Another Tillotson Adventure!

Through some research online & at the Hastings library, I found Sylvia Johnson who was the only daughter of Sophia Tillotson Johnson and Bushrod Washington Johnson.  Unfortunately she died very young, at 18 in 1872 (after the divorce of her parents).  I have located her grave in Barry County which I thought was cool since I hadn't know this child existed before.  But now something else has occurred, which reinforces my love of Genealogy!

My father-in-law sold his house and we received some of the pictures that were hanging on the walls for as long as I can remember.  I had no idea who this girl was but she had a huge frame, which looked old.  So today I take the backing off the frame so I can see if there is any writing on the back (actually, we think it is a drawing) and it says Sylvia Johnson!!!

"Sylvia Johnson, daughter of Sophia Tillotson Johnson & Bushrod Washington Johnson lived in Milo, Mich.  She was a half-sister of Oscar & Carrie Tillotson.  She died at 18 yrs of age. She had been a student at Kalamazoo College.  She had one sister Ruby Johnson who died in early childhood."  (Ruby was actually a Tillotson, the first born of Sophia & Asahel Tillotson.)

Tombstone Tuesday: Great-Great-Great Grandparents #13

Asahel and Sophia D (Ward) Tillotson were married June 1, 1841 in Ada Township, Michigan.  Asahel was born in 1808 in Middlebury, Vermont and died March 4, 1851 in Hastings, Michigan.  Sophia was born August 2, 1818 in Vermont.  She remarried March 7, 1852 to Bushrod Washington Johnson.  She died June 3, 1897 in Petoskey, Michigan.  Asahel is buried in the Prairie Home Cemetery, Michigan.  Sophia is buried the Greenwood Cemetery, Michigan.

Finding a grave

This past year I again spent sometime looking in cemeteries and finding grave stones.  My father-in-law even took me around to different places.  There was one stone we found that I actually had seen before, years ago.  Sophia Devilla Ward (I always liked her name) was not buried near her husband since he had died many years before her and in a different part of the state.  Looking at her stone reminded me that I needed to find his stone as well.

So I went on to the Find-a-Grave website and did some searching for the name Tillotson buried in Michigan.  I found their baby first.  Ruby had died in 1843, and there was another Tillotson listed but the first name was weird, Abrarel.  So I contacted the person who had added the memorial and she went and took a picture of the stone.  Now the stone is really hard to read but she thought it could be Asahel.  Plus the death information matched what I already had.  Yeah!

I still need to make the trip down to see the graveyard for myself and take a high resolution photograph.  I want to see if I can make out the writing on the bottom of the stone.  But it would have taking me a long time to find the right cemetery without Find-a-Grave.  Plus this husband and wife are now linked electronically on the site.  It makes me feel better :)