Metropolis

Sunday the 21st of May-

We have several family members that we know of (and perhaps several we DON'T know of) who are buried at the little "church cemetery" in New Columbia, Illinois called New Hope. We were given some photocopies of three headstones there, not extremely legible, and no address. This place is such a taken-for-granted cemetery I haven't even found it listed online with other respectible cemeteries... or if it is, I'm too blind to see it.

At any rate, while sifting again through stuff I have I found two funeral mementos from Miller Funeral Home in Metropolis saying both of those people were buried at the above mentioned cemetery. (Hattie Teague- Sharp- Smith and Gerald Roby... Burlington R. Sharp, former minister of the church, and his wife Nora are also buried there, as are a few Teagues) On a whim, I checked to see if this place was still around and if it was, someone should be able to tell me where this place actually is.

The funeral home is still there, been in business over 30 years. Steven was very helpful and tomorrow will fax me what numbers and contacts he can find relating to the place. I hope whomever is keeper of the grounds also knows who is keeper of the records, and then I can find out exactly who, when, and how they are all related... Gotta take the bull by the horns.

Anxiously waiting for that fax...

Monday the 22nd of May-

I called to follow up on this and spoke to Jason this time. He said Steven was still going to fax me the information he had, but he also told me over the phone the name of the caretaker of the grounds, Carl Crockett. A phone number for him/them is 618-524-4928. In the phone book the church would have the address of Rural Route 1 Belknap, Illinois (church phone in the book is 618-524-7649), however the mailing address is 3417 Rice Hill Road, Grantsburg, Illinois 62943.

Jason says the cemetery is still well kept. The church folks or Carl would know more about it...

I also asked him about the records for Hattie Teague- Sharp- Smith and Gerald who had a brief stay at their establishment. He said if he found anything he'd mail it to me. Hooray!