walking through the past
today i spent some time in the wimberley cemetery. we own a plot there and i go check on it from time to time. for some reason, i always find something valuable in a cemetery.
i think it has only been a month since my last visit; but, things are different in wimberley. the dirt road that bisects the cemetery has been upgraded. the roadway has been lined with railroad ties and the space between filled with crushed granite. it makes for a fine road and looks great. thanks.
there is a new grave near ours. a little boy named joshua has died recently. he was 6. i don't have any idea who this boy is or why he died; but, as i stared at the place where his little body is waiting, i couldn't help but think about my own little boy. he is almost 6. it took a while to compose myself. this is the one reason i don't like cemeteries.
our site looked fine enough so i did some wandering. for a while now i have been looking for the gravesite of john hill. i have mentioned him before. he is the earliest ancestor of mine i know to have moved to texas. in the late 1850's he moved to the wimberley area and started farming. i have made perfunctory searches for his and his wife's markers in the past, but i was determined to find them today. i have seen a picture of the gravestones before, so i decided to start looking for shapes. not the best procedure, i'm sure, but it was a starting point. today was my lucky day. as i was walking around, i was looking at most of the older stones (that i knew were not the ones i was seeking) just checking names. i also noted that there were a good number of confederate battle flags posted near the headstones of many of the older graves. well, i like to think i'm not that thick, so i found a new searching medium. it wasn't 5 minutes before i spotted john and mary hill side by side. their gravesites were "entombed" in stone- almost like a sarcophagus. i think these are the only two in the cemetery, so it is curious to me. john's is sinking a bit in the middle, but that seems to add to the character. their position in the cemetery is a testament to their early arrival in the area. the hill's next-door neighbors are mr. and mrs. pleasant wimberley. i guess that's pretty cool.
there is something alluring about seeking one's past. i should say progenitors. genealogy is a booming business all around the world, and historical societies are found in every city and every country. the link from their lives to mine is as short as it seems long. something about them ties me to this place. that i can walk and swim where they once did the same brings a kind of peace to me. it is hard to explain, even to myself. i guess i will keep searching for their lives in mine until i can hear their stories resonate in my ears. oh, i'll never leave hays county, brother.
i think it has only been a month since my last visit; but, things are different in wimberley. the dirt road that bisects the cemetery has been upgraded. the roadway has been lined with railroad ties and the space between filled with crushed granite. it makes for a fine road and looks great. thanks.
there is a new grave near ours. a little boy named joshua has died recently. he was 6. i don't have any idea who this boy is or why he died; but, as i stared at the place where his little body is waiting, i couldn't help but think about my own little boy. he is almost 6. it took a while to compose myself. this is the one reason i don't like cemeteries.
our site looked fine enough so i did some wandering. for a while now i have been looking for the gravesite of john hill. i have mentioned him before. he is the earliest ancestor of mine i know to have moved to texas. in the late 1850's he moved to the wimberley area and started farming. i have made perfunctory searches for his and his wife's markers in the past, but i was determined to find them today. i have seen a picture of the gravestones before, so i decided to start looking for shapes. not the best procedure, i'm sure, but it was a starting point. today was my lucky day. as i was walking around, i was looking at most of the older stones (that i knew were not the ones i was seeking) just checking names. i also noted that there were a good number of confederate battle flags posted near the headstones of many of the older graves. well, i like to think i'm not that thick, so i found a new searching medium. it wasn't 5 minutes before i spotted john and mary hill side by side. their gravesites were "entombed" in stone- almost like a sarcophagus. i think these are the only two in the cemetery, so it is curious to me. john's is sinking a bit in the middle, but that seems to add to the character. their position in the cemetery is a testament to their early arrival in the area. the hill's next-door neighbors are mr. and mrs. pleasant wimberley. i guess that's pretty cool.
there is something alluring about seeking one's past. i should say progenitors. genealogy is a booming business all around the world, and historical societies are found in every city and every country. the link from their lives to mine is as short as it seems long. something about them ties me to this place. that i can walk and swim where they once did the same brings a kind of peace to me. it is hard to explain, even to myself. i guess i will keep searching for their lives in mine until i can hear their stories resonate in my ears. oh, i'll never leave hays county, brother.
posted by cm at 11/08/2005
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