Tombstone Tuesday: Henry and Clem Konst

My great grandmother’s brothers, Clem and Henry, were among other things, very tall- well over 6 feet and racing to 7.  They were farmers and landowners, as well as railroad workers.

Henry Barnard Konst was born on May 24, 1890 in North Washington, Chickasaw County, Iowa.  His brother, Clemens Henry Konst was born on April 10, 1896 also in North Washington.  In the 1900 census they are in Jacksonville, Chickasaw County and in 1905, they are in Alta Vista, Chickasaw County.  In 1908, they moved to Capa, Jones County, South Dakota with their parents and siblings to a homestead.  But that’s a different part of the story…

When Henry and Clem were 23 and 17, respectively, they were “haymaking” in Aberdeen, South Dakota.  In 1920, Clem married Ora Belle Saxton in Philip, South Dakota and in 1921, they experienced both the birth and death of their daughter Clara.  She was born April 10 and died October 10 that year.

In 1922, Clem married Alice Rose Griswold and the next year, their daughter Dorothy was born.  They had a son, Paul William, in 1925 and a daughter Dorris in 1925.

Closed to camera is Tony Konst.  Two other tallest are Henry and Clem, Tony's sons.

Right to left: Lizzie Elizabeth Bauhaus Konst, Clem and/or Henry (not sure which is which), unknown

After the death of their father, Henry and Clem had a falling out over the land and, despite living in the same small area of South Dakota, didn’t speak for years.

I don’t know much about Henry and Clem, but I did have some correspondence with Jim Konst, Clem’s grandson who reported, “Grandpa was a quite serious man who did not want to leave his home to visit people. Once, my aunt Dorothy and her family ‘kidnapped’ grandpa and brought him to our house, a mere  200 miles away. That was the only time he came to our house.  Grandpa had his opinions as well. He never believed that man went to the moon. His simple logic was: ‘How could they go there without knowing the way.’ Grandpa enjoyed fishing in his retirement.”

From Find-A-Grave in the Midland Cemetery, Midland, SD

From Find-A-Grave in the Midland Cemetery, Midland, SD

Tombstone Tuesday: GD Mariani

A couple of Thursdays ago, I visited the California Genealogical Society library and met a wonderful woman (Jane) who helped me find the burial place of someone I was researching: GD Mariani.   She helped me find the California, San Francisco Area Funeral Home Records, 1835-1931 on FamilySearch.  In there, in Godeau’s Day Book 1, we found Giusseppe Mariani, died 21 July 1895 in the French Hospital. Buried 26 July 1895 it IOOF Cemetery, age 55. 

At the mention of IOOF, Jane got excited, told me it stood for “International/Independent Order of Odd Fellows and ran off for a book.  She came back with a VERY LARGE tattered book listing all those buried at IOOF.  Very old.  Very awesome.  Among the listed was my GD.  GD had been buried in Tier 1, Lot 27 in the Avenue Section with Godeau as the funeral home.

Oddly, having never heard of the French Hospital, one of my book club cohorts (nothing at all to do with genealogy) discussed it at our meeting last week, as she grew up in San Francisco and her family were members.  The French Hospital had very low dues and then very low payments to receive services.  They “contracted” with different societies around San Francisco and that is how I imagine my GD got in as he was prominent in the Ticanese Benevolent Society.  You can read more about the French Hospital here.

IOOF cemetery, as all cemeteries in San Francisco (except Mission Dolores and the Presidio) were moved to Colma to make room for houses and industry.  The IOOF moved happened in 1929, when the San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed an ordinance requiring the removal.  It took six years to move all the IOOF remains to Greenlawn Cemetery in Colma.  All the bodies were put together in a mass grave.  If their markers were unclaimed, they were used in seawalls, rain gutters in Buena Vista Park, and even the foundation of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Tombstone Tuesday

I was going to try for a Talented Tuesday today instead, but it was too hard to choose and, actually, I think it took yesterday’s Thomas a lot of talent to be an out of work, illiterate widowed coal miner with children to raise. So move along and instead share some tombstones.

These are from the Doty Settlement Cemetery in Oxford, Ohio. When my 7-year-old daughter and I were visiting Ohio this past summer, we made our poor cousins drive us hours and hours away just so we could stand there in awe. Okay. *I* was in awe. My daughter? Was hot.

Anyway, here is a picture I took of the cemetery.

Our relation:

1 My daughter
2 Me
3 My mom
4 My grandmother
5 Myra Belle Hulse m. Cora Edwin Shelton
6 John Andrew Hulse m. Mary Louisa Doty
7 Francis Doty m. Mariah Zimmerman
8 Jesse Doty m. Jane Kittley

Jesse’s son Jesse was among those that lived in the settlement’s house right up the street. Jesse’s (senior) portrait is hanging on the wall.