Tombstone Tuesday - Our Darling

Last week, I got another one of those record matches emails from MyHeritage. I am really impressed with the quality of the matches MyHeritage makes - out of several dozen matches they've emailed me so far, I've only had one record not be an actual match. As I was going down the list, I came upon a match for Marian Craddock, a daughter of Otis Craddock, my great-great-grandfather Ernest Craddock's youngest brother. I don't know where the entry in my family tree for Marian came from, as I didn't have any notes or sources on her, and no events outside of birth and death. She was literally a name with two dates, and that was it. Not really even paying attention to the dates in my file, I clicked through to see what record MyHeritage was recommending for Marian.

What I saw immediately caught my attention. It was a photograph of a tombstone on BillionGraves.com, with a stone lamb on the top, and the word BABY in capital letters underneath it. The name on the headstone was Marian Juan Craddock, with dates of June 6, 1930 to February 14, 1931. Underneath the dates were the words "Our Darling". Otis and his wife Alice (Colvin) Craddock had lost a baby girl at the age of 8 months. As my youngest child just turn a year old back in March, I couldn't help but imagine what it would have felt like to lose him at that age, and how hurtful and hard such an experience would have been. I suddenly wanted to know what had happened to Marian, what took her away from her parents at such a young age.

A quick search on MyHeritage gave me the answer.

Marian's death announcement, Billings Gazette, Feb 18,1931

Marian came down with pneumonia on February 12, 1931. Two days later, the illness claimed her life. Two days. That's all it took. A surely awful two days, filled with many more awful and sad days afterwards.

http://billiongraves.com/pages/record/Marian-Juan-Craddock/3852266?record_id=3852266#given_names=Marian&family_names=Craddock

The headstone itself has some appropriate symbols on it. According to the United States Genealogy and History Network website, the lamb means innocence, and usually marks the graves of children, as it does here. The stars symbolize the light of the Spirit overcoming death. I'm not sure what the branches are, but if they are palm branches, they symbolize victory. All giving evidence to the fact that this little girl would be sorely missed by her parents and family.

The newspaper article says two songs were song at her funeral, "When I Shall Fall Asleep", and "Some Sweet Day". I'm not sure if I've found the right songs as I'm not familiar with either of them, but the lyrics I found in a google search seem fitting:

When I Shall Fall Asleep
Words: Moses Shirley, 1904
Music: Charles Gabriel.
Some day the sun of life will set, and I shall fall asleep,
And, leaving all that I hold dear, will find the silence deep:
That mystery which, still unsolved, God and His angels know,
And those who walk the crystal streams where heav'nly breezes blow,
Where grief nor sorrow ever come, nor trouble's billows sweep;
Some day the Reaper will appear, and I shall fall asleep.
Some day the cares of life will cease, and I shall fall asleep,
And, passing from you, I shall see afar the golden street,
And sainted forms of those who dwell upon the other shore,
Behold the loves ones who from us awhile have gone before;
Where soft and cooling pathways lie, where none shall ever weep
Some day the hour for me will come, and I shall fall asleep.
Some day my work will all be done, and I shall fall asleep,
But O what joy to know that I shall wake to never weep!
For where I go we know that God has promised perfect rest
And peace for every aching heart, and every troubled breast;
And love more lasting than our own He'll give to me to keep,
When all my burdens are laid down, and I have gone to sleep.

Some Sweet Day, By and By
Fanny Crosby, 1885.
Howard Doane.
We shall reach the summer land, Some sweet day, by and by;
We shall press the golden strand, Some sweet day, by and by;
Oh, the loved ones watching there, By the tree of life so fair,
Till we come their joy to share, Some sweet day, by and by.
Refrain
By and by, some sweet day,
We shall meet our loved ones gone,
Some sweet day, by and by.

At the crystal river's brink, Some sweet day, by and by;
We shall find each broken link, Some sweet day, by and by;
Then the star that, fading here, Left our hearts and homes so drear,
We shall see more bright and clear, Some sweet day, by and by.
Refrain
Oh, these parting scenes will end, Some sweet day, by and by;
We shall gather friend with friend, Some sweet day, by and by;
There before our Father's throne, When the mists and clouds have flown,
We shall know as we are known, Some sweet day, by and by.
Refrain

I'm sad to know that Otis and Alice had to endure the loss of their little girl, that they never got to see her grow up. But I'm glad to know that I now know a little about her, and that she can be remembered by her family long after her brief time on her earth ended.

Railroad records finally located

Me and my sister on a train 30 years ago

Trains have a unique place in my family history. My older two kids were obsessed with Thomas the Tank Engine for years when they were little, and spent a lot of time building tracks and running the trains on them. I remember taking train rides as a kid, and while I can't remember where we were going or why, I do remember how fun they were. While living in Montana, my folks would take train rides out to Washington to visit my uncle Randy, and to go to Seahawks games. Going a bit further back, one of my 3rd-great-grandfathers, Philip Hammer, died after being struck by a train in California in 1899. Another 3rd-great-grandfather, Adoniram Shute, reportedly died of a heart attack while on a train in Montana in 1909. But on a happier note, several generations of my paternal ancestry worked on trains, or in jobs relating to trains. My grandpa, Fred Gibson, worked for years in the railroad industry. His father and uncles both worked for the railroad, and his maternal grandfather Samuel Joseph did as well.



Fred Gibson in a train, 1970s

 

Knowing that several relatives of mine worked for the railroad, when I got started in genealogy I became interested in knowing more about their time with the railroad, and what the railroad records could tell me about them. Before too long, I found an index to Northern Pacific Railway personnel records. I saw that there were indeed personnel files for my grandpa, his dad, uncles David and Thomas, and what looks like his maternal grandfather, Samuel Joseph. 

 

Index record for Fred J. Gibson, my great-grandfather

Index record for Thomas Lewis Gibson, my grandfather's uncle

 

Unfortunately, at the time I could not figure out how to find the records these indexes were pointing to. One thing led to another, and I never really got back to finding out how to find these records. I made token searches now and again, but never found them.

 

Until this week.

 

I got a text message saying Ancestry had released images and indexes for a record group called "U.S., Northern Pacific Railway Company Personnel Files, 1890-1963". My mind immediately went back to those railroad record indexes from so long ago, and I went to searching. Three minutes later, I hit the jackpot!

 

 

 

Well, part of the jackpot. It turns out they had records for two of the five people I had index numbers for, Frederick John Gibson (my great-grandfather) and Thomas Lewis Gibson (his brother). David H. Gibson, Frederick and Thomas' younger brother, somehow got skipped (they have the records before and after his number, but not his), and the collection on Ancestry stops before Sam Joseph and my grandpa's records. Hopefully future updates will add these records.

 

But I was so happy to finally know what these records look like. I do wish my great-grandfather's file was longer, as it's only eight pages, two of which are scans of the manila folder containing the actual records. But Thomas' file is 117 pages! I've only had time to go through a little of it so far, but what I have seen is fascinating. Over and over again, auditor reports of the various stations mentioned that Thomas was considered competent for a more responsible position. On the other hand, the file also contains a letter stating Thomas was suspended for five days due to leaving his telegraph station to get a drink of water - the last line of the letter states "Your excuse that there was no water in the house and you wanted a drink at that particular time is no excuse whatever."

 

I love living and researching in this digital age, when we have so much information available, and more coming online all the time. I can't wait to see what else I find in these files!