I tried growing both varieties. The first time I received 2 to 3 year old trees on the rootstock with the interstem for earlier fruiting. They did fruit, but canker got both before ripening. They made about 90 days before dying. The second try I received younger trees without the interstem. They made about 6 months before dying of canker. I am stubborn, so tried one last time and had this set growing on the southwest part of town. They were younger trees and made about 18 months before dying of canker. They will fruit here if you are in a part of town without disease pressure. When I lived in the Bear Creek (northwest) area, I did not have to spray for bugs or disease....no fungus, bacteria, or PC. The area I now live in Kingwood (northeast) is high in disease and bugs. I doubt that you could keep them alive in the Houston area. If anyplace here has a chance, It would be Bear Creek or west side. Believe it or not, I still have 2 cherry trees. A royal ranier and a lapins. My lapins is @6 to 7 years old and flowered and fruited for the first time this year. It only produced a few blooms and fruit, so I did not net it for birds. The birds ate the few that it made. The lapins is on GM61 and doesn't seem to be as susceptable to canker. Waiting to see what happens next year.

I found the cemetery on USGenWeb and there are Bishop's listed in it but not any of these 3 are listed. Sorry.. I wish they were. I agree with you tho I think It's Hattie, short for Harriett. Have you ever tried doing a foil brushing? It's where you lay a piece of foil over or around the stone and with a soft paint brush dab on it. The foil goes down into the lettering making it easier to read. I have seen photos of it done before that really brought out the lettering.. I tried it once and it didn't work at all for me.

A major illiness could have taken both on the same day. Diptheria was a deaded disease of that time along with others. Food poisoning could do the same. Accidental death could do the same. Travel by horses was unreliable. A horse is a creature of instinct and acts accordingly. Getting kicked by a horse or injuried because a horse bolted did occur.

Re: VOIGT: I have read the above postings with great interest, even though I already knew all of this. To most of you who have posted here, this is a process of discovery resulting from your own research.....and yes, a "mystery!" However, to me, well, this is about my own family, my own Voigt family. Arno Constantine Voigt, MD, of Hawley, PA, of whom I have very fond memories, was my maternal grandfather. I, his granddaughter, was the one who wrote what you refer to as the "unusually informative" Obituary for that "little girl" who lived to be almost 102 years old, Dorothy Alma Voigt Costello, for she was my very beloved mother. We were blessed as she lived in our home with my husband and me, for the last seventeen years of her life...and she was incredibly vibrant, astute, and healthy until the last few weeks of her life. (She married Charles J. Costello, my father, who predeceased her in 1972). She was the eldest of two children born to Arno C. Voigt, MD and his first wife, Elizabeth Loretta Shanley. They also had a son, Arno, who married Regina Domyan. Arno and Regina had two children, a son, Arno (who married Nancy Hall), and a daughter, Elizabeth A. "Sis" Voigt, who was, sadly, murdered in 1943 in Peekskill, NY. (Sis was interred in the Voigt family plot in Honesdale, PA). My grandfather, Arno C. Voigt, MD, subsequently married Rachael Davies. They had no surviving children as you so document. (Even though she was very young, my Mother recalled her stepmother, Rachel Davies, and was very fond of her). The third wife of my Grandfather, Arno C. Voigt, MD, was Eleanor Croop Voigt, (the only Voigt grandmother I ever knew), with whom he had two children. Janet Voigt who married Arthur Silverman and George Voigt, also a Medical Doctor, who married Kathryn Chapman, also of Hawley, PA. As to that "unusually informative" Obituary.....Well, I too, have been fascinated with my own family history, my own genealogy, and when I wrote my Mother's Obituary, it was done with the knowledge of what my Mother would have wanted. She had always placed so much importance on family, family relationships, family history, that I had only to put a pen to the page and it flowed out as if she was, once again, at my side reciting the wonderful, warm, dear, fun, silly family stories, ...and yes, some historic, incredibly tragic and sad events, as well, that have made, at least this Voigt Family History so interesting. So, I trust that some of what is referred to as a "mystery" has now been resolved. Beth