Even if you read the gravestone, it's not going to tell you much about her.

Was there a local newspaper back in that day that might have announced Sophie's death? You might check with your county or state historical or geneaology assns.on this since you have the date of her death. I've found little "death write-ups" in modest "community newspapers"---often just one sheet---from the 1850ties onward in the past.

Maybe it isn't "of" at the end. I have "of" in my head, and it's hard to see anything else, but maybe it's just one word like chloecat suggested.

Susan, does the cemetery have any records?

This has me so intrigued - I really do hope that you are able to find out what it says, alisande. You said that you had taken a photo of the grave of Thomas Lindsay and I was wondering if you would be able to post it here. It probably won't help in finding out the wording on Sophie's gravestone, but I am just interested in seeing it. Thanks.

Here it is, Cheryl.

Susan, I meant to answer your post, too. I'm sure the cemetery keeps records now (people are still being buried there), but I don't know how far they go back. If I don't get anywhere by taking another look, I could check. I could also follow kfca's suggestion of contacting the Historical Society.

If Sophie A. Clark was the 'bride of' Thomas Lindsey, wouldn't she be Sophie Lindsey?

I haven't read all these posts and maybe somebody's asked you, but have the checked the census records for these folks? Not that it would interpret that middle word for you, but I'd be so curious about the family at this point. I love the research and I'm nosey, so I'd want to have that tid bit of info.

This is the first time I've read this post and find it facinating. I love hearing stories of people's lives and now want to know who these people were and what they were to each other. I also wish someone would straighten her headstone out.

Vannie, one of the genealogists checked the census records and reported back:

I checked the census records and there was a Sophie Clark, wife of Stacy B Clark in the 1850 census, but then she was also in the 1860 census. So the last name must be Lindsey.

This was posted above, but I thought I'd save you the trip. :-)

Kath, can they straighten the stones? I thought they'd be too fragile at this point.

She died in 1851 at age 33, so she was born in 1818.

He died in 1839 at age 70 years, if I'm reading his stone right.

So, when he died at age 70, she was age 21. Is that correct?

Could this be another term like "relict"? (In England and Scotland a widow who did not not remarry or a daughter who is a spinster would be some man's "relict". Nice, eh?)

It does appear to be a 'reused' stone, because of the indented portions.

I think it is one word, not 'something of'.

Odd that it has neither date of birth nor the usual "33 years, two months, ten days" in lieu of DOB.

I've enjoyed "How Lincoln Learned to Read", Daniel Wolff. It's not about learning to read. It's how twelve famous Americans 'got their bearings' as young people. REAL history of their times.

What about 'Wife of'? I do think that the last word is 'of'. If you compare the last two letters of the first word with the small 'f' and small 'e' elsewhere, you'll see that they match.

That is interesting Chisue. I tried BableFish looking for translations of 'companion' and 'beloved one' and similar terms that could have been used for an unmarried relationship, but they of course do not give archaics just current usage. I thought if I found a translation that looked similar to the weird word on the stone it might answer the riddle.

A little geanealogy search story I recently encountered.

I was trying to find the birth certificate of a person who I knew, from other sources, was born in Indiana in 1895 rather than in Virginia in 1881 as he had always claimed. I thought I had hit a brick wall on this one when I found out that Indiana didn't start issuing birth certificates until 1907.

I knew the name of the small Indiana town of this man's birth, so I contacted the librarian at the public library there via email to find out whether there might have been 1) a newspaper there in 1895; and 2) a published notice of his birth.

The librarian got interested in my project, scanned microfilm on the tiny newspaper that turned out did exist (only a weekly), and, sure enough, his birth was announced there a few days afterward in February of 1895.

It got even better because she contacted me again a few days later. Seems their county, in earlier days, used to keep a book, with information on individual births penned in, such info you would find on a modern birth certificate. This was probably years ago transferred to microfilm and, I guess, forgotten as she found it in a dusty drawer in a storeroom. She said even she didn't know of its existence until she started seriously looking around. Apparently nobody knows where the original book is.

The librarian very kindly, without asking for compensation, snailed-mailed me copies of both the newspaper (one page) & the birth ledger book page, and I had my "proof". (I later sent the libary a donation for her trouble).

BTW, here's just a few tidbits from that 1895 Indiana newspaper that you might enjoy:

"See those new dress goods at the Gold Mine. Just the thing for wedding
suits."

"M. R. Connelly's little boy has been quite sick with the sore throat, but not dangerous."

"For a clean shave and a neat hair cut go to "Barber Stark."

And maybe my favorite:

"DeWitt's Witch Hazel Salve cured J. G. Gorrell of the worst case of eczema ever known in the state of Indiana. It cures scalds, burns, indolent sores, and never fails to cure piles."

Susan,
Are Sophia and Th Lindsay's markers near each other?
I am seeing the first letter as an L and the last a
number 1.
I am wonder if it was a code for where her next of kin are buried.
I know I am grabbing at straws....but this has me really curious!

I guess everyone is looking forward to tomorrow, huh? :)

Was thinking how cool it would be if we were to start a story about Sophie then I realized how crazy we can get around here. With everyone feeling such a connection to Sophie, surely someone would post something that others would think offensive. Not such a good idea. Would have been fun, though. LOL

Hi there, My sister, who frequents this forum sent me this pic to see if I could assist in deciphering the word your trying to view. When I put it into Adobe Photoshop & enlarged it, it looked like the word "Bride" in font which was missing pieces to it. In photoshop I wrote in black what looked to be the missing pieces of the font and hopefully if I do this right, you can view it through the url that is included with my post......

Karen :)

Here is a link that might be useful: http://www.picturetrail.com/sfx/album/view/22708690

Interesting! But, the word "of" still looks too close to the first word. What do I know, though? LOL

I'm really hoping this mystery can be solved without doubt.

Karen - who's your sister? Isn't it funny how we're getting family involved? My daughter and grandson both spent time trying to decipher. :)

Kfca (I must stop thinking of you as Kafka), that's a great story. I love the way people jump in to help--just as all of you have done here.

My old (1850 or so) farmhouse was constructed of wide hemlock planks. At some point, probably early on, newspaper was wedged between the boards as insulation. When my son was little he liked to carefully pull the impossibly-crumpled pieces of newspaper out and attempt to smooth them out. He succeeded pretty well with one piece, and we saw similar notices. I remember a minister was confined to bed, and somebody got a new driving horse. Somewhere I have a copy of that front page.

Salgal, one of the things I want to check tomorrow is what stones are near Sophie's. Maybe Thomas Lindsey had a son.

Yeah, Moonie, I can just imagine how that project would turn out. :-)

Karen, good job!! I wouldn't be at all surprised if that's what I come up with tomorrow. In fact, I'm betting on it.

Meant to add two things:

Oldgardener, that's correct. But stranger pairings have taken place. :-)

Paula, yes, she would be Sophie Lindsay. But gravestones often list the woman by her maiden name--and thank goodness for that, I say. As it is, they're almost always positioned under the husband's name, identified as "his wife." Not necessarily a bad thing, but my feeling is there's room for variation. I like that the maiden name shows more of a separate identity.

Well, inspired by Alisande, I've signed up at Find-a-Grave, and have been out photographing requested gravestones in a nearby cemetery.

Having said that, I've found numerous stones that show the birthplace of the individual, so I'm standing by the "Didcot" inscription. :)

Does the Find-a-Grave group have a forum where you could post the photo and ask them for their opinion? I'm assuming these people must spend countless hours in cemeteries - maybe they'll recognize it.

Can you tell I'm getting pulled into this intrigue?
Maire

I've been surfing the net looking at pictures of old headstones and it looks to me like it says "wife of"

The "Didcot" as a birthplace would not make sense to me since I found that Didcot was know as Dudcote until the late 19th century. The weird word still may be a birthplace name though.

I think it does look like "brideof". As far as no space between the words, at MH forum, we were looking at photos of old tombstones that one of the members posted and there was a word that some couldn't figure out, stating the person's birth place. It was tuscaloosaala. Tuscaloosa Alabama.

can I ask where in PA this headstone is?

I have never seen a headstone that had a maiden name on it - unless she was never married.

can I ask in what relationship are the two stones - side by side - across the plot across the cemetery?

Columbusgardener, it's in northeast PA. Here's an example of what I mean:

can I ask in what relationship are the two stones - side by side - across the plot across the cemetery?

I'm not sure I understand the question, but I plan to check out the stones near Sophie's when I visit the cemetery today. It's a beautiful day! I'm leaving as soon as it dries up a bit more. Heavy dew last night.

Chloecat, good for you!! I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I do.

I just meant are the stones of thomas and sophie next to each other - or are they apart this is an indicator of the physical relationship between them. She may have remarried after his death and this is a "new" name - she could have outlived that marriage as well. If she had children with Thomas they may have felt it was important that she be remembered as his wife ( or she cared for him ).

as for the maiden names - I have never seen an original stone that had a maiden name on it ( certainly not as old as clarks) but the one pictured here says a few things.

it may be the only stone these graves ever had - but it was not put there when the male passed.

it was purchased by their children ( the mother and father at the base suggests that) at a later date, perhaps when the mother died. In a small town it might have been important to them as there were others in her family in the same cemetery. Or she was a genealogist who knew how important that might be!

I think it reads "child of"

I'm back. Whew! I don't know how Nancy Drew found the energy to solve all those mysteries . . . I guess she had youth going for her. :-)

I'm pretty sure it says Wife of. I think the cracks in the old stone have been confusing us, creating new letters from old. For instance if you see "Bride" and you follow the lower left loop of the d, you'll find it's actually part of a longer crack in the stone. Theoretically, it's possible that it's also part of an engraved letter. But after studying the stone for some time today, I think I can separate cracks from engraving.

Here are two new photos of the engraving. I'm including a smaller one because--as Vannie mentioned above--it seems to be easier to read that way.

Now here's a rubbing. I'm not experienced at this, so someone else could probably have done a better job. But letters do appear.

And here I've filled in the letters I see. I point to one crack, but actually there are several that have impacted the letters.

The stone next to Sophie's is this one:

An inscription on the bottom begins, "She who loved thee living....." Since Sophie predeceased George, we can probably assume she wasn't the "she" referred to. They are close in age and died in the same year. They might have been brother and sister. Twins, maybe? That would explain why they are buried close together.

There's one more stone a little ways away, planted under a tree hydrangea and totally unreadable. There are no other stones nearby. Thomas Lindsay is a stone's throw away--but only if you have a good arm.

So I think we have a big W, followed by an i, an f, and an e. And then of.

I'll be interested to hear what you think.

Susan

Thanks for going back and investigating this further. I think you may be right...wife of.

Popped in just to look for this one thread, then gotta scoot!

I think you might be right, too, Susan.

Wonder what killed both Sophie and George at such young ages?

I agree, I think it's "Wife of". With the new photos you took, the two f's follow the same shape and size, as well as the two O's. Good detective work Susan!!!!

This has been a fascinating thread! I too would love to know more about Sophie.

Interesting thread...I have been keeping up with it for a while and I just shared it with DH..He cant figure it out either..Think Sophie would get a laugh out of all the people 159 years later thinking about her??

Thank you for following up with this thread. I agree that I think it says Wife of. I was like a little kid waiting for Christmas when looking for this thread lol. I need to get out more or something ;)

I was just looking at the history of epidemics through the years, and apparently North America had a influenza epidemuc in 1851. Of course, that would totally be conjecture that George and/or Sophie were victims. But not out of the question.

My 40 year old maternal grandfather died from influenza in the 1920ties in Michigan.

Yay! I was pretty sure about it, and glad that you all can 'see' it now. Very interesting thread.

Alisande,
Possibly you had explained in a previous post why you chose Sophie Clark for the research. I am curious and wondered about the reason.
This mystery had many of us trying to figure out the wording and I also think it was wife.
It was a very interesting thread..
Lois

Lois, you'll probably be disappointed in my answer. I went to this little country cemetery to take pictures of gravestones to be uploaded to FindAGrave. When we create memorials on that website, we note any family relationships that are mentioned on the stone. Sometimes a person with knowledge of the family tree will add additional data, but often it starts with what's on the gravestone.

So......before I created a memorial on FindAGrave for Sophie, I wanted to know how she was related to Thomas Lindsey so I could include that information. But I couldn't read the engraving.

I'm afraid that's all. :-)

The way this KT thread evolved is a good example of why I love the Internet. So many people from different places all joined together in support of this quest. You might say we were bound by our curiosity. And now we all wish we could know more.

Wonderful investigative job!

Thanks for the follow-up. Fascinating. I need to find out more about Find a Grave.

HOORAY! It's still a mystery why she's "Clark" if she was married to "Lindsey", and why she's buried next to "George Clark". (Or, rather, he was buried beside her, since she predeceased him.) Lots of possibilities, including that she'd wed Lindsey to qualify for his Rev. War pension -- assuming he had one.

See, this is why genealogy is so intriguing!

Thanks for following up, Susan.

Alisande,
No, I am not disappointed in your explanation.I did not know there was such a website or that genealogy could be so interesting.
Lois

I find findagrave.com fascinating. I was just piddling on it one day and found a great grandfather that I had never tried to research b/c I was so busy on another line of the family. I menitoned it to an uncle and he said "you will never find that on your own." How right he was!!! It was way off the beaten path and only had 4 graves, but years ago someone had shown him where it was, so, he carried me and showed me. It was so in the middle of nowhere that I would have never found it. I love all the things you can find on that website. Very interesting.

Now we want to more about Sophie!! :D

This has been the most enjoyable threat I've read at KT in a very long time.

Thanks PI's.

This has all been interesting. One thing to note is that when a woman married she was considered a "bride" during the first year of marriage. Sophie could have died during that time and been designated as such on the headstone. The designation would have indicated that yes, they were legally married but they did not share a long life together where they were known in the community as a 'couple' and they were probably childless. This archaic designation is sometimes still used today with introductions, such as "This is my cousin Jake and his new bride Mary" or "My brother has returned from his honeymoon with his new bride".

Knowing local history can sometimes yield clues. Often times there was a sweeping pestilence that wiped out huge numbers suddenly and headstone markers where put up fast or further engraved years afterwards when some of the defining information had been lost or was unknown.

One of the most interesting bits of history I learned was the time period designated Year Without A Summer. Large numbers of people died in the Northeast.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_Without_a_Summer

Here is a link that might be useful: Year Without A Summer

Susan, this has been a most fascinating trip. Is there any chance Sophie's current descendants might contact you and you could find out what they know?

I have been fascinated by this post. My great-great- grandmother's tombstone shows her maiden name and "wife of" my g-g-grandfather. My theory was that it was a Quaker thing, since she came from a Quaker family and he did not, but I haven't found anything to confirm the theory. He his buried on the other side of the cemetery beside his second wife.

I am a fan of find a grave, and thank you for helping out.