I drove by a cemetery the other day and this grave stone caught my eye. Mostly due to the age of it, and the names “Jesse” and “Elizabeth”. It got me wondering who they were, and what lives they lived over 100 years ago.
So, I did a simple search via my phone, not expecting to come up with anything, but actually came up with a pretty in-depth history of them.
Jesse P. Richmond, pioneer resident of South Haven, Kan., who cast his lot with Kansas over forty years ago, is a native of Ohio, where he was born October 5, 1831, on a farm in Jackson county. He is a son of Lineus and Sarah (Pickard) Richmond. The father was born at Litchfield, Conn., October 4, 1801, and in 1816 came to Jackson county, Ohio, where he resided until 1834, when he removed to Knox county, Illinois, which was then a sparsely settled country, and considered the heart of the wild and unbroken west. Here the senior Richmond spent the remainder of his life and died in 1888. Sarah Pickard, his wife, was a Virginian, born in 1816. They became the parents of nine children, as follows: David, John, Mary Ann, Emily, Sarah, John C. and Solomon, all of whom are now deceased, and Jesse P., the subject of this review; Eliza and Guy W., who reside at Centralia, Wash.
Jesse P. Richmond was married January 25, 1852, to Miss Elizabeth Stinson, daughter of John and Hannah (Cunigum) Stinson, of Knox county, Illinois. Mrs. Richmond was born September 22, 1830, at Zanesville, Ohio, her parents being pioneers of that State.
To Mr. and Mrs. Richmond have been born seven children: Ullman, born October 26, 1852; Thomas G., born August 22, 1856; Ellery J., born April 4, 1858; Harry, born April 3, 1860; Jesse A., born June 3, 1862; Nettie, born August 2, 1864, died October 18, 1865, and Charles N., born September 6, 1866, is now deceased. Mr. Richmond came to Sumner county, Kansas, in 1877, locating on Government land in South Haven township. He was one of the first settlers of Sumner county, and here engaged in farming and stock raising, and has met with satisfactory success from the start. In 1910 he retired, after having gained a competency, and is now enjoying the fruits of an active and well spent life. He has been a life-long Democrat, but never aspired to hold public office. He has been a Mason since 1860, and the family are members of the Congregational church.
It’s just so fascinating that this is even possible to find info of two regular people who died over 100 years ago, in rural Kansas.
It’s actually also very romantic as well, that these two people met, married, had kids, and are buried next to each other. I still can not stop imagining what they and their lives were like. The brief history of them states that they were farmers and cattle raisers, so like many at the time, just up at first dawn, and worked all day til night.
Jesse and Elizabeth had a long married, several kids, so must’ve had a good marriage? Jesse passed on when he was 83, and Elizabeth year else more, and passed when she was 92 years of age.
I am unable to find any photographs of them, at least not on the net, but surely they still have family around in the area?
There is another grave stone next to theirs that has the same “Richmond”, but I couldn’t really read it from the distance I was (I didn’t want to enter the cemetery), but was able to make out what some of the grave stone says via the picture on my computer, and it turns out to be “Charles N. Richmond, which was one of Jesse’s and Elizabeth’s children, who died at a young age. The found history doesn’t state the year of death, just the name and birth date: “Charles N., Born September 6, 1866”, but it seems the grave stone lists the death date as: “December 10th, 1885”, which would’ve made him round 19 years of age at death.
The grave stone/marker itself is pretty interesting. You can tell the stone has aged, but the marble still looks brand new. The chances are that this is the actual grave stone that Jesse and his wife Elizabeth chose to mark their sons grave, which is a bit eerie, but still sweet.
Anyways, I just found it all very interesting and fascinating.
