Mother and I were on our way home from Advance or somewhere southwest of Cape when I spotted a side road I didn’t recognize near Arbor. I turned north on CR 262, then took a quick right onto CR 261. I found Hitt Cemetery on the south side of the road about a mile further on, just before you get to a curve.
A cold day in December
It was a cold day in December 2011, the shadows were getting long and the wind was whipping around. I put the Hitt Cemetery down on my list for a warmer day, but I haven’t been back down CR 261 since then.
Someone named Valerie Holifield took the time to document 75 of the graves in the cemetery. Sue Kinder wasn’t listed because Ms. Holifield did her survey in 2002.
I’m intrigued by photos
I’ve been collecting pictures of tombstones with photos on them. Hitt had at least two.
A splash of color
The Dunning marker brought a splash of color to the cold day.
The Find a Grave website has 83 internments listed, with photos of about 41% of them.
Some of my ancestor’s were buried there – in fact, many of them were “Hitt’s.” Don’t ask me to explain where they are on the family tree. Somewhere on my paternal grandmother’s side, but beyond that, I don’t remember. At least another generation back since her maiden name wasn’t Hitt. My Dad would spend hours explaining it if you gave him the slightest opening. He hunts ancestors the way I hunt geocaches – rather obsessively. We share cemetery stories sometimes. I am pretty sure that some day we’ll both insist on stopping in one while traveling together – for completely different reasons though. Poor mom will be left in the car rolling her eyes at us.
Ken, Check this out. Good friend, Michael Landeros in Benton has company, Forever Granite that laser engraves headstones and it is stunning. Check his facebook page for the Jansen Headstone. I saw that one in his shop and this photo doesn’t do it justice. He truly is an artist, I am working with him on another project.
https://www.facebook.com/ForeverGranite
Hi Ken,
I thought I knew where this was ..but no, the Hitt
cemetery I was thinking of is off of CR 203, much closer to Cape. I grew up on a farm off of CR 209,
and the Keller family cemetery is off of CR 208, – with adjoining swimming pool -, is close by both. The Suedekum cemetery is also nearby on CR 213.
In some parts of the country rural people preferred to be buried ‘at home’. In Cape county, the little family cemeteries date to a time before churches were organized, and so have some very old
graves.
Thanks so much for the photos and stories and narratives!
Tim