Susan's story: "I am a fifth generation born Californian and some of my family is from Sacramento. My 3rd great grandparents John & Barbara Ash(tombstone spelling Asch..only time ever used) settled in Sacramento early 1850's with ten children . They were buried along with a few of their children in New Helvetia Cemetery which closed early 1920's and remains moved to City Cemetery mid 1950's. . The family lived and worked in Sacramento....policeman, teachers, railroad shop, cook, painter and a us marshall.
Three years ago I came to San Francisco for a wedding and took my sister on an 800 mile genealogy tour of Northern California. In my research before trip I called the Sac City Cemetery to find out where the New Helvetia Cemetery was only to find out it was closed and the remains moved to the City Cemetery in the mid 1950's. The office sent me a black & white photo of the Asch Tombstone and a Historical brochure with a copy of the Tombstone on the front cover!
I put the photo on Ancestery.com and in February 2010 I received a email from a woman in Auburn passed this flowerbed that she lived across the street from 20 years and the stone jumped out ...she had never noticed it before. The owner of the house it was at said it had been there at least 50 years and she did not know how it got there.
Two years later.....lots of letters, new friendships and money the stone is now being restored to original style and will be be re-dedicated on June 2 with the family remains in the City Cemetery.
There are only two original hand-carved monuments known to exist and this is one of them.
My fathers pioneer family also came from Placerville and Orland 1850's
This is the other tombstone - wonderful isn't it? that survived the transition to the City Cemetery oh so many years ago.
Susan and her family are working towards a re-dedication of her ancestors tombstones, possibly in June.
Great Story, Thank you for sharing with all of us.
No comments:
Post a Comment
We love getting your comments!