTHER'S HOME.

Victim was Sixty-two Years of Age and a Sufferer of Asthma Which is Supposed to be Cause of Death.

Charles Kepler, for ten years a resident of Fulton county, was found dead  in bed at the home of his brother, Martin Kepler, on Bancroft Ave., this morning, as the result of chronic asthma.  Mr. Kepler was born March-6,1951, in Ohio and has spent most of his life in Miami county, Ind.   For some time he has been making his home with his brother and sister, Martin V. Kepler and Julia Yike in this city and has been a sufferer of asthma for years from which he found but little relief.  For the past week or two the deceased has been troubled considerably by his ailment but yesterday seemed to feel unusually well.  Last evening Mr. Kepler retired as usual and this morning was called to awaken by his brother Martin – sometime before five o'clock.  Not receiving any answer to his repeated calls the brother went to Mr. Kepler's bed and shook the man to arouse him and only then realized that his spirit had departed.

Mr. Kepler was the son of Jonathan Kepler and leaves only brothers and sisters to mourn his demise, Martin V. Kepler, Julia Yike, this city, Mary Bain, Michigan City, Libby Bain, Missouri and Margaret Stopher, Wyoming.  The funeral will be held from Ebenezer church in Miami county, tomorrow.

Rochester Weekly Republican July 3, 1913

So his grave should be there too then... mmm  maybe one of those hard to read ones...  but someone on Ancestry.com has a picture of him in their family trees...  I hope the grave will turn up in the Billion Graves indexing! - it has not yet, though...
There really is a story behind everyone of these stones...
Anyway...

I finished taking the pictures at Ebenezer without having to recharge the battery.  That was quite a feat! And so I made my way back, using the GPS to locate Macedonia Cemetery.  I knew it wasn't too far from there, on the East of 16.  It didn't take long to find my way there. 
Also called the "Wooleytown German Baptist", "Dunkard" cemetery, it is located on the west side of 100E between 900N and 1000N. The cemetery sits on a hill on the West side of the road, most graves facing East too.  Some of these old stones however are very hard to read, no matter how the sun shines on them, I'm afraid.

Luckily the lighting was just right for the majority of them, not to say I probably won't have to go back again.  But here again I will very likely use the previous reading done by Judge Tombaugh in 1987 and uploaded on the Fulton County.  These earlier readings can be vital in deciphering the engravings.
One thing I have noticed since I started doing this is that it is sometimes easier to see the words on the digital image than right off the stone in the cemetery.  Maybe it's the lighting.  Some stones are beyond hope unfortunately here too...

As I was taking pictures I noticed a pond South of the cemetery where two swans were swimming...
I could not resist...

GAERTE Cemetery

It has been a long time since I went out to take pictures in a cemetery: 4 months. 

According to Billion Graves My last upload was Christmas Eve.

I had a lot of fun taking other sorts of pictures this past Winter with the nice camera my husband bought me for Christmas: bald eagles, especially.  

He still does not understand why I am not using the new camera to take pictures at the cemetery but Billion Graves has their own system and even though my new camera has a GPS, it can't load their application so what is the point taking the pictures twice at the same time.  Updating will need to be done soon enough anyway.

So...  in spite of the strong April wind, I decided to finish one cemetery I found last Fall before the cold set in: the GAERTE Cemetery, located on the east side of 500E between 1500N and 1600N in Perry Township.

My phone battery kept dying while I was taking pictures, probably because I was out of my service area and the search for service was the main drain.  Driving to Gaerte cemetery took me a good half an hour.  I was not going home with only 50 pictures just so I could recharge the phone...  I sat in the car a couple of times recharging but that got pretty boring so I went for a drive and discovered just how far from home I was. 

The Gaerte Cemetery is not only North East of Gilead, which is way North already. It sits almost on the Fulton-Miami-Wabash tri-county line!

I am really glad I decided to recharge the phone in the car rather than go home.  Lukens Lake is nearby too although I didn't venture that far in the blue car...

I took in some scenery then went back to the cemetery to finish the 'job'. 

It took one more recharge even after I got back and it took me longer than I had anticipated but at least I can move one to another cemetery.  I think too that the cold affects the battery life.  I noticed that last Fall when I went to photograph RANKIN and Mt PLEASANT (Wabash Co) and of course this phone is getting old... )=

Getting back to the GAERTE cemetery.  Judge Tombaugh's readings are found online at the Fulton County Library site.  The cemetery is divided into four sections with rows running north and south, numbered from west to east, and the markers are read from north to south.  Readings were taken in 1975 and 1987.  These thirty years were not kind to some of the stones and they may be hard to match against some of the pictures I am uploading to Billion Graves but that will definitely be a tool I will use to help me decipher them or go over the work of another indexer if need be.

I however didn't follow his reading when I was taking the pictures as I didn't think to do so first. Besides some of the stones he read have since sunken into the ground or been knocked off their base, while new ones have been added in between or even replaced some that are now either gone or in a worse state of deterioration.  It was bigger than I thought it was, or maybe it's because my phone kept dying.

One stone was very tricky but would have been worse once there would have been full leaves on the bush...  I wonder why people plant bushes in front of stones...  They eventually stop being maintained and damage the stones... 

And when people try to see what's on them, they can't... 
This bush was already almost too challenging... 
But at least there is still hope for this one.

Some stones just won't release the names they once showed.  I often wonder why I even take the picture.  They  will likely remain unindexed because unreadable...  But Billion Graves said they hope their software will enable better detection... Let's hope.  Either way, the stone marks the resting place of an individual.  A person who walked along these fields and streams, who saw the beautiful sunrises and sunsets, who heard the birds sing, just as I get to today...  This is sacred ground...  People, tread lightly...