Gaisford Ancestors in Minonk Township Cemetery

It was in 2006 when I visited the grave of my Third Great Grandparents, James & Anna Gaisford in Minonk, Illinois. Please don't yell at me for the use of chalk, I washed it off and I don't do it anymore. At the time, I had learned this technique from a cemetery historian and didn't know it could damage the stone. Even with the chalk, these stones were very difficult to read then, and that was 13 years ago.  I'd love to see what they look like now, but I'm over 500 miles away. 

Minonk Township Cemetery is a large one. Before our trip, I found someone through the El Paso, Illinois website who had details for the locations of these graves. Through emails they gave me very helpful directions and it saved us a lot of time searching for them on a hot July day. It's not easy to get my family to allow me a little time in a cemetery while on vacation. My daughter transcribed the graves for me to help us get out of there faster.

                                  Wife of                        In Loving

                                J Gaisford                  Remembrance       

                               Died ?  1882                       of

                                  Aged                           James

                                                                   Gaisford

                                                                      Died 

                                                                         ?

                                                                      Aged

                                                                  87 Years

In the 1850's, James and Anna left their home and the families they grew up with in England. Six of their eight children were born there, their two youngest boys, Samuel and John "Gehu", were born in Rhode Island. About 1868, the family moved to Minonk where James and Anna lived the rest of their lives. At the time of Anna's death, two of their children had moved to Nebraska, Emma and my Second Great Grandfather Charles. When James died, daughter Hannah Pickard was also living in Nebraska and sons Sam and John were possibly living in Arkansas and Iowa. 

James Jr passed away only four years after his father. He along with siblings William and Anna Pickard and their families are also resting in the Minonk Township Cemetery. Charles, Samuel, Hannah Pickard and Emma Bailey are buried in Gage County, Nebraska, and Gehu, who lived to be 92, lies in Council Bluffs, Iowa. The father James remarried after Anna's death to Fannie Brooks, who is also buried in the Minonk Township Cemetery.

I may never pass that way again, and I certainly hope that I didn't cause any damage to their monument. But I'm glad that I was able to visit the grave of James and Anna Gaisford.