More on the Genealogy Realm: Another Family History Trip

Last week my husband, daughter & I set out for Lenox, Missouri. It’s a small town located in Dent County and I wanted to visit to document dates, etc. of those ancestors buried at Mt. Hermon Cemetery. Dates on headstones are important for verification purposes. You never can fully rely on birth & death certificates because they have been wrong — it still happens today. Unfortunately, people don’t realize the importance of ensuring that those dates are listed correctly as much today as they did back then. In fact, even headstones can be engraved incorrectly so having as much information at hand is imperative.

I had been wanting to visit this cemetery for years because the numerous amounts of ancestors buried there intrigued me. However, I had no idea exactly what I was in store for me upon our arrival, but within seconds of passing through the gate the connection I felt was pretty powerful.

Off to the left, right past the main gate entrance, is a plaque. On that plaque the small (and over 100 year old) church had inscribed words that drew me in and my discovery was nothing short of fascinating. It was inscribed with, “The East Two Acres of this cemetery were deeded on June 20, 1884 by Hezekiah and Mary Skiles…”

I stood there and read it numerous times to be sure that I was reading it correctly. You see, Hezekiah and Mary “Polly” (nee: Hobson) Skiles were my Great Great Great Great Grandparents. In all of the years that I have been studying my family history I have never been told, nor has it been mentioned (that I’m aware of), that they had given the land to the church for their cemetery.

Once I got home I went digging through old deeds to find that Hezekiah bought 80 acres of land just 30 years prior. I suppose when you own 80 acres of land, giving 2 acres to a church isn’t a huge deal, but nonetheless…it was a great discovery.

Even more so to discover that his father, Peter Skiles, purchased 160 acres. I started wondering just how much of Lenox, Missouri my ancestors owned.

A total of 240 acres were purchased on one day. Unless you’re some huge corporation or entirely too rich for your own good individual, buying that much acreage is almost unheard of these days.

At any rate, this obviously piqued my curiosity of what I had left to find. Suddenly everywhere I looked there was a familiar family name. I was actually getting overwhelmed at how many there were and before I knew it I began snapping picture, after picture…after picture just so I had enough time to document them all before time ran out (it was already 4:30pm and the idea of being in a cemetery at night doesn’t exactly sound all that enticing to me lol)

I can’t explain how surreal it feels to stand at the grave of an ancestor who died 100-150 years before you were born; especially if you feel as if you knew them because you have researched every aspect of their entire life on Earth. Heck, genealogists generally know more about an ancestor’s life than the ancestor themselves; it’s what we do.

So to be standing at so many, in such a short time, was something indescribable. My husband said my face was lighting up the entire time.

One time, in particular, was when we discovered my Great Great Great Great Great Grandfather Peter Skiles’ (Hezekiah’s father) headstone inside this square shaped private plot. The newer headstone was between 2 older headstones. I’m only assuming that a Peter and his wife were buried there, in that square shaped family plot (it was completely closed in) and a family historian purchased a newer headstone to better preserve their gravesites. While I could be wrong, the size of the square wasn’t very large and I can’t imagine that there are more than 2 gravesites there. Regardless, it was so neat to see with my own eyes.

With all of that mentioned we never did find Hezekiah or Mary’s gravesites, but that is nothing new when dealing with older cemeteries. There are a lot of marked graves with no headstones so I know they’re there somewhere… I just can’t tell without speaking to someone at the church and looking at the records. I plan on doing that someday…it would be nice to know where and perhaps mark it with something for other relatives who may want to visit someday.

Moving on, we discovered ancestor after ancestor…my eyes could not remain on one spot for long as both my husband and daughter were calling out names to me from across the way. I have more than one set of “Great” Grandparents buried there so to see just how close they all were, living in the same small town, and trying to imagine what it was like was making my mind wander off to 100+ years ago.

I noticed my husband looking at a monument (not a headstone) up toward the gate that is by the road and asked him, “What did you find, honey?” He suggested that I come over and take a look and when I did…my eyes, once again, lit up. Another Great Great Great Great Grandfather was mentioned on this monument (along with a host of other ancestors) that honored military men (no women at this time) for their service. There was his name — Felix Motsinger.

Felix was a Union Soldier during the Civil War. He was with B Company, 155th Illinois Infantry Regiment from 28 Feb 1865 until 4 Sep 1865.

Interesting enough I didn’t notice Hezekiah’s name on the monument and I’m not sure why. I verified that he was also in the Civil War (Union). The government lists him as:

PVT Hezekiah Skiles
C Company, 36th Missouri Infantry Regiment
June 1861-December 1861
Civil War

So I intend on inquiring as to what we need to do to get his name listed on the monument, particularly since it was he who donated the land that the cemetery now sits…I feel it only deserving.

However, to see Felxis’ name on there was neat as low and behold I just so happen to have a picture of him that has been saved and shared through other family historian’s over the years.

While it’s not the best quality picture it is still neat to have a picture of your Great Great Great Great Grandfather, a Union soldier and someone who came from a rather large family who migrated here all the way from Switzerland (as far back as we’ve been able to trace the line at this time – re: https://rjhenry.com/motsinger.html)

Even more exciting was the fact that we were able to locate he and his wife’s (my Great Great Great Great Grandmother Elizabeth (nee: McKain) Motsingers’ graves; their headstones are in fabulous condition!

My daughter standing at Elizabeth McKain (left) gravesite and Felix Motsinger (right) graves; her Great x5 Grandparents.

While I had hoped to visit the gravesites of other Great Grandparents they were unmarked by a headstone, unfortunately. Again, I’m planning on going back when I can speak to someone who has the records and that shouldn’t be hard to do as they have done an absolutely tremendous job at maintaining the upkeep of not only the church, but the cemetery as well. I am entirely grateful.

I realize that there are people who have no interest in family history, and there are those who find it lack luster, I am always amazed at how they don’t see it from the same perspective as I do. I have realized that I come from a long line of amazing people (meet my Great Great Great Great Grandfather and Medal of Honor award recipient Henry Frizzell) with incredible backgrounds, huge hearts, traditional ideals and history made that fortunately I am a direct result of.

There is a sense of pride in knowing that you are the product of character, integrity, compassion and heroism. While they never knew me, and probably never even gave any thought of having a Great Great Great Great (or Great — in Peter Skiles view) Granddaughter doesn’t matter to me. What matters most to me is knowing that I know of them. I owe them that much and it’s fascinating to learn so much about yourself in the process.