A Work in Progress

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Woodville Cemetery, Deerfield, Waushara, Wisconsin; photo courtesy
Steve and Fay Bray, 2020

Inspiration

Recently I wrote about Anna Wood Dyer, my great-great-grandmother and inspiration.  I told about receiving pictures of Isaac and Betsey Fuller Wood that confirmed their relationship to Anna and helped me find their parents.

Isaac and his family settled in Deerfield, Waushara County, Wisconsin, in about 1855.  I've looked for records in all the usual places including Find A Grave where I found several Wood memorials in the Woodville Cemetery.  Unfortunately, not all the family is listed and at one time Find A Grave stated that there were some unnamed graves. I still need to find death dates for Isaac and Betsey and for Isaac's father, Billa.

After writing the article about gggrandmother Anna, I went back to Find a Grave and learned that contributor Janet Marie #480008518, had posted a picture of a stone that was no longer legible and noted that it might be a double stone.

Mystery



Find A Grave Contributor Janet Marie #480008518, 2014


Communication and Collaboration

I sent a message to Janet, the contributor, and asked if the double stone was anywhere close to the Wood family graves.  Janet responded quickly and a few days later told me that she had gone back to the cemetery and taken more pictures.


Find A Grave Contributor Janet Marie #480008518, 2020


More Clues

The stone in question has been encased in cement and now has the name of Isaac Wood on it.  The birth date of 1821 is not correct and the death date of 1873 is yet to be proven.  If indeed it is a double stone, I would expect that the other grave is Betsey Wood, Isaac's wife.



Woodville Cemetery--photo Find A Grave Contributor Janet Marie #480008518, 2020


More Communication and Collaboration

Janet took a wide angle picture showing that the stone is close to other Wood memorials.  The graves to the right in this picture are Ira and Lois Wood, Isaac's son and daughter-in-law.

Janet also gave me the name of Cheryl who works at the Deerfield City Hall.  A call to Cheryl led me to Tom who has done some work at the cemetery.  Tom gave me Steve who has collected some history of the area.

Steve and his wife Fay went back to the cemetery and took more pictures and pointed out that it is the Woodville Cemetery and that there was also a Woodville School.  They sent pictures of both of those places, named for the Wood family.



Woodville School--photo courtesy Steve and Fay Bray, 2020


After Janet went back to Woodville Cemetery she updated the memorials on Find A Grave.  As we are able to confirm other graves, she will add them.  It is still a work in progress and what a joy to have made such great connections!



MaryLynn Strickland



Comments

  1. Marcia FordSeptember 23, 2020 at 10:08 PM

    Wonderful story! And lovely people. Made me think of Fred Rogers telling how "my mother would say to me, 'Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.'”

    ReplyDelete

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