*****
The two children (Lawrence Alfred Adamson and Buddy Adamson)of James E. Adamson and Elizabeth Hoge, were first buried at the Smith Cemetery 1. A death wish of Elizabeth who died December of 1938, and on January 11, 1939 the boys were re-interned, next to their Mother, by J. E and Cecelia Adamson at Greene County Memorial Park. This was witnessed by Charles Edward "Chuck" Adamson (FAG #52824262) as a young boy.
******
5/11/2008 3:33 AM
Genealogy buff in search of rightful home for tombstone
By C.R. Nelson
For the Observer-Reporter
[email protected]
It is an infant's gravestone, carved with all the solemnity of the late 19th century - fluted top and a lamb etched above the name - Lawrence A. Adamson, son of James E. Adamson and Elizabeth Nancy Hoge Adamson. The dates show how short life can be - Jan. 31, 1899, to Oct. 7, 1900.
How this marker, lost for 69 years, found its way to a Washington County auction house, then, amazingly, back to the family, thanks to a tip from a long lost relative in New Mexico, is a story William Van Druff of Mt. Morris is only too happy to tell.
"My family doctor calls me the gravedigger," Van Druff admits with a hearty laugh. His reputation for rescuing family plots from multiflora roses and weeding them back into respectful resting places began with the Van Druff family cemetery in 1994, but hasn't stopped there.
In 2005, Van Druff made the news with his rescue and restoration of the long-forgotten gravesite of George Wisecarver, wagon master for George Washington and early settler in Whiteley Township.
Now his penchant for the past is being piqued once more with this old family stone, misplaced since 1939.
"The way I got hold of it was through a relative we know in New Mexico - Jerry Adamson. He's into genealogy and found out about it being at the auction house and called us. I went up to Three Rivers Auction and got it, and it's in the back of my truck right now," Van Druff said. "We're just not sure where to put it."
Finding where little Lawrence A. Adamson lived and died is a journey through time, back to the days of pioneer family farms, when all aspects of living and dying happened close to home. Children were born at home and Bibles duly recorded the genealogy, even as family members were laid to rest in quiet groves on family property.
Later, as the 20th century shortened distances with automobiles, family cemeteries became a thing of the past. For Betty Adamson Van Druff, family history is a partially documented tale that is now being fleshed out by genealogical tips from third cousins once removed like Jerry Adamson.
Before Elizabeth died, Betty remembers her father saying, she convinced the family to move her children to be with her at Greene County Memorial Park. Since the cemetery doesn't allow gravestones, the stones got left behind, perhaps behind a barn, or tucked away in a shed to be forgotten.
"This is a mystery to all of us. My wife Betty is an Adamson and her older brother Chuck was there when they moved the children's bodies in 1939. Chuck was 15 years old at the time, but now he's not sure which cemetery they were taken from. The stone either came from the Smith Adamson Cemetery on the Jefferson Road or the family cemetery in Morgan Township near Lippencott. There were two boys buried there. Buddy Adamson was born March 24, 1901, and died Jan. 16, 1902, but we haven't found that stone yet. We're still looking," Van Druff said.
Now that one has returned, the question remains: where to put it?
"We'd like to return it to where the boys were first buried. We're just not sure whether the family was living at the Adams farm near Lippencott when the children were born, or if they were living on the farm over by Browns' Creek, between Carmichaels and Rices Landing. If they lived there, then it was probably the Smith Cemetery, but we're just not sure," Van Druff said.
Genealogy, once a labor of letter writing, long distance phone calls and driving to distant courthouses to search old deeds and records, has evolved into a powerful tool, complete with DNA tracking, Internet access and the determination of thousands of passionate history buffs who share information and discover long-lost cousins. The whereabouts of the offspring of pioneer families like the Adamsons, who migrated from places like Greene County, is turning into a startlingly large family portrait.
"I can tell you that I'm related to every Adamson in Greene County!" Jerry Adamson declared. "I got interested in genealogy in 1982 when I met cousins in Kansas at a family reunion and we didn't know how we were related. So I started doing some research and got hooked. I've been looking for that stone since 1992. It shows up in papers by Dorothy Hennen, who inventoried grave markers in Greene County."
When Three Rivers Auction Co. came across the stone in an estate sale, the company did an Internet search of the Adamson name. "They went online and found a lady on a genealogical site who knows me, and that's how they found me," Adamson said. "They were surprised when I called them right back. They contacted me April 29, and I called Bill and Betty Van Druff."
His Adamson family Web site is a wealth of information and very active, tracking over a million hits since it went online. Adamson, a retired civil engineer, travels the country doing research and meeting cousins wherever he goes. The story of the Adamson family is the story of Western expansion of frontier America, driven by family dynamics.
"We're still not sure which cemetery to put the stone in. My husband has been to both and hasn't found the base stone. We'll just have to go with what feels right," Betty Van Druff said.
For more information on Adamson family descendents, go to www.adamsonancestry.com.
Copyright Observer Publishing Co. May 11, 2008
*****
The marker was again placed at Smith Cemetery in July 2008, by William Carol Vandruff (FAG #107781420) as a Cenotaph.
*****
8/24/2008 3:33 AM
Family solves grave mystery
By C.R. Nelson
For the Observer-Reporter
JEFFERSON - The mystery of the wandering gravestone of Lawrence A. Adamson, who died as an infant in 1900, finally has been solved, thanks to some family sleuthing and an old newspaper clipping.
When Three Rivers Auction of Washington found themselves in possession of the stone in April as part of an estate sale, they called Greene County Genealogical Society for help. The society put them in contact with genealogy buff Jerry Adamson of New Mexico, who has relatives in the county who were more than willing to get involved.
The end result was a story in this paper on May 9 about the adventure. The stone had returned to its rightful family, but a question still remained.
"I went up and got that stone on April 29, but we really didn't know where to put it," said Bill Van Druff of Mt. Morris. "It could have been from the family plot on the original Adamson home site, or the Smith Adamson Cemetery (off Route 188 near the former Right Way academy.) We just weren't sure."
Family memories and some careful recordkeeping on the part of the genealogical society have helped solve the puzzle.
Betty Van Druff, daughter of Lawrence Adamson, remembers her father saying that before his mother, Elizabeth, died, she had convinced the family to move him and another infant son, Buddy, to be with her at Greene County Memorial Park.
Since the cemetery doesn't allow gravestones, the stones got left behind, perhaps behind a barn, or tucked away in a shed to be forgotten.
Charles (Chuck) Adamson, 84, was 15 when the two children were moved to be with their mother. Would he still remember which cemetery they were taken from?
"The amazing part of this story is that my brother, Chuck's, family came down from Michigan the week before Jerry called us about finding the stone," Betty Van Druff said. "They took him for a ride that Sunday and passed the Smith Cemetery and he said, 'This is where we took the bodies from.' Later, when I called them to tell them about the tombstone, they told me what Chuck had said. It was quite a coincidence. But we still weren't absolutely sure, and we wanted to put the stone in the right place. So, over the last few months, different members of the family talked to Chuck about it, and last week he went for a ride again past the cemetery and identified it again."
The clinching piece of evidence is on record at the genealogical society. An obituary from the Waynesburg Republican confirms that Lawrence had succumbed to pneumonia and was buried in Smith Cemetery.
Smith Adamson Cemetery still has a small plot with three family stones in it. "Two of the stones are the boy's grandparents, Joseph Adamson and Harriet Hoge Adamson. The third is his uncle, Henry. The uncle's stone is leaning, so I figure that when they moved the bodies, the stone shifted," Bill Van Druff speculated.
"We put the stone between the two grandparents, and I attached an aluminum plate to it saying that the bodies had been relocated to Greene County Memorial Park January 11, 1939, but the marker has been returned here. Buddy Adamson was born March 24, 1901, and died January 16, 1902, but we haven't found that stone yet. If we do, it will go here, too."
For more information on Adamson family descendants, go online at www.adamsonancestry.com.
For information about other Greene County families, visit www.cornerstonegenealogy.com or call 724-627-5653.
Copyright 2008, Observer Publishing Co. Washington, PA
1998-2008 All Rights Reserved
*****
The two children (Lawrence Alfred Adamson and Buddy Adamson)of James E. Adamson and Elizabeth Hoge, were first buried at the Smith Cemetery 1. A death wish of Elizabeth who died December of 1938, and on January 11, 1939 the boys were re-interned, next to their Mother, by J. E and Cecelia Adamson at Greene County Memorial Park. This was witnessed by Charles Edward "Chuck" Adamson (FAG #52824262) as a young boy.
******
5/11/2008 3:33 AM
Genealogy buff in search of rightful home for tombstone
By C.R. Nelson
For the Observer-Reporter
[email protected]
It is an infant's gravestone, carved with all the solemnity of the late 19th century - fluted top and a lamb etched above the name - Lawrence A. Adamson, son of James E. Adamson and Elizabeth Nancy Hoge Adamson. The dates show how short life can be - Jan. 31, 1899, to Oct. 7, 1900.
How this marker, lost for 69 years, found its way to a Washington County auction house, then, amazingly, back to the family, thanks to a tip from a long lost relative in New Mexico, is a story William Van Druff of Mt. Morris is only too happy to tell.
"My family doctor calls me the gravedigger," Van Druff admits with a hearty laugh. His reputation for rescuing family plots from multiflora roses and weeding them back into respectful resting places began with the Van Druff family cemetery in 1994, but hasn't stopped there.
In 2005, Van Druff made the news with his rescue and restoration of the long-forgotten gravesite of George Wisecarver, wagon master for George Washington and early settler in Whiteley Township.
Now his penchant for the past is being piqued once more with this old family stone, misplaced since 1939.
"The way I got hold of it was through a relative we know in New Mexico - Jerry Adamson. He's into genealogy and found out about it being at the auction house and called us. I went up to Three Rivers Auction and got it, and it's in the back of my truck right now," Van Druff said. "We're just not sure where to put it."
Finding where little Lawrence A. Adamson lived and died is a journey through time, back to the days of pioneer family farms, when all aspects of living and dying happened close to home. Children were born at home and Bibles duly recorded the genealogy, even as family members were laid to rest in quiet groves on family property.
Later, as the 20th century shortened distances with automobiles, family cemeteries became a thing of the past. For Betty Adamson Van Druff, family history is a partially documented tale that is now being fleshed out by genealogical tips from third cousins once removed like Jerry Adamson.
Before Elizabeth died, Betty remembers her father saying, she convinced the family to move her children to be with her at Greene County Memorial Park. Since the cemetery doesn't allow gravestones, the stones got left behind, perhaps behind a barn, or tucked away in a shed to be forgotten.
"This is a mystery to all of us. My wife Betty is an Adamson and her older brother Chuck was there when they moved the children's bodies in 1939. Chuck was 15 years old at the time, but now he's not sure which cemetery they were taken from. The stone either came from the Smith Adamson Cemetery on the Jefferson Road or the family cemetery in Morgan Township near Lippencott. There were two boys buried there. Buddy Adamson was born March 24, 1901, and died Jan. 16, 1902, but we haven't found that stone yet. We're still looking," Van Druff said.
Now that one has returned, the question remains: where to put it?
"We'd like to return it to where the boys were first buried. We're just not sure whether the family was living at the Adams farm near Lippencott when the children were born, or if they were living on the farm over by Browns' Creek, between Carmichaels and Rices Landing. If they lived there, then it was probably the Smith Cemetery, but we're just not sure," Van Druff said.
Genealogy, once a labor of letter writing, long distance phone calls and driving to distant courthouses to search old deeds and records, has evolved into a powerful tool, complete with DNA tracking, Internet access and the determination of thousands of passionate history buffs who share information and discover long-lost cousins. The whereabouts of the offspring of pioneer families like the Adamsons, who migrated from places like Greene County, is turning into a startlingly large family portrait.
"I can tell you that I'm related to every Adamson in Greene County!" Jerry Adamson declared. "I got interested in genealogy in 1982 when I met cousins in Kansas at a family reunion and we didn't know how we were related. So I started doing some research and got hooked. I've been looking for that stone since 1992. It shows up in papers by Dorothy Hennen, who inventoried grave markers in Greene County."
When Three Rivers Auction Co. came across the stone in an estate sale, the company did an Internet search of the Adamson name. "They went online and found a lady on a genealogical site who knows me, and that's how they found me," Adamson said. "They were surprised when I called them right back. They contacted me April 29, and I called Bill and Betty Van Druff."
His Adamson family Web site is a wealth of information and very active, tracking over a million hits since it went online. Adamson, a retired civil engineer, travels the country doing research and meeting cousins wherever he goes. The story of the Adamson family is the story of Western expansion of frontier America, driven by family dynamics.
"We're still not sure which cemetery to put the stone in. My husband has been to both and hasn't found the base stone. We'll just have to go with what feels right," Betty Van Druff said.
For more information on Adamson family descendents, go to www.adamsonancestry.com.
Copyright Observer Publishing Co. May 11, 2008
*****
The marker was again placed at Smith Cemetery in July 2008, by William Carol Vandruff (FAG #107781420) as a Cenotaph.
*****
8/24/2008 3:33 AM
Family solves grave mystery
By C.R. Nelson
For the Observer-Reporter
JEFFERSON - The mystery of the wandering gravestone of Lawrence A. Adamson, who died as an infant in 1900, finally has been solved, thanks to some family sleuthing and an old newspaper clipping.
When Three Rivers Auction of Washington found themselves in possession of the stone in April as part of an estate sale, they called Greene County Genealogical Society for help. The society put them in contact with genealogy buff Jerry Adamson of New Mexico, who has relatives in the county who were more than willing to get involved.
The end result was a story in this paper on May 9 about the adventure. The stone had returned to its rightful family, but a question still remained.
"I went up and got that stone on April 29, but we really didn't know where to put it," said Bill Van Druff of Mt. Morris. "It could have been from the family plot on the original Adamson home site, or the Smith Adamson Cemetery (off Route 188 near the former Right Way academy.) We just weren't sure."
Family memories and some careful recordkeeping on the part of the genealogical society have helped solve the puzzle.
Betty Van Druff, daughter of Lawrence Adamson, remembers her father saying that before his mother, Elizabeth, died, she had convinced the family to move him and another infant son, Buddy, to be with her at Greene County Memorial Park.
Since the cemetery doesn't allow gravestones, the stones got left behind, perhaps behind a barn, or tucked away in a shed to be forgotten.
Charles (Chuck) Adamson, 84, was 15 when the two children were moved to be with their mother. Would he still remember which cemetery they were taken from?
"The amazing part of this story is that my brother, Chuck's, family came down from Michigan the week before Jerry called us about finding the stone," Betty Van Druff said. "They took him for a ride that Sunday and passed the Smith Cemetery and he said, 'This is where we took the bodies from.' Later, when I called them to tell them about the tombstone, they told me what Chuck had said. It was quite a coincidence. But we still weren't absolutely sure, and we wanted to put the stone in the right place. So, over the last few months, different members of the family talked to Chuck about it, and last week he went for a ride again past the cemetery and identified it again."
The clinching piece of evidence is on record at the genealogical society. An obituary from the Waynesburg Republican confirms that Lawrence had succumbed to pneumonia and was buried in Smith Cemetery.
Smith Adamson Cemetery still has a small plot with three family stones in it. "Two of the stones are the boy's grandparents, Joseph Adamson and Harriet Hoge Adamson. The third is his uncle, Henry. The uncle's stone is leaning, so I figure that when they moved the bodies, the stone shifted," Bill Van Druff speculated.
"We put the stone between the two grandparents, and I attached an aluminum plate to it saying that the bodies had been relocated to Greene County Memorial Park January 11, 1939, but the marker has been returned here. Buddy Adamson was born March 24, 1901, and died January 16, 1902, but we haven't found that stone yet. If we do, it will go here, too."
For more information on Adamson family descendants, go online at www.adamsonancestry.com.
For information about other Greene County families, visit www.cornerstonegenealogy.com or call 724-627-5653.
Copyright 2008, Observer Publishing Co. Washington, PA
1998-2008 All Rights Reserved
*****
*****
The two children (Lawrence Alfred Adamson and Buddy Adamson)of James E. Adamson and Elizabeth Hoge, were first buried at the Smith Cemetery 1. A death wish of Elizabeth who died December of 1938, and on January 11, 1939 the boys were re-interned, next to their Mother, by J. E and Cecelia Adamson at Greene County Memorial Park. This was witnessed by Charles Edward "Chuck" Adamson (FAG #52824262) as a young boy.
******
5/11/2008 3:33 AM
Genealogy buff in search of rightful home for tombstone
By C.R. Nelson
For the Observer-Reporter
[email protected]
It is an infant's gravestone, carved with all the solemnity of the late 19th century - fluted top and a lamb etched above the name - Lawrence A. Adamson, son of James E. Adamson and Elizabeth Nancy Hoge Adamson. The dates show how short life can be - Jan. 31, 1899, to Oct. 7, 1900.
How this marker, lost for 69 years, found its way to a Washington County auction house, then, amazingly, back to the family, thanks to a tip from a long lost relative in New Mexico, is a story William Van Druff of Mt. Morris is only too happy to tell.
"My family doctor calls me the gravedigger," Van Druff admits with a hearty laugh. His reputation for rescuing family plots from multiflora roses and weeding them back into respectful resting places began with the Van Druff family cemetery in 1994, but hasn't stopped there.
In 2005, Van Druff made the news with his rescue and restoration of the long-forgotten gravesite of George Wisecarver, wagon master for George Washington and early settler in Whiteley Township.
Now his penchant for the past is being piqued once more with this old family stone, misplaced since 1939.
"The way I got hold of it was through a relative we know in New Mexico - Jerry Adamson. He's into genealogy and found out about it being at the auction house and called us. I went up to Three Rivers Auction and got it, and it's in the back of my truck right now," Van Druff said. "We're just not sure where to put it."
Finding where little Lawrence A. Adamson lived and died is a journey through time, back to the days of pioneer family farms, when all aspects of living and dying happened close to home. Children were born at home and Bibles duly recorded the genealogy, even as family members were laid to rest in quiet groves on family property.
Later, as the 20th century shortened distances with automobiles, family cemeteries became a thing of the past. For Betty Adamson Van Druff, family history is a partially documented tale that is now being fleshed out by genealogical tips from third cousins once removed like Jerry Adamson.
Before Elizabeth died, Betty remembers her father saying, she convinced the family to move her children to be with her at Greene County Memorial Park. Since the cemetery doesn't allow gravestones, the stones got left behind, perhaps behind a barn, or tucked away in a shed to be forgotten.
"This is a mystery to all of us. My wife Betty is an Adamson and her older brother Chuck was there when they moved the children's bodies in 1939. Chuck was 15 years old at the time, but now he's not sure which cemetery they were taken from. The stone either came from the Smith Adamson Cemetery on the Jefferson Road or the family cemetery in Morgan Township near Lippencott. There were two boys buried there. Buddy Adamson was born March 24, 1901, and died Jan. 16, 1902, but we haven't found that stone yet. We're still looking," Van Druff said.
Now that one has returned, the question remains: where to put it?
"We'd like to return it to where the boys were first buried. We're just not sure whether the family was living at the Adams farm near Lippencott when the children were born, or if they were living on the farm over by Browns' Creek, between Carmichaels and Rices Landing. If they lived there, then it was probably the Smith Cemetery, but we're just not sure," Van Druff said.
Genealogy, once a labor of letter writing, long distance phone calls and driving to distant courthouses to search old deeds and records, has evolved into a powerful tool, complete with DNA tracking, Internet access and the determination of thousands of passionate history buffs who share information and discover long-lost cousins. The whereabouts of the offspring of pioneer families like the Adamsons, who migrated from places like Greene County, is turning into a startlingly large family portrait.
"I can tell you that I'm related to every Adamson in Greene County!" Jerry Adamson declared. "I got interested in genealogy in 1982 when I met cousins in Kansas at a family reunion and we didn't know how we were related. So I started doing some research and got hooked. I've been looking for that stone since 1992. It shows up in papers by Dorothy Hennen, who inventoried grave markers in Greene County."
When Three Rivers Auction Co. came across the stone in an estate sale, the company did an Internet search of the Adamson name. "They went online and found a lady on a genealogical site who knows me, and that's how they found me," Adamson said. "They were surprised when I called them right back. They contacted me April 29, and I called Bill and Betty Van Druff."
His Adamson family Web site is a wealth of information and very active, tracking over a million hits since it went online. Adamson, a retired civil engineer, travels the country doing research and meeting cousins wherever he goes. The story of the Adamson family is the story of Western expansion of frontier America, driven by family dynamics.
"We're still not sure which cemetery to put the stone in. My husband has been to both and hasn't found the base stone. We'll just have to go with what feels right," Betty Van Druff said.
For more information on Adamson family descendents, go to www.adamsonancestry.com.
Copyright Observer Publishing Co. May 11, 2008
*****
The marker was again placed at Smith Cemetery in July 2008, by William Carol Vandruff (FAG #107781420) as a Cenotaph.
*****
8/24/2008 3:33 AM
Family solves grave mystery
By C.R. Nelson
For the Observer-Reporter
JEFFERSON - The mystery of the wandering gravestone of Lawrence A. Adamson, who died as an infant in 1900, finally has been solved, thanks to some family sleuthing and an old newspaper clipping.
When Three Rivers Auction of Washington found themselves in possession of the stone in April as part of an estate sale, they called Greene County Genealogical Society for help. The society put them in contact with genealogy buff Jerry Adamson of New Mexico, who has relatives in the county who were more than willing to get involved.
The end result was a story in this paper on May 9 about the adventure. The stone had returned to its rightful family, but a question still remained.
"I went up and got that stone on April 29, but we really didn't know where to put it," said Bill Van Druff of Mt. Morris. "It could have been from the family plot on the original Adamson home site, or the Smith Adamson Cemetery (off Route 188 near the former Right Way academy.) We just weren't sure."
Family memories and some careful recordkeeping on the part of the genealogical society have helped solve the puzzle.
Betty Van Druff, daughter of Lawrence Adamson, remembers her father saying that before his mother, Elizabeth, died, she had convinced the family to move him and another infant son, Buddy, to be with her at Greene County Memorial Park.
Since the cemetery doesn't allow gravestones, the stones got left behind, perhaps behind a barn, or tucked away in a shed to be forgotten.
Charles (Chuck) Adamson, 84, was 15 when the two children were moved to be with their mother. Would he still remember which cemetery they were taken from?
"The amazing part of this story is that my brother, Chuck's, family came down from Michigan the week before Jerry called us about finding the stone," Betty Van Druff said. "They took him for a ride that Sunday and passed the Smith Cemetery and he said, 'This is where we took the bodies from.' Later, when I called them to tell them about the tombstone, they told me what Chuck had said. It was quite a coincidence. But we still weren't absolutely sure, and we wanted to put the stone in the right place. So, over the last few months, different members of the family talked to Chuck about it, and last week he went for a ride again past the cemetery and identified it again."
The clinching piece of evidence is on record at the genealogical society. An obituary from the Waynesburg Republican confirms that Lawrence had succumbed to pneumonia and was buried in Smith Cemetery.
Smith Adamson Cemetery still has a small plot with three family stones in it. "Two of the stones are the boy's grandparents, Joseph Adamson and Harriet Hoge Adamson. The third is his uncle, Henry. The uncle's stone is leaning, so I figure that when they moved the bodies, the stone shifted," Bill Van Druff speculated.
"We put the stone between the two grandparents, and I attached an aluminum plate to it saying that the bodies had been relocated to Greene County Memorial Park January 11, 1939, but the marker has been returned here. Buddy Adamson was born March 24, 1901, and died January 16, 1902, but we haven't found that stone yet. If we do, it will go here, too."
For more information on Adamson family descendants, go online at www.adamsonancestry.com.
For information about other Greene County families, visit www.cornerstonegenealogy.com or call 724-627-5653.
Copyright 2008, Observer Publishing Co. Washington, PA
1998-2008 All Rights Reserved
*****
The two children (Lawrence Alfred Adamson and Buddy Adamson)of James E. Adamson and Elizabeth Hoge, were first buried at the Smith Cemetery 1. A death wish of Elizabeth who died December of 1938, and on January 11, 1939 the boys were re-interned, next to their Mother, by J. E and Cecelia Adamson at Greene County Memorial Park. This was witnessed by Charles Edward "Chuck" Adamson (FAG #52824262) as a young boy.
******
5/11/2008 3:33 AM
Genealogy buff in search of rightful home for tombstone
By C.R. Nelson
For the Observer-Reporter
[email protected]
It is an infant's gravestone, carved with all the solemnity of the late 19th century - fluted top and a lamb etched above the name - Lawrence A. Adamson, son of James E. Adamson and Elizabeth Nancy Hoge Adamson. The dates show how short life can be - Jan. 31, 1899, to Oct. 7, 1900.
How this marker, lost for 69 years, found its way to a Washington County auction house, then, amazingly, back to the family, thanks to a tip from a long lost relative in New Mexico, is a story William Van Druff of Mt. Morris is only too happy to tell.
"My family doctor calls me the gravedigger," Van Druff admits with a hearty laugh. His reputation for rescuing family plots from multiflora roses and weeding them back into respectful resting places began with the Van Druff family cemetery in 1994, but hasn't stopped there.
In 2005, Van Druff made the news with his rescue and restoration of the long-forgotten gravesite of George Wisecarver, wagon master for George Washington and early settler in Whiteley Township.
Now his penchant for the past is being piqued once more with this old family stone, misplaced since 1939.
"The way I got hold of it was through a relative we know in New Mexico - Jerry Adamson. He's into genealogy and found out about it being at the auction house and called us. I went up to Three Rivers Auction and got it, and it's in the back of my truck right now," Van Druff said. "We're just not sure where to put it."
Finding where little Lawrence A. Adamson lived and died is a journey through time, back to the days of pioneer family farms, when all aspects of living and dying happened close to home. Children were born at home and Bibles duly recorded the genealogy, even as family members were laid to rest in quiet groves on family property.
Later, as the 20th century shortened distances with automobiles, family cemeteries became a thing of the past. For Betty Adamson Van Druff, family history is a partially documented tale that is now being fleshed out by genealogical tips from third cousins once removed like Jerry Adamson.
Before Elizabeth died, Betty remembers her father saying, she convinced the family to move her children to be with her at Greene County Memorial Park. Since the cemetery doesn't allow gravestones, the stones got left behind, perhaps behind a barn, or tucked away in a shed to be forgotten.
"This is a mystery to all of us. My wife Betty is an Adamson and her older brother Chuck was there when they moved the children's bodies in 1939. Chuck was 15 years old at the time, but now he's not sure which cemetery they were taken from. The stone either came from the Smith Adamson Cemetery on the Jefferson Road or the family cemetery in Morgan Township near Lippencott. There were two boys buried there. Buddy Adamson was born March 24, 1901, and died Jan. 16, 1902, but we haven't found that stone yet. We're still looking," Van Druff said.
Now that one has returned, the question remains: where to put it?
"We'd like to return it to where the boys were first buried. We're just not sure whether the family was living at the Adams farm near Lippencott when the children were born, or if they were living on the farm over by Browns' Creek, between Carmichaels and Rices Landing. If they lived there, then it was probably the Smith Cemetery, but we're just not sure," Van Druff said.
Genealogy, once a labor of letter writing, long distance phone calls and driving to distant courthouses to search old deeds and records, has evolved into a powerful tool, complete with DNA tracking, Internet access and the determination of thousands of passionate history buffs who share information and discover long-lost cousins. The whereabouts of the offspring of pioneer families like the Adamsons, who migrated from places like Greene County, is turning into a startlingly large family portrait.
"I can tell you that I'm related to every Adamson in Greene County!" Jerry Adamson declared. "I got interested in genealogy in 1982 when I met cousins in Kansas at a family reunion and we didn't know how we were related. So I started doing some research and got hooked. I've been looking for that stone since 1992. It shows up in papers by Dorothy Hennen, who inventoried grave markers in Greene County."
When Three Rivers Auction Co. came across the stone in an estate sale, the company did an Internet search of the Adamson name. "They went online and found a lady on a genealogical site who knows me, and that's how they found me," Adamson said. "They were surprised when I called them right back. They contacted me April 29, and I called Bill and Betty Van Druff."
His Adamson family Web site is a wealth of information and very active, tracking over a million hits since it went online. Adamson, a retired civil engineer, travels the country doing research and meeting cousins wherever he goes. The story of the Adamson family is the story of Western expansion of frontier America, driven by family dynamics.
"We're still not sure which cemetery to put the stone in. My husband has been to both and hasn't found the base stone. We'll just have to go with what feels right," Betty Van Druff said.
For more information on Adamson family descendents, go to www.adamsonancestry.com.
Copyright Observer Publishing Co. May 11, 2008
*****
The marker was again placed at Smith Cemetery in July 2008, by William Carol Vandruff (FAG #107781420) as a Cenotaph.
*****
8/24/2008 3:33 AM
Family solves grave mystery
By C.R. Nelson
For the Observer-Reporter
JEFFERSON - The mystery of the wandering gravestone of Lawrence A. Adamson, who died as an infant in 1900, finally has been solved, thanks to some family sleuthing and an old newspaper clipping.
When Three Rivers Auction of Washington found themselves in possession of the stone in April as part of an estate sale, they called Greene County Genealogical Society for help. The society put them in contact with genealogy buff Jerry Adamson of New Mexico, who has relatives in the county who were more than willing to get involved.
The end result was a story in this paper on May 9 about the adventure. The stone had returned to its rightful family, but a question still remained.
"I went up and got that stone on April 29, but we really didn't know where to put it," said Bill Van Druff of Mt. Morris. "It could have been from the family plot on the original Adamson home site, or the Smith Adamson Cemetery (off Route 188 near the former Right Way academy.) We just weren't sure."
Family memories and some careful recordkeeping on the part of the genealogical society have helped solve the puzzle.
Betty Van Druff, daughter of Lawrence Adamson, remembers her father saying that before his mother, Elizabeth, died, she had convinced the family to move him and another infant son, Buddy, to be with her at Greene County Memorial Park.
Since the cemetery doesn't allow gravestones, the stones got left behind, perhaps behind a barn, or tucked away in a shed to be forgotten.
Charles (Chuck) Adamson, 84, was 15 when the two children were moved to be with their mother. Would he still remember which cemetery they were taken from?
"The amazing part of this story is that my brother, Chuck's, family came down from Michigan the week before Jerry called us about finding the stone," Betty Van Druff said. "They took him for a ride that Sunday and passed the Smith Cemetery and he said, 'This is where we took the bodies from.' Later, when I called them to tell them about the tombstone, they told me what Chuck had said. It was quite a coincidence. But we still weren't absolutely sure, and we wanted to put the stone in the right place. So, over the last few months, different members of the family talked to Chuck about it, and last week he went for a ride again past the cemetery and identified it again."
The clinching piece of evidence is on record at the genealogical society. An obituary from the Waynesburg Republican confirms that Lawrence had succumbed to pneumonia and was buried in Smith Cemetery.
Smith Adamson Cemetery still has a small plot with three family stones in it. "Two of the stones are the boy's grandparents, Joseph Adamson and Harriet Hoge Adamson. The third is his uncle, Henry. The uncle's stone is leaning, so I figure that when they moved the bodies, the stone shifted," Bill Van Druff speculated.
"We put the stone between the two grandparents, and I attached an aluminum plate to it saying that the bodies had been relocated to Greene County Memorial Park January 11, 1939, but the marker has been returned here. Buddy Adamson was born March 24, 1901, and died January 16, 1902, but we haven't found that stone yet. If we do, it will go here, too."
For more information on Adamson family descendants, go online at www.adamsonancestry.com.
For information about other Greene County families, visit www.cornerstonegenealogy.com or call 724-627-5653.
Copyright 2008, Observer Publishing Co. Washington, PA
1998-2008 All Rights Reserved
*****
Gravesite Details
Removal from Smith Cemetery.
Family Members
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
Advertisement
