Tombstone Tuesday :: Long Family, Salem Cemetery

The Long family plot at Salem Cemetery, Washington Township, Noble County, Indiana.

Emily Eliza Joslin was the daughter of James and Abigail (Goodrich) Joslin. She was a sister to my 3rd great grandfather, Lysander Price Joslin. Emily was married to John Long on October 12, 1854 in Whitley County, Indiana. Her obituary states she was the mother of eight children but I have found record of only four: Edwin Monroe Long (1856-1928), Jennie Candice Long Myers (1863- 1911), Cora Alice Long Burnworth (1866-1926), and Mott R. Long (1866-1950).

JOHN LONG / 1826 - 1900 / EMILY E. LONG / 1837 - 1929

John Long's obituary was published on February 7, 1900 in the Columbia City Commercial, Whitley County, Indiana.

John Long was born in Ross county, Ohio, Nov. 23, 1826, died Jan. 21, 1900, aged 73 years, 1 month and 25 days. He emigrated with his parents to Indiana at the early age of 10 years and remained with them till Oct. 12, 1854, at which time he united in marriage to Emily J. Joslin and moved to the site of his present home soon after. Seven children was the result of this union, three of whom preceded him.

He united with the Freewill Baptist church, of Ormas, Ind., in February 1890, and has always lived in consistent accord with its tenants. As to his Christian character and fortitude no words of praise can pay better tribute than his humble and patient resignation during the past eighteen months of his affliction. Never once complaining or murmuring as to his lot, but only waiting for the summons to come up higher. As evidence of his faith and hope when interrogated as to his future, he smilingly replied that all was bright to him and earnestly requested all to do right and meet him in a better world.

As a neighbor he was ever kind and true to his convictions of justice and right. As a husband and father his past life's devotion demonstrates better than words can tell. In the sacred grief of the friends thus deeply bereft we can but drop the tear of sympathy, and for consolation point me to Him who doeth all things well. Though confronted by sad mementos of the pale horse and its rider that has severed the silver cord and so ruthlessly broken the dearest of earthly ties, it has but strengthened that invisible tie that binds us to the spirit land beyond. Though sorrow chills our souls and the clouds of gloom cling close above our heads while the weary years roll by, we have the cheerful assurance, "there is light beyond the clouds" and every year but narrows the surging tide and brings us closer to a blissful reunion in that haven of peace and rest.

Funeral services were held at the Salem church, Tuesday, Jan. 23, conducted by his former pastor, S. H. Dull, of Hillsdale, Mich., and the remains were interred in the cemetery near the church.

Emily's obituary was published on December 6, 1929 in the Columbia City Post, Whitley County, Indiana

Mrs. Emily Long, 91, passed away at the county hospital near here at 6:30 o'clock Friday morning following an invalidism of several years duration. Mrs. Long had been ill many months following a stroke of paralysis and in recent weeks had contracted a heavy cold which was thought to have hastened her death.

The deceased was born on December 12, 1837 and at the time of her death lacked but six days of being 92 years old. Mrs. Long was well known in the county. Surviving is one son, Mott Long, of Anderson, Ind. The decedent had been a patient at the institution where she died since February 20, 1928. The body has been removed to the Smith funeral home on South Line street.

Mrs. Long was a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Long [sic] and was born at Columbus, Ohio. When a small child she came with her parents to Lorane. She was married to John Long in 1853. She was the mother of eight [sic] children, seven having preceded her in death. Funeral services will be held at the Smith funeral home Sunday afternoon at 2 o'clock with interment in the Salem cemetery in Noble county.

MYERS / CANDAS J / 1862 - 1911 / FERDINAND / 1857 - 1911
Candas was the daughter of Emily and John and is buried next to her brother Edwin.


FATHER (on top of stone) / E.M. LONG / NOV. 10. 1856 / JULY. 8. 1928

The obituary of Edwin M. Long was published on July 11, 1928 in the Columbia City Post, Whitley County, Indiana.

Edwin M. Long, past 71 years old, a native of Etna township, Whitley county, died Sunday afternoon at 1:05 o'clock at the county farm and asylum after an illness of almost a year due to infirmities of old age. He was confined to his bed for the past seven months.

He was born in Whitley county and was a son of John and Emily Long. His father preceded him in death but his mother makes her home at the county farm. She is past 91 years of age. Mr. Long resided in Whitley county practically all his life except for twenty years when he was a carpenter in Fort Wayne. He returned to Whitley county from Ft. Wayne two years ago.

The deceased was twice married. His first marriage was to Dora Jane Bowlby. Two children were born to this union. Esta, wife of Samuel Swihart, of Fort Wayne, and Coral Haynes, of Kettle Falls, Wash. He was married a second time to Florence Kimes, of Ft. Wayne, who survives. Mrs. Long has been at the county farm for the past several months aiding in caring for her husband. There are two step children surviving this marriage, Ralph Kimes of Ft. Wayne, and Edna Kimes of New York. A brother, Mott Long, resides at Anderson. There are nine grandchildren and three great grandchildren living. Shortly before his death Mr. Long made arrangements to be baptized in the Mennonite church.

Funeral services will be held on Tuesday afternoon at 2 p.m. at the Hood & Smith funeral home in Columbia City. Rev. Benjamin King, of Fort Wayne, will conduct the services and burial will be in Salem cemetery.

Goat Rocks

Emily, Ron, Nick, David, Dan and Doug arriving at Snowgrass Flats.



After setting up camp, we headed south to climb Mt. Gilbert. Cispus Basin and the southwest section of Goat Rocks.



On day 2, we went north to climb Old Snowy. Goat Lake and Mt. Rainier as seen from the Pacific Crest Trail.



A snowfield full of Watermelon Algae.



Wildflowers at Snowgrass Flats with Mt. Adams in background.



In addition to all the incredible sights, we got to pick sweet huckleberries all along the trail. We just might have to plan another trip to this area!

Saguaro National Park

After leaving Chiricahua National Monument it was a short drive to Saguaro National Park near Tucson. There are actually two “sections” to this park, East and West, and I stopped for a few hours in the East side park. There is no campground at Saguaro and I was concerned about finding a place to stay for the night. There are trails to hike but I figured I was going to get plenty of desert hiking done at Joshua Tree and Death Valley, so for me, this was a “drive-through” park, something I said I wasn't going to do...

I stopped at the Visitor Center to watch the park video and get their map and then took the driving tour on the loop road. At one stop I noticed a rather large Saguaro a short distance from the road. So with a bottle of water and the camera in hand, I walked off into the desert... perhaps 100 yards!

Here he is. Doesn't look so tall in this picture, but he towers over everything beneath him.

Me and “my” Saguaro.

Now you see how tall he is? I'm 5' 6” so just guessing he is 25-30 feet tall? This was the biggest Saguaro I saw in the short time that I was in the park. Nothing else even came close to his height or his girth. Amazing. As a side note, the camera was propped up against a rock on the ground. It took four tries to get this shot. I was glad that no one else stopped in the area while I was doing this – I sure felt silly running from the camera to the Saguaro - but I am thankful for self-timers on cameras!

I think he had eight “arms” coming out from his main trunk. Huge.

One of his prickly neighbors.

And another.

Photographs taken on March 15, ...

The 44th Regiment at Shiloh :: The Burying Ground

A signpost at the entrance to the cemetery explains “After the Battle of Shiloh, Federal details buried the dead of both sides near where they fell. The warm weather and great number of bodies made it necessary to bury the dead quickly. In 1866 the United States Government established this cemetery for the permanent burial of Union soldiers killed at Shiloh and related engagements. Bodies were recovered from the battlefield and reburied here, often in regimental groupings. The Confederate dead remain in five mass graves on the battlefield. Two-thirds of the 3,500 Civil War soldiers resting here are unknown. Many tombstones bear a number only. Others read simply: “U. S. SOLDIER.”

What the sign doesn't say is that some Union dead were also originally interred in mass graves. And that the Battle of Shiloh was one of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War – in two days the tally of those dead, wounded or missing was 13,000 on the Union side and 10,500 on the Confederate side!

The site of the burying ground for the 44th Regiment is marked “Ind 3” at the bottom center of the diagram.

The tall post to the right marks the center of the burying ground for the 44th Indiana Infantry. The stones in the foreground belong to men from Iowa regiments.

Only eight of the stones in the half-circle for the 44th have names inscribed upon them. The remaining 16 stones simply have a number. Most likely they had originally been interred where they died during battle, in graves marked by the regiment in some manner. Those who have their names inscribed probably, like Ralph Goodrick [Goodrich], died of wounds within days of the battle.


Jno. Murray (431) Company B - Captain - died April 6, 1862Frank Launners (432) Company I - Sergeant– died April 6, 1862Ralph Goodrick (433) Company B – Private – died April 6, 1862
Note: Pension records show that Ralph was wounded on the 6th and died of those wounds on April 8th. See my previous post on this.


H. C. Rill (434) PrivateW. H. Casebeer (435) Company D – Private – died April 6, 1832Unknown Number 436

Geo. Weamer (441) Company E - Private – died April 17, 1862Jno. Diclute (445) Company I – Private – died April 6, 1862Leander Hall (446) Company A – Private – died April 6, 1862
Someday, I'd like to spend some time researching these men... a quick search of the Internets garnered this bit of information on marker 441, shown above: George Weamer enlisted while a Columbia City, Indiana resident as a Private in Company G, 44th Indiana Volunteer Infantry on November 22, 1861, mustering into service the same day. He was transferred to Company E on January 2, 1862 and was wounded April 6, 1862 at the Battle of Shiloh. He died of his wounds April 17, 1862.

The 44th Regiment was formed in Fort Wayne with many of the men coming from the northeast Indiana counties of Allen, Dekalb, Noble, LaGrange, and Whitley.

EZ Tools? Finding What Works

I knew that I was pushing my luck, riding a bike that had just been assembled the previous day. And sure enough: 5 miles into the Vermont Fall Classic my dynamo headlight rattled loose. I was just about to rummage around for my folding multitool, when a riding companion, Vorpal Chortle, whipped out a little wrench-looking thingie with multiple heads that I'd never seen or used before. "Here, maybe one of these is the right size?" It was. Without getting off the bike, I tightened my headlight and amoment laterwe were on our way again.



No one thought that anything out of the ordinary had transpired, but I was stunned. This was not what tightening bolts on a bike was normally like for me. This was done without effort, and more importantly, without the usual flood of shame and anger at my helplessness.



I've explained before the situation with working (or rather not working) on my own bikes. It's not that I don't know how or don't want to learn. I can give others tutorials on bike repair. But I have problems with my hands that limit my hand strength, dexterity and fine motor skills. Even just holding some tools is difficult: They fall out out of my hands, because my fingers can't grip them tightly enough or wrap around them in the right way. In the very best case scenario, I might be able to do an easy repair (like tightening a headlight bracket) but it will take ages. I have tried individual wrenches, Y-wrenches and folding multi tools, and it's always the same story. How or why the flimsy looking Park Tool MT-1 was any different was beyond me.



Shortly after the Vermont Classic I bought an MT-1 of my own (available locally at Harris Cyclery), and can now easily handle anything on a bike that requires a 3/4/5/6/8mm allen wrench, an 8/9/10mm socket wrench, or a straight blade screwdriver. That does not cover everything, but it's a start. There is something about the size and shape of this thing that both stays put in my fingers and provides enough leverage to compensate for my lack of hand strength. The joy this has brought me is almost embarrassing (thanks Vorpal Chortle!).



Granted, this particular tool may not work for everyone. But my point is,if you are finding bike repairs physically difficultthere might be something out there that does work. I am going to experiment more aggressively from now on, and maybe I will find tools for all the other tasks I still have trouble with. For instance, I might be imagining this, but I recall watching a woman use a collapsible type of lever that connects to the hub axle(?) to remove a tire in one fell swoop. Maybe I ought to look into that and try to get my flat fixing time to under 30 minutes. In the end, I would love to put together a list of "EZ Tools" suggestions, but I'm not sure how universally applicable these things are. Ultimately, we must keep experimenting to find what works for us, and for some this will be tougher than for others.

Flood stage at Gooseberry

Heavy rainfall on May 24, brought theGooseberry Riverup to flood levels the morning of May 25th. I was only able to spend about 2 hours photographing the river this morning, but could have easily spent 2 or 3 more hours. It was amazing!

Anastasia Island :: Fresh Catch!

Tuesday March 14, .. - - On my way back to the campsite from the beach I saw this bird perched on the highest limb of a nearby tree devouring its catch of the day!

Inside the Gift Shops

We prowled through several of the gift shops where you can find lots of Southwestern gifts. This Christmas tree was covered in chili pod lights. there were pots, fetishes, blankets, baskets and religious crosses and other items. I bought a small carved owl for me and one for a friend. Plus a Christmas bell decoration with a hand painting of the Mesilla church on it.

Wordless Wednesday - Wall Flower

Somewhere in Indiana. Summer of 1981. Digitized ...Copyright © 1981/.. by Rebeckah R. Wiseman.

The Labyrinth of Lawn

I used this phrase a few days ago in a comment, and can’t stop thinking about it. The comment was at the Dirt Divas blog, and the subject was gardening as a solace in time of trouble. The Dirt Divas have a name similar to the group I belong to, Austin's Divas of the Dirt, but these divas live in Alaska.

So my thoughts concern mowing, but they're not about the current Lawn versus No Lawn discussions. It’s an interesting topic, but it’s not mine. I’ve been thinking about what happens to your mind when you’re engaged in something like mowing.

When I was a teenager, I occasionally pushed a mower for my parents, but my husband cut the grass once we bought a house, and my sons took over as time went on.

In the late nineteen-eighties, the garden grew more important, and we bought a mower that I could handle. I took over the lawn like a prairie version of May Dreams' blog photo, in denim skirts and a wide-brimmed hat.

One reason to mow: When you're mowing, your family is less likely to interrupt you with the usual demands. The dads mow in suburbia, so when a mom does it, it must be an important job. The sound isn't pleasant, but it becomes a white noise, blocking out the background. I couldn’t hear the airplanes on their way into O’Hare; I couldn’t hear the phone; I couldn’t hear car motors; I couldn’t hear any squabbling. I could think. Some of my best garden plans were developed as I went back and forth and around, mowing my yard, looking at everything from changing angles, noticing and evaluating and concentrating.

Another reason to mow: I knew what was out there and how close to get. I didn’t accidentally mow down struggling young lilies and hostas as weeds, because I was the one who planted them. I also saw things that were not ‘right’ as I passed - catching a shrub before it smothered another, or stopping a perennial before it completed a takeover move.

A possible reason to mow: A non-self-propelled mower means some load-bearing exercise. I use a mulching mower and overlap the lines, and don’t put grass in yard bags.

A sad reason to mow: In the months after my dad died, I could act normal most of the time, but once I started cutting the lawn, the tears wouldn't stop. Was it because mowing was something my father did, for as long as I could remember? Even in his last years, Dad would use his cane to steady himself as he climbed aboard the riding mower.

Or was it the action of mowing, the walking and the formation of patterns in the grass that released bottled-up feelings? In retrospect, now that I see labyrinths designed for walking appear everywhere, at retreat houses, on church grounds and in meditative gardens, this idea seems pretty likely.

Am I alone in feeling like this? Do you mow and think, or mow and plan, or mow and weep, or do you let someone else walk the Labyrinth of your Lawn?