Dinkler Family Plot Video & Slideshow (Wordless Wednesday)

Jacob Dinkler, Confectioner

Jacob Dinkler
Died Oct 5, 1897
In His 76th Year

Eglantine Square
Yesterday, I introduced you to Louis J. Dinkler, a baker turned hotel baron. Today, I would like you to meet his business teacher and father, Jacob Dinkler.

According to census records and his tombstone inscription, Jacob was born between 1821 and 1826 in Bavaria. He emigrated from Germany to the United States in 1855. He was married to Josephine, and they had two sons.

Jacob was a confectioner. Sometimes called a candymaker, a confectioner is a maker of confections (fancy, sweet foods). He was a craftsman who was determined "not to be surpassed."

Jacob had a bakery and "ice cream saloon" on Cherry Street in Macon. While I can still walk that same street today, I wish I could go back in time to visit the bakery of Mr. Dinkler and taste some of his sweet treats!

Here are a couple of 1860-1861 advertisements for Mr. Jacob Dinkler and his line of confections:

"A NEW BAKERY.
MR. JACOB DINKLER,
FOR the past six years engaged with Henry Horne, Esq., in the baking business, would respectfully inform the citizens of Macon, and surrounding country, that he has opened, on Cherry street, below the Georgia Telegraph Office, and next door to W. T. Nelson's, a Cake Bakery and Confectionary.

Persons may rely on finding a good assortment of Cakes, gotten up in the best style of the culinary art, and of the best material. He is determined not to be surpassed.

Parties furnished at short notice. A share of public patronage solicited...J. DINKLER
Macon, Sept 5, 1860"

"TO THE
LADIES OF MACON!
As good as the BEST will always be found at the
Ice Cream Saloon of Jacob Dinkler,
ON CHERRY STREET.
EXCELLENT ICE CREAM furnished at all hours of the day and evening. Also Cakes, confectionaries and everything in my line will be furnished at moderate prices to Ladies, Excursion parties, Pic Nics, Weddings, &c., &c.

Give me a trial if you wish to be satisfied...JACOB DINKLER"

Louis J. Dinkler: From Baker to Hotel Baron

Louis Jacob Dinkler, pictured here with his wife Rose, was born 21 March 1864 in Nashville, Tennessee to Jacob Dinkler of Bavaria and wife Josephine. Louis' father immigrated to the United States from Germany in 1855.

Jacob Dinkler was a confectioner and presumably taught his son Louis the trade. Louis and his family were residing on Mulberry Street in Macon in the year 1900. Louis' occupation was listed as baker. By 1910, Louis was a proprietor in the hotel business.

An article in the 9 July 1911 Macon Weekly Telegraph tells of the opening of Louis' first Hotel Dinkler:

"LOUIS DINKLER INVITES PUBLIC TO SEE HOTEL
Reception to Be Held Monday Evening From 7 to 10 O'Clock -- Open to Receive Guests Tuesday
The new Hotel Dinkler, at Fourth and Mulberry streets, will be thrown open for the inspection of the public Monday night from 7 to 10 o'clock, and Louis Dinkler, the manager and proprietor, has extended an invitation to all of his friends to call during those hours and go through the building.

...It contains eighty rooms, forty of which are equipped with baths. Mr. and Mrs. Dinkler will reside in the hotel."

Three years later, with the hotel a success, Louis sold the property. He then retired to New York to rest. After some time passed, Louis Dinkler became head of the Atlanta based Dinkler Hotels. By 1921, Louis Dinkler was operating the "best known hotel in the South," Atlanta's Kimball House. Carling Dinkler, the son of Louis and Rose, joined the business after graduating from college. Father and son soon after became owners of the Ansley Hotel of Atlanta and the Phoenix of Waycross, GA. The following is a 1921 advertisement:


Sadly, Louis Jacob Dinkler committed suicide in the basement of his leased Piedmont Hotel in Atlanta, Fulton County, Georgia 30 November 1928. Louis was laid to rest in the family burial plot in the Eglantine Square section of Rose Hill Cemetery. Here is a 2 December 1928 obituary and funeral notice from the Atlanta Constitution:

"FINAL RITES TODAY FOR LOUIS DINKLER
Last Service Will Be Conducted at St. Joseph's Church in Macon.
Funeral services for Louis J. Dinkler, 67-year-old hotel magnate and beloved head of the Dinkler Hotels system who died by his own hand late Friday night, will be conducted at 3:30 o'clock this afternoon at St. Joseph's church in Macon.

Mr. Dinkler had been in ill health for a number of months and in a sudden fit of despondency over his condition shot and killed himself in the basement of the Piedmont hotel shortly after 10 o'clock Friday night.

Mr. Dinkler was one of the best known as well as one of the most successful hotel operators of the south. He was chairman of the board of directors of the system which operates ten hostelries in eight southern and middle-western cities. His son Carling Dinkler is president and general manager of the chain. He was known to hundreds of travelers from all sections of the country.

In addition to his widow and his son, Mr. Dinkler is survived by a brother, O. J. Dinkler, who is also a hotel man. Carling Dinkler was in Nashville at the time of his father's death and did not arrive in Atlanta until Saturday morning."

(L. J. Dinkler's signature on 1923 U.S. passport application.)
An interesting note: Leon Sebring Dure, who is also buried in Rose Hill Cemetery and has been written about on this blog previously, was a pallbearer at Mr. Dinkler's funeral.

For images of Dinkler hotels and information about later generations of the family, as well as their continued success in the hotel business, you might wish to visit Dinkler Hotels at SouthernEdition.com.


Sources for this post include tombstone inscriptions, newspaper articles, census records, death record, and passport application. Specifics available upon request.

In Memoriam: Mary Waggenstein Resigned Her Pure Soul to God

Mary Waggenstein
May 16, 1833
Dec 29, 1884

Eglantine Square
11 January 1885
Macon Weekly Telegraph
"In Memoriam
Died, in Macon, Ga, Monday, December 29, 1884, Mrs. Mary Waggenstein, a native of Hesse Darmstadt, in the fifty second year of her age.

After a life of love filled with kindness and charity to all, our noble hearted friend resigned her pure soul to God. She was not sick long, for our Heavenly Father knew she was always ready to go.

Our hearts are bowed in sorrow at our loss, and it will be hard, very hard, for us never again to see her noble face on earth.

The great comfort and consolation of her grief stricken husband, children, sister and friends is that she has exchanged her cross for a crown.

When on earth she loved us so dearly and spent all of her life in ministering to our wants and cheering us in our sorrows, then how much more will she not think of us when enjoying eternal bliss.

Our loss is her great gain, and we will not be so selfish as to wish her back to the work and cares of this world. We must be resigned to the holy will of God. He knows what is best for us and we must pray to meet her in our heavenly home, where the sorrow of parting is not known, and pray that at the close of out life, our hands and hearts may be filled with good works and deeds, like hers. Farewell kind friend, we had to part on earth, we will meet in heaven... A FRIEND"

William Bonnell Once Occupied Chair of Natural Science at Shanghai, China

William B. Bonnell
Oct 31, 1847
Mar 30, 1912
I am the resurrection and the life.

Eglantine Square Block 1, Lot 32
31 March 1912
Macon Weekly Telegraph
Viewed online at GenealogyBank.

"PROF. BONNELL EXPIRES AFTER MONTH'S ILLNESS
Head of Department of Science at Wesleyan,
WAS NOTED EDUCATOR
Son of Late John M. Bonnell, Former President of Wesleyan -- Once Occupied Chair of National Science at Shanghai, China
Professor William B. Bonnell, the well known educator and scientist, died Saturday afternoon at 2:35 o'clock at his home in Vineville after an illness of four weeks. On March 1 he was stricken with paralysis of the left side later resulting in complications causing his death.

Prof. Bonnell was born October 31, 1847, at Athens, Ga, being the eldest son of John M. Bonnell and Mary A. Bonnell, the former at one time president of Wesleyan Female College and a well remembered and conspicuous figure in the earlier history of Macon. It was at this time that Prof. Bonnell was engaged in the Atlanta campaign of the civil war, and some time later he entered the University of Georgia where he graduated with the B. S. degree. After leaving college Mr. Bonnell engaged in civil engineering and did his part toward the building of some of the earlier railroads throughout Georgia. His national aptitude for teaching, however, soon manifested itself so strongly that he gave up engineering and followed in his father's steps. His phenomenal powers in this direction soon won for him an exalted position as an educator throughout the south. In 1884 he volunteered for missionary service in the foreign field and accepted the chair of natural sciences in the Anglo-Chinese college of Shanghai, China. Here his personality and undying zeal continued to win him many true friends, not a few among whom were the Chinese, with whom he became closely affiliated. He has many personal friends among the highly educated and cultured people of that race now. Returning to America in 1895 he was elected to the position of head of the department of natural science at Wesleyan College, to which work he diligently attended up until the last few days of his life.

Prof. Bonnell is survived by his wife, Mrs. Alice Wright Bonnell; seven children, Miss Lillian Bonnell, John Wright Bonnell, Mrs. W. L. Clifton, all of New York City; Geo. H. Bonnell, of Atlanta; H. W. Bonnell, Miss Alice Wright Bonnell, Miss Gladys Bonnell; his brother, John F. Bonnell, of Emory College, Oxford, Ga, and his sister Mrs. H. H. Stone, of Oxford, Ga.

The ceremony will be conducted in Wesleyan college chapel by the Rev. J. T. Ryder, assisted by the Rev. W. N. Ainsworth, Sunday afternoon at 4 o'clock. Interment will be made at Rose Hill cemetery. The body will be in state from 12:30 p.m. until the hour of the funeral."


William was also part of the University of Georgia Centennial Alumni Catalog of 1901. If he indeed filled out the questionnaire, the above is his name written by his hand.

Mrs. Bonnell Dead

Mary Ann Eliza
Daughter of W. J. & C. M. Morton
Wife of John M. Bonnell
1827 - 1904
"Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord."

Eglantine Square Block 1, Lot 32
1 May 1904
Macon Weekly Telegraph
"MRS. BONNELL DEAD.
Passed Away at Oxford, Ga. -- Remains Arrive Here Today.
Mrs. Mary Ann Bonnell, aged 77 years, widow of Dr. John M. Bonnell, who for many years was the president of Wesleyan Female college, passed away yesterday morning at about 6 o'clock at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Stone, in Oxford, Ga. She had been in declining health for the past several years and her death was not entirely unexpected.

Mrs. Bonnell was a former resident of Macon, but moved to Oxford when her husband, who was then president of Wesleyan, died, and has since lived there with her daughter.

The deceased is survived by two sons and one daughter -- Professor W. B. Bonnell of Wesleyan, Dr. John F. Bonnell of Emory college and Mrs. Harry M. Stone of Oxford.

The remains will arrive here today at 1:10 p.m. and the funeral services will be held at Rose Hill cemetery by Rev. J. S. Scruggs of the Vineville Methodist church.

The pall-bearers will be Messrs. DuPont Guerry, R. F. Burden, C. T. King, W. G. Solomon, J. J. Cobb and Isaac Hardeman."

Geraldine Hoge Laid to Rest 87 Years Ago Today

Geraldine Ware
Wife of Joseph Wells Hoge
Dec 15, 1891
Aug 4, 1922

Gerald Ware Lot
Eglantine Square
6 August 1922
Macon Weekly Telegraph
"DEATHS AND FUNERALS
MRS. GERALDINE HOGE
Funeral services for Mrs. Geraldine Hoge, wife of J. Wells Hoge, of Atlanta, and daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Gerald Ware, of Macon, will be held from Burghard's Chapel, 718 Cherry street, this (Sunday) afternoon at 5 o'clock, Rev. Osgood Cook, pastor of the Vineville Methodist Church, officiating. Interment will be in Rose Hill Cemetery."

Note: An additional funeral notice in the same edition states Geraldine died in Atlanta.

One of the Few Remaining Southern Dames of the Old Regime was Virginia Cope

Virginia Sullivan
Wife of John L. Cope
May 17, 1826
Mar 30, 1910
Blessed Are The Dead That Die In The Lord

Ainsley H. Wyche Lot
Eglantine Square
Virginia Cope sounds like somebody I would like to have known. She spent the bulk of her life as a single woman; she was a widow for about fifty of her eighty-three years. Blurbs in the local paper state she was a business woman, and she owned a shop on Third Street in Macon. I found one mention of a "fruit store," but have yet to ascertain what exactly she sold. "Domestic novelties" seems to be the proper phrase. A Macon Weekly Telegraph article about a fair in December 1860 states, "Mrs. Virginia Cope,...shows neat specimens of baby caps, toilet slippers..." An article entitled "Personal Points" in September 1883 states, "Mrs. Virginia Cope leaves this morning for New York, where she will secure her patterns and purchase her full [fall?] stock of novelties."

It is clear she was a kind and charitable woman, as well. A blurb in the 31 December 1881 Macon Weekly Telegraph states, "Mrs. Virginia Cope arranged a Christmas tree yesterday evening in the room back of her fruit store for the benefit of some of the little ones whom Santa Claus had neglected in his round. About thirty little ones were made happy by presents of dolls, confectionary and trinkets, and thirty little hearts were touched, softened and gladdened by the soft hand of Charity."

Her death and funeral notice:

31 March 1910
Macon Weekly Telegraph
"Deaths and Funerals
COPE
Mrs. Virginia Sullivan Cope died at the residence of her sister, Mrs. Harriet Wyche, 418 Walnut street, yesterday morning at 3 o'clock, after an illness of several weeks.

Mrs. Cope was the daughter of Capt. Daniel Zillette Sullivan, of Virginia, who was one of President Andrew Jackson's closest friends and advisers. She was born in Columbia 83 years ago, coming to Macon after the death of her husband, John L. Cope, of Savannah, in which city she lived her married life.

For fifty years she was a resident of Macon, endeared to all who knew her. Her life was one of sweetness and gentleness, and in the later years she was looked upon as one of the few remaining southern dames of the old regime. Although she would have reached her eighty-fourth year next month, she went about unattended, and hers was a familiar figure in her comings and goings to the First Presbyterian church, of which she was a devout member.

She leaves a sister, Mrs. Harriet Wyche, her niece, Mrs. Gertrude Freeman, and other relatives.

The funeral will be held at the residence on Walnut street this afternoon at 3:30 o'clock, and the services will be conducted by Rev. R. E. Douglas, of the First Presbyterian church; and Rev. Jno. S. Bunting, of Christ church, Episcopal. Interment in Rose Hill."

Harriet Wyche (May 22, 1823 - Feb 27, 1911), Gertrude J. Freeman (April 1, 1849 - Feb 28, 1934) and Virginia Cope are all buried in the same lot.

"And I heard a voice from heaven
saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the
dead which die in the Lord from henceforth:
Yea, saith the Spirit, that they
may rest from their labours; and their
works do follow them." - Revelation 14:13

Tombstone Tuesday: Little Juanita Lee

22 May 1920
Macon Weekly Telegraph (Georgia)
(Viewed online at GenealogyBank.)

DEATHS AND FUNERALS
MARCIA JUANITA LEE
Funeral services for little Marcia Juanita Lee will be held from the residence, 1153 Ash street, this (Saturday) morning at 10 o'clock, Rev. J. C. Mays officiating, and interment will be in the family lot at Rose Hill Cemetery.

The child was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Marvin Lee. She was twenty months old. She fell in a bath tub Thursday evening about 6 o'clock and died a short while afterwards.

[*Photo by James Allen.]

Frank A. Coburn Died at Midnight

Frank Augustus Coburn (Sept 2, 1861 - Aug 7, 1908) was laid to rest in the Geo. A. Dure Family plot in the Cabiness Ridge section of Rose Hill Cemetery. Mr. Coburn's gravestone contains quite a bit of symbolism; read about it here. An obituary for Mr. Coburn can be found in the 8 August 1908 edition of the Macon Weekly Telegraph:

Deaths & Funerals
COBURN
Died at midnight at his residence, No. 19 Navaro Flats, Frank A. Coburn, in his 46th year.

The many friends and acquaintances in the city and throughout the State, of Mr. Frank A. Coburn will learn the news of his death with genuine sorrow, for he was widely known and greatly loved.

Mr. Coburn's death, while a distinct sorrow, was not unexpected. He had traveled much in the west for the last two years in search of health, but only recently his decline had been very rapid and most of his relatives were at his bedside when the end came.

Mr. Coburn was a Floridian by birth, but had lived in Savannah for several years before coming to Macon. After making Savannah his home for some time, he cam to Macon, but then went to Valdosta where he and his family lived up to about two years ago.

He was married to Mr. Leon Dure's sister, the union resulting in two children who survive him, Frank B. and Estelle Coburn. He also leaves four sisters and two brothers: Miss Emma Coburn of Savannah, Mrs. S. M. Harris, of Savannha; Mrs. H. Willis McFadden, of New York City; Mr. Cas. D. Coburn, of New York City; Mrs. Helen C. Drummond, of Atlanta, and Mr. W. S. Coburn, of Atlanta.

The deceased was for several years secretary of Mabel Lodge of Macon, and was a member of the Elks.

Frances Adelia Wicks' Obituary on Southern Graves

I uploaded a few photos and a video along with the obituary for Mrs. Frances Adelia Wicks, buried in the St. Joseph's Catholic Church section of Rose Hill. Check it out on the Southern Graves blog.

Frank Coburn Expires After Long Illness

Frank Dure Coburn
Son of
Frank Augustus & Anna Dure Coburn
Nov 4, 1889
Aug 11, 1916

Geo. A. Dure Plot
Cabiness Ridge
Rose Hill Cemetery
12 August 1916
Macon Weekly Telegraph

FRANK COBURN EXPIRES AFTER LONG ILLNESS
Former Macon Business Man Passes at Highland, N.C.
Frank Coburn, aged 25, formerly one of the best known young business men in Macon, died yesterday morning at Highland, N.C., after having been in feeble health for some months. Everything possible was done to try to save his life, but all in vain. His mother was at the bedside at the time of his death.

The body arrived in Macon at 12:35 o'clock last night, and notice of the funeral arrangements will be found in another column.

Mr. Coburn was a native of Macon and had many friends here. He first started in business as receiving teller at the Fourth National Bank, but the confinement did not agree with him so he entered the insurance business with his uncle, Leon S. Dure, forming the partnership of Dure & Coburn. About five years ago Mr. Coburn left Macon on account of ill health and his death was not a surprise to his relatives and friends.

Mr. Coburn is survived by his mother, Mrs. F. A. Coburn; one sister, Miss Estelle Coburn, and his uncle, Leon S. Dure.

The funeral services will be held this afternoon at 5 o'clock from the residence of his mother, Mrs. F. A. Coburn, 251 Bond street, Rev. Dr. Wells officiating. Interment will be made in Rose Hill Cemetery.

DURE Cenotaph, Technically Not a Tombstone Tuesday

There's a cenotaph (a monument erected in honor of a person or people whose remains are elsewhere) in the Geo. A. Dure Family Plot. Though not buried in Rose Hill, these individuals are memorialized there with the following granite marker:

Leon Sebring Dure, Jr. (1907-1993)
Katherine Macken Dure (1908-1987)
Kendrick Dure (1937-1985)
Leon Sebring Dure, Jr. was the son of Leon Dure and Kathleen McGregor. Katherine Macken was the wife of Leon Dure Jr., and it's possible Kendrick Dure was a child of theirs.

Leon Dure, Jr. seemed to be a very driven man, like his father. Here are two articles about him. The first is about his baptism in Macon, Georgia, and the second is about his death in Fort Myers, Florida.

24 September 1907
Macon Weekly Telegraph

SHORT STORIES
LEON S. DURE, JR. WAS BAPTISED LAST SUNDAY
Sunday afternoon at 5 o'clock the little son of Mr. and Mrs. Leon S. Dure was baptised at St. Paul's Church, the Rev. J. M. Northrup officiating at the pretty and impressive service of the Episcopal Church. The son and heir of the well-known Councilman was baptised Leon S. Dure, Jr. Messrs. Ed. Hallum and Howard Smith are the godfathers and Mrs. C. H. Humphries the godmother.

Note: St. Paul's Church has a website.

10 November 1993
Richmond Times-Dispatch (Virginia)

LEON DURE JR., NEWSMAN, DIES
Leon S. Dure Jr., managing editor of The Times-Dispatch from 1935 to 1945, died Oct. 26 in Fort Myers, Fla., from injuries sustained in a fall. He was 86 and lived in Fort Myers.

Mr. Dure was born in Macon, Ga., and was White House Correspondent for The Washington Post in the early years of the Roosevelt administration. He was secretary and treasurer of the White House Correspondents' Association.

Mr. Dure was an intelligence officer in the U. S. Army Air Corps in the Chine-Burma-India Theater during World War II.

After the war, he worked briefly at The Times-Dispatch before he was named executive news editor of the Winston-Salem Journal.

In 1947, he moved to Albemarle County, where he was a farmer. He retired to Florida in 1980.

He was the widower of Katherine Macken Dure, who died in 1987...

Leon S. Dure, Banking and Investments

Leon Sebring Dure was born 8 October 1874 in Brunswick, Glynn County, Georgia to George Augustus Dure and Julia Kendrick. On 26 July 1906, Leon married Miss Kathleen McGregor in Christ Episcopal Church in Macon, Bibb County, Georgia. Leon and Kathleen had at least two children, Leon Sebring, Jr. and Mary, before divorcing about 1916. Leon, Sr. died 10 January 1948. He was laid to rest in the Geo. A. Dure family plot in the Cabiness Ridge section of Rose Hill Cemetery.


Mr. Dure was a serious businessman in the early 1900's in Macon. He was a banker, investor, and real estate developer. He owned rental homes, hotels, storefronts, and apartments. He dealt with stocks, bonds, and mortgages. He also bought and sold companies in financial distress. At one point, he was even in partnership with his nephew in an insurance company -- Dure & Coburn. Leon was also on many local boards and committees. He even held small political offices. As written about in a previous post, Leon owned a farm simply because he wanted to. A newsman described it as his "toy" farm. I wonder if he could be considered the Donald Trump of early 1900's Macon? I did not come across any mention in the local newspaper as to how much he was "worth," but his home was described at large and elegant, and his wife and children vacationed in Paris.

However, Mr. Dure does not rest under a large, elaborate, or decorative tombstone. He has a simple granite ledger marker with an inscription that includes his name, birth date, and death date.

In Case You Missed It -- June 2009

Here are the most popular posts from the last 30 days:

- In Case You Missed It -- May 2009

- Military Monday: 2nd Lt. Richard W. Johnson

- Leon S. Dure Tries His Hand at Farming

- Another DURE Family Plot, but This Time with No Tombstone in Sight

- Tombstone Tuesday: Jonnie & His Infant Sister

- Obediah F. Adams Requested that His Face be Turned Towards His Wife

- No Man Valued Friendship More Than Capt. Billy Davis

- Capt. Dure, an Honorable & Hospitable Southern Gentleman

Tombstone Tuesday: Jonnie & His Infant Sister

Jonnie & His Infant Sister,
Children of W. S. & M. A. Lightfoot.
He Died Aug 28, 1854,
AE 21 Mo's 1 Day,
She Sep 2, 1854,
AE A Few Hours

Military Monday: 2nd Lt Richard W. Johnson

Richard Wooten Johnson
Aug 30, 1917
Aug 13, 1943
2nd Lieutenant U.S. Army Air Force
481st Bombardment Sqdn.

Leon S. Dure Tries His Hand at Farming

Leon S. Dure (1874-1948), son of George A. Dure, is buried in his father's family plot in the Cabiness Ridge section of Rose Hill Cemetery. The following article tells how Leon, a banker, decides to give farming a try.

7 June 1910
Macon Weekly Telegraph
"VETERAN AND TYRO MEET TO COMPARE
Leon S. Dure Has a Fine Little Farm and Shows it to the Mayor.
HIS HONOR MAINTAINS A DISCREET SILENCE
Then Takes Him Over to Have a Look at a Real Sure Enough Farm.

The veteran and the tyro met yesterday. The experienced farmer was invited by the amateur to view a farm that the latter was cultivating, and which promised extraordinary return.

About six miles from Macon, out on the Zebulon road, Leon S. Dure, the banker, bon vivant, and enterprising city man, has a farm of some one hundred acres. He bought it because his tastes sometimes ran to the bucolic, to the golden fields of grain and whitened patches of cotton, to say nothing of the pastoral delights of the farmer. And then he had an eye to the future.

Time was coming, he thought, when the price of living in the city would soar with aeroplanes and monoplanes, and when commercial [c]apacity would choke the growth of grass in the city, and by having a farm he could hie thither, and there in the cool shade of his spacious veranda he could drink spring water from a gourd and cool his perspiring brow with a collard leaf. Thus he could look back to the hard lines of the city, and snap his fingers if the stocks fell several points.

As he swept his eye over his growing crops and watched the chickens scratch for fishbait, and the pigs amble about the lawn, he felt satisfied that his farm was progressing as finely as any well-fed farmer could desire, so far as he could see, but he wanted some regular farmer to pass judgement on it. He invited Mayor Moore, whom he knew to be an experienced farmer, to go out with him, and hence the meeting of the veteran and the tyro.

They entered the farm by way of the cotton patch. The cotton had grown up since the last visit of Mr. Dure, and he pointed it out to Mr. Moore as his potatoes, remarking that he thought it was a remarkably good stand for sweet potatoes that had been planted on the full of the moon.

After the point had been settled that Mr. Dure was not converting the ground into a park, and was really conducting a farm, the party passed on to the oat patch, and here arose a question in Mr. Dure's mind whether it was oats or wheat. The old negro in charge of the farm was called on by Mr. Dure, and through him it was learned that the patch was one of oats.

City Duties Arduous.

Mr. Dure apologized for his seeming lack of knowledge of grain, by saying that his city duties at present were so arduous that he was not paying the attention to the farm now as he would in the future. But there were many things that came up to puzzle him, just when he had company. For instance, it developed that he could never gather but one squab from the pigeon ranch at a time. He had given a great deal of study to the cultivation of pigeons, but this was one of the things he had not learned. The only way he could account for the single squab was that the hen pigeons invariably laid one large egg and one small egg. The large egg hatched, the smaller egg did nothing. Why this was thus, he could not say, and it was the first time that he appealed to Mayor Moore for light.

The mayor felt a delicacy in volunteering any advice, but when the hogs were called up, and the heads of the flock waddled up looking pale and emaciated, the mayor asked if he ever provided them with water. There was no water visible. Thereupon the man about the farm was asked about the watering of the hogs, and he pointed to the creek. He seemed to think that if the hogs were not amphibious they could go without water.

Mr. Dure was asked what he had gathered from the farm so far. It was some time before he could think of what had been produced, but he finally remembered that one goose and some onions had been laid on his town table, and he had hopes of gathering some Irish potatoes before the summer is gone.

Leaving the cotton and grain, the pair rambled through the cultivated huckleberry patch, the strawberry beds and the pennyroyal layouts, fed English walnuts to the pigs, patted the fatted calf on the head, and fished a squab of so from the pigeon roost, and then drove over to Mayor Moore's farm on the Houston road. There Mr. Dure was given some information about the transplanting of four-leaf clover and spinach. As he looked upon the waving fields of the ripened wheat, the giant cornstalks in their garniture of rich dark green, the cotton way up and drinking the sun's rays, the ambling pigs disporting themselves about the place, the chickens lustily crowing, and everything about a first-class farm looking in fine fettle, Mr. Dure heaved a sigh and said: "Never mind; you wait a year or so, and I'll show you a farm that will make this look like a pewter dollar."

All of which remains to be seen."

Another DURE Family Plot, but This Time with No Tombstone in Sight

When doing some research for George A. Dure, I visited the official Rose Hill Cemetery website to conduct a search. I plugged in the DURE surname and found something I did not expect. Adrienne Dure, George's mother, is also buried in Rose Hill. I guess I assumed she would've been in the Geo. A. Dure family plot I had already transcribed. Since she was not, I didn't think she was in Rose Hill at all. That, my friends, is what I get for assuming.

According to the Rose Hill site, Adrienne was buried in the Central Avenue district, Block 1, Lot 121. Using the map posted on the site, as well as my personally copied map, and the map posted at the cemetery entrance, I had a pretty good idea where this family plot was. I just found it odd that I did not recall seeing the DURE or MAUSSENET name in the area before. (Maussenet is the other name prominent in this plot.) Not that I know where every name can be found in Rose Hill, mind you, I just know I have walked that particular area many times before.

Armed with my new knowledge, I set out the other day to find the Dure-Maussenet family plot. It took me a little longer than expected, but I found it! It's a good thing that burial site was marked, or I would've never been sure of whether I had really found it or not. Why do I say this? Because there was not one tombstone in sight on that lot! The only marking was a stone with 'DURE' engraved in it.




If you look closely, you will see many brick-covered grave sites.


Not one tombstone seems quite strange. I know that Adrienne Dure was a property owner and, in 1860, she had a personal estate of $6,000. I know that her son-in-law, Edward Maussenet, was a jeweler and watch maker and seemed prominent in the community. Why no tombstones? Also buried in the plot are a couple of children of George and Julia Kendrick Dure.

I was reminded of a very important lesson when looking for the grave site of Adrienne Dure: just because you don't find a tombstone in a particular cemetery does not mean an individual was not buried there. And! Just because you transcribe all the stones in a cemetery doesn't mean you have recorded all of the burials. Of course, this is something I already knew, but it is always good to be reminded. Tombstones sometimes carry more information about a person, and they sometimes can even give you a "feel" for a person. However, burial records for a cemetery are just as important to the researcher who cannot locate a stone.

The transcriptions of the burial records for this lot are a little difficult to decipher, but here is what I can figure out. According to the Rose Hill Cemetery site, the following individuals were laid to rest in Block 1, Lot 121 of the Central Avenue District:

- Mary Daly
- Adrienne Baulard Dure - b. 5 Dec 1788, d. 31 Dec 1871, bur. 5 Jan 1872
- Jasper Dietz Dure [s/o Geo. & Julia K. Dure] - b. 29 Dec 1868, d. 3 May 1870, bur. 8 May 1870
- Julia I. Dure [d/o Geo. & Julia K. Dure] - b. 14 Aug 1866, d. 29 Oct 1868, bur. 3 Nov 1868
- Miss Hilda W. Humphries - bur. 23 Sep 1979
- Adrienne Maussenet - d. 2 Mar 1863, bur. 7 Mar 1863
- Edward Maussenet [son-in-law of Adrienne Dure] - d. 10 Jul 1866, bur. 15 Jul 1866
- George Maussenet
- Maria There[x?]se Delia Dure Maussenet [d/o Adrienne Dure, w/o Edward Maussenet] - b. 7 Dec 1823, d. 14 Apr 1863, bur. 19 Apr 1863 [I wonder if she died from complications from the birth of Adrienne Maussenet?]

I'm not sure of the plot owner, but I would imagine that either a child of Edward & Maria Maussenet or George & Julia Dure was the first burial.

In Case You Missed It -- May 2009

Here are the top posts from the last 30 days.

Monday Movie: DURE Family Plot

No Man Valued Friendship More Than Capt. Billy Davis

Obediah F. Adams Requested that His Face be Turned Towards His Wife

Capt. Dure, an Honorable & Hospitable Southern Gentlemen

Relics of the Jackson Artillery on Southern Graves

Mr. George P. Dure, Well Known Traveling Man

Glen B. Jennings & Evelyn Cherry

Julia Kendrick Dure Part of a Historical Southern Family