Looking for Bones

In Search of Matilda (Gessel Syx) Clark and Homer Syx

As many of you know, I have been working on our family history search for quite a while.  Due to my interest in our ancestors, in early 2013, I got involved with a clean-up project at the Fraternal Cemetery in Pratt City, Alabama where our dearly departed British Great Grandpa William Thomas Farrow and Great Grandma Mary Ann (Bateman) Farrow are buried along with their youngest son....Thomas Farrow and his wife, Emma.  Resulting from this involvement...something VERY wonderful has happened.
 
First, a little background.  Please bear with me......  It has been over 12 years since I started to search for the burial site of another of my great grandparents, Matilda Gessel, (who married William Syx in Noble County, Ohio in the late 1800s) - to no avail!!!!   Still, for some reason I felt compelled to find out more about her, including where she was buried - so as to at least complete her story!!!!   Also, I was searching for the burial site of their youngest son, Homer Syx.  No luck with him either!

Matilda Gessel and William Syx together had one daughter, Antha S Syx, but they had many sons, Alonzo Syx, John Corbin Syx (my grandfather and husband of Grandma Olive Ann Farrow Syx), his twin brother Andrew Jackson Syx, Wilbur J. Syx of Wylam fame and of course the youngest, Homer Syx.  Before Thursday of this past week (Early 2013), I knew the burial sites and have visited each of these folks except for Matilda and son Homer, who were no where to be found.  I trusted based on Matilda's Bible records that both had died in 1907.  Guess that was long before any of our birth dates!  NOW - Where to look?

I assumed that they both had died and were buried in Ohio.   But there were complications that made this challenging at best.  Let me share with you some of the facts or clues that I had to work with.

In the mid 1800s, Matilda Gessel and William Syx lived in Noble County, Ohio and probably were both born there.

They first applied for a license and married in Noble County, Ohio on April 19, 1866.

I later discovered that William had an earlier marriage to and Elizabeth Shockley.  They had a son also... a William Arthur Syx who later owned a Photo Studio in Akron, Ohio.

Matilda's first baby, daughter Antha S., was born in April 1868 south of Noble County, in Washington County, Ohio.

Next came the twins, Grandpa John Corbin and Uncle Andrew Jackson Syx, born May 31, 1869 in Macksburg, also Washington County, Ohio.

On the 1870 U.S. Federal Census the William Syx family was living in Adams Township in northern Washington County, Ohio.  This is the same county where the Ohio River town of Marietta is situated at the mouth of the Muskingum River where it intersects with the Ohio.  Beautiful area!!!
The next son, Alonzo was also born in Washington County in November 1871.

Before any more boys were born, the William Syx family relocated to Nelsonville, Athens County, Ohio about fifty miles west, where son Wilbur J. Syx was born on 3rd of July 1874.  I am guessing that the move may have been made because coal mining jobs were plentiful in that area during those years.

The next U.S. Federal Census of 1880 showed the family to still be living in Nelsonville, Athens County, Ohio, in the Watkins addition near the railroad tracks. The census was recorded on June 12, 1880.  And soon things began to really change for this Syx family.

Change is in the air...

On January 12, 1882, all five children including the oldest, Antha, at age 13, were admitted into the Athens County Children's home as a result of the parents' inability to properly care for them.
They were release to their mother's care only, on September 25th of 1882.  In May of 1882, Matilda was divorced from William, claiming various types of abuse.  The divorce was stumbled on to as a result of my very first trip to Athens County, Ohio with my Dad. 

Through all the research I have done, I realized that for women, it was hard to survive without a man or husband, back in the 1800s.  They could not easily hold down a job in those days.  Not surprisingly, I next discovered that William and Matilda remarried on September 4, 1883, according to the records at the Athens County Courthouse.  Their last son, Homer Syx was born to them two weeks later on September 18th - that same year.  And the drama continued.  I heard a recounting of a story once originally told by Uncle Toad, back in the day.  He shared that one day, Matilda Syx simply walked away from their house in Nelsonville to never return.  She left all the children behind.  That had to be tramatic for everyone involved.  Did she have a good reason to leave?  Although I found evidence of her in Washington County, near Marietta, Ohio where she lived some 10 years later, I now know more about what transpired during that lost time.

Matilda's new life...

First I discovered that on June 10th of 1893, a "Mrs. Matilda Syx" married a fellow named Peter B. Clark in Washington County, Ohio.  I could not help but wonder if it was the same Matilda.  (Since we had found a picture of Matilda in an album that was at Annette and Junior Syx's house with the name Matilda Clark marked on the back , it seemed to make sense.)

I then, discovered that Matilda Clark had  purchased land in Noble County from John Gessel  (our Matilda's father) in May of 1895.  The land was located in southern Jackson Township, Noble County, very near to the Washington County line, as well.  Matilda and Peter may have lived on the land for quite some time but then  Peter sold it to a neighbor in July of 1906 for unknown reasons.

In the meantime, Matilda's youngest son Homer, who seem to be staying close with her from some other evidence seen in her Bible,  enlisted in the US Army at Fort Merrill, (Texas?).  Enlistment papers showed be joined September 1, 1904.  He was a Private in the Infantry and it furthers stated that he was discharged at Presidio, California in January 31, 1905.  He was not in for long, even though the enlistment indicated it was for three years.  Wonder what happened?  Did a war end?

After that, the best I could determine, Homer Syx died the 27th of February in 1907, then Matilda passed away March 29th, just a month later!  Then they both disappeared.  I could never find an obituary or any death records for either the son or his mother.  Poof!  Gone!  Disappeared!

Matilda's 2nd husband, Peter B. Clark continued to live in Jackson Township in Noble County, near some Gessel property.  I saw him listed on the 1910 U.S. Federal Census, but he soon passed away as a resident at the Noble County Infirmary in Caldwell, Ohio in 1911.  He was buried in the Infirmary Cemetery which is now privately owned property.  Evidently many of those graves were not marked as most people buried there were paupers.  I did locate a death certificate for him in Noble County that provided much of this information.

The fact that Matilda had married Peter B. Clark in 1893 continued to press on my mind.  I had the sense from an inscription in her Bible (that was given to her by her son Wilbur Syx) that Matilda was a devoted Christian Woman.  Did she ever divorce her first husband William Syx after they married the second time to give birth to Homer? Or was she now living with Peter illegally?  Hmmmm?

Here is a photo of Uncle Wilbur's inscription in Matilda's Bible.
It was added in 1948 after he had possibly recovered the Bible from
Ohio, I believe.  It states that he gifted this Bible to his mother in
1889 when he was about 15 years old. 
















On a later trip to Marietta, Ohio,  I again visited the Washington County Court House to see what else I could find.   I discovered that they kept logs of divorce records.  I knew that Peter had been previously married to a Katherine with whom he shared at least 6 children.  I went looking for a divorce for them and sure enough she filed for the divorce which was granted due to willful abandonment.  It was granted on 9 May 1893.  It stated that Peter had already married another woman.  But the license showed he and Matilda got  married in June of that year.

Then I wondered if a divorce between Matilda and William Syx could have been filed in Washington County.  He was still living in Athens County.   Sure enough there it was.  Matilda had filled with basically the same charges as her first divorce.   It was granted on March 11, 1893.  So there were more divorces going on back then than we ever realized.  The court house had a shelf full of books - floor to ceiling - containing divorce index records dating back into the late 1800s.  I was astounded.

OK.....now what happened to Matilda Clark and Homer Syx?  Where were they buried when they passed on????   I still did not know.  It was my "Brick Wall" as they say in genealogy when you cannot get passed a certain point in someones history!  When you come to a dead end, so to speak.

This year during a visit to Madison, Wisconsin to see Uncle Wilbur Syx's granddaughter, Charlotte (Syx) Bell and her husband Palmer,  I had the pleasure to peruse an old "album" that belonged to Uncle Wilbur.  He assembled most of it in the 1920s and 1930s.  It came into Charlotte's possession as a result of the passing of Wilbur's youngest daughter Ruby Syx Ansley in 2012.   It's contents were mostly news clippings but also included were a few important family pictures as well as a journal of a trip to Florida with his brother Andrew "Uncle Jack" plus some other correspondence.  It was quite fascinating, as neither Charlotte nor I had never met Wilbur.  We just had heard stories of his business success and the fact that he was not on good terms with his brother John Corbin, my grandfather (the twin brother of Uncle Jack).  As the story goes, Wilbur did not recognize that John Corbin was a relative at all.   

In the album we found and read a letter from Uncle Jack of Nelsonville, Ohio written in response to a letter from Uncle Wilbur in Wylam/Ensley Alabama.   Curiously the letter was dated in 1936.  Uncle Jack mentioned two things that were very odd to be discussing at that point in time.  Remember, best we knew, Matilda died in 1907 per the date someone had added in her Bible. That was the only record we had at that point.

Uncle Jack told Uncle Wilbur how happy he was to know that Uncle Wilbur had the old Family Bible in his possession.  I could not tell by his letter if it had just been recovered possibly, but Uncle Jack was impressed that Uncle Wilbur had been so kind to buy if for their Mother when he was such a young lad.  He also expressed his joy that Matilda's wishes had been carried out by the undertaker in Columbus, Ohio and that he was planning to contact him to find out the date.  It's hard to understand the meaning of those statements.  I found it very puzzling since so much time had passed since her death. 

Well there was no way of knowing what that was all about as we did not have a copy of the letter that went from Uncle Wilbur to Uncle Jack prompting this response.  We may never know since that would have been in Uncle Jack's belongings.  I'm sure they are long gone.  He has few descendants that were in close touch with him at his death, that I know about.

Back to the present...

That brings us back to the present - to 2013 and the Fraternal and Greenwood Cemetery project going on now in Pratt City, Alabama.  These two historic cemeteries are sitting out there in total distress on Sheridan Road.  They contain over 700 to at least 1000 graves on well over 12 acres of land.  A group of over 100 people are coming together as "friends" of these two cemeteries in a effort to establish a non-profit organization with the intent of  preserving and maintaining the dignity of all of our ancestors that are resting there.

Many talented folks are involved.  More help is always needed.  The project leader, Eddie, is an expert at the care of the grounds, markers and monuments.  He is doing a terrific job of motivating and leading us through the huge job ahead.  The issues that will need to be addressed are overwhelming to say the very least.  Do not even want to go there right now.  But Eddie just keeps plugging along.  He is just happy to be out there chopping, cleaning and clearing paths back into a densely wooded area that used to be a two beautiful cemeteries full of folks that were the roots of Pratt City.

On Thursday evening (February 28, 2013), I was on the phone with Eddie to make plans for the next clean-up on Saturday, March 23rd, when he started to tell me about some work he had been doing over in Greenwood Cemetery across the creek this past week.  He said to me kind of casually,  he thought he had may have found some other markers of folks that might be related to me.  I was confused.  I did not know of anyone else that would have been buried out there other than the Farrows, and we had already found them and cleaned up their family plot.  He said - no.  The name on the marker was Syx.  (He had noticed that my maiden name was Syx from my Facebook account.  We do a huge amount of planning and communicating for the clean-up days on Facebook.)  I asked how it was spelled.  He said S-Y-X.  What was the first name on the marker?  He said Homer.  Oh my gosh, I think I might have screamed in his ear at that point.  He also directed me to go look on the Find-A-Grave web site, as a picture of the marker had been loaded there.  I was trembling at this point...."we found a Homer Syx....Wow!!!!!"   Then he went on to say that there was another marker lying on the ground next to Homer's that might have been his wife?!?!?!?!  He thought the name was Catherine, but she had a different last name.  I scratched my head and mumbled that I was not aware that Homer was every married but that doesn't mean he never married.  I kept searching for something else to ask about the situation and then came out with -  "well we have also been searching for Homer's mother, Matilda Clark."  He yelled, "that's it.  It's Matilda Clark."  At that very moment, I could see my brick wall tumbling down.  There were also pictures of Matilda's marker on Find-A-Grave.  Both markers had dates that matched dates of birth and death I  already had on file for both Matilda and Homer.

Hallelujah!!! They finally are found.  They are no longer lost.  I can only believe that at some point, if they both may have passed away then were first buried in Ohio in 1907,  arrangements were made to move them closer to Uncle Wilbur in Alabama. Yet, there are so many other possibilities to consider.  Not sure if we will ever know the circumstances .  Most importantly, they are found.  May they rest in Peace and may we make a beautiful resting place for them where we can be proud to visit and say hello from time to time.  So that's the exciting news.  For me at least.   Talk about having it handed to me when I was  not even looking or asking in that location.  I am still just blown away.  Thank you Eddie Batten for all you do!!!!  See for yourself......  Come out to see the reasons I am so committed to Fraternal and Greenwood Cemeteries.  Sure could use some help in honor of Matilda and Homer Syx, William Thomas Farrow and wife  Mary Ann plus their son Thomas and his wife Emma.    Thanks for listening.

The Final Chapter !!!

Well, some time has passed and another chapter of the story has unfolded.  This final chapter happened on Saturday, September 13, 2014 - a cool  and somewhat cloudy, damp Birmingham, AL morn -  a long 18 plus months later.

At my invitation, two of my cousins' sons, Tim Irwin and Paul F. Syx,  agreed to accompany me to Greenwood Cemetery, the site where I found   the burial site of my great grandmother Matilda (Gessel) Syx Clark and her son, Great Uncle Homer Syx, youngest brother of Grandpa John Corbin Syx.  As I said earlier, I had been looking for their burial sites for many, many years.

It was agreed we would aim for arriving at the cemetery in Pratt City by 8:30 AM on Saturday morning .  The Preservation Society was planning a clean up for that date and there would be a plot map of Greenwood available to help us find the 'Six' site as it was marked on the map.   I had only visited it once before and was not sure how to find it again.

Paul F Syx and his wife Cynthia picked me up very early at Helen Syx's home, in Hueytown where I was staying  The three of us met Tim Irwin (son of Wanda Syx Irwin)  at the entrance to Fraternal Cemetery on Sheridan Road next to Greenwood, a little after 8:30 am.  We proceeded to find Sonya Lankford who had the plot map fr Greenwood.   We soon were surprised to discover that she was a friend and neighbor of another cousin Mary Ann Syx Wilkinson of Hueytown.  AND she also knew the Prantles who just  happened to be Paul and Cynthia's son-in-law's family.  Wow - small world.   So we were off to a great start.  Sonya offered to walk with us over into Greenwood to assist in locating the 'Six' Plot.

Newly installed sign on Sheridan Road marking the entrance road into Greenwood Cemetery

Chain blocking the entrance road that was re-cut into Greenwod Cemetery in August 2014

After just a short walk up the newly re-cut road (about a block) into the overgrown cemetery,...VOILA!   There it was on the left side.  It took very little poking around and we located it.  It appeared that the 'Six' plot boardered the 'road' inside the cemetery and was likely only one or two plots off of Sheridan Road on the other side...

Tim and Paul started cutting a path into the woods. Shirley Butler, current President of the Preservation Society and Cynthia Syx pulled out branches to clear the way into the 'Six' plot and then we pulled as much as we could up to the edge of Sheridan Road where the city of Birmingham could pick up the debris, keeping the entrance and road as clear as possible...
 

Cynthia Syx & Shirley Butler clear the way

Paul Syx begins...

Tim and Paul continued to access the situation 

   

As Paul and Tim begin working with the pieces at the site,
they find all the pieces are still in place and as earlier found, only one piece has a small broken chip out of it.  They quickly see that the base is pretty rocky and a bit lower on the front left corner so they begin the process of leveling it up so that the weight of the pieces that will be stacked on top will not tumble over again.

They brought all the needed tools: shovels, a pick, an ax, a weed eater, a level, a torch and even a battery-operated saw. We had a bag of gravel and several packages of Epoxy to 'glue' it all back together. So the fun began.....

Is it level yet?

With gravel, dirt and even pieces of bricks laying around...all efforts to get the heavy concrete base level and stable enough, did not satisfy them.  They pushed, poked, prodded and shoved every way possible but it still rocked.  It still was not level enough to add all the pieces back on top and expect it to not tumble again.  It would still be top heavy once resurrected.

Not level enough....still rocking...

Once!

So they decided to roll it out of the place it probably had been sitting for a good eighty-plus years.  They did it once, twice,  yes, at least three times - until they were both satisfied that it was stable enough to support the weight they were about to add on top.  I was impressed with their dedicated efforts to get it just right!!!!  Once the guys were happy with the way the base was sitting....it was time to get out the Epoxy and reassemble the marker honoring Great Grandma  Matilda Gessel Syx Clark and her son Homer Syx, brother to our grandfather, John Corbin Syx.

Twice...

Third time's the charm...

Now they are happy!!!

Success!!

 

It's

 ready!

Now that's more like it!!!!!

Paul Frederick Syx and Tim Irwin - two hard working cousins!!!!!

Here's the whole gang that was there that day.   Paul and Cynthia Syx and Tim Irwin with me, Penny Syx Hemmer.

What a beautiful marble marker.  Hope to do some cleaning on it soon....

I kept thanking everyone for working so hard.  Paul and Tim both kept saying it was easy.  Guess they were just happy to do it for some of their kin folks.  Pretty proud of you both cousins!

Thanks to Paul and Cynthia and Tim for doing a great, great job - above and beyond the call of duty, so to speak.  So glad we got to share this adventure and this day together.  So happy that you all know where two of our very special ancestors are buried.  We may not have known them when they were alive,  but we know a lot more about them now.  

When you look at this marker, you may want to be able to picture these two individuals when they were still with us.  Here are a couple great photos we found of them..........

Great Grandma Matilda Gessel Syx Clark

Homer Syx, son of Matilda and brother to John Corbin Syx

I recently found a poem that made me think of this whole experience.... thought I would share it with you in closing today.....

Dear Ancestor

by Walter Butler Palmer

Your tombstone stands among the rest; neglected and alone.

The name and date are chiseled out on polished, marble stone.

It reaches out to all who care; it is too late to mourn.

You did not know that I exist; you died and I was born.

Yet each of us are cells of you in flesh, in blood, in bone.

Our blood contracts and beats a pulse entirely not our own.

Dear Ancestor, the place you filled one hundred years ago,

Spreads out among the ones you left who would have loved you so.

I wonder how you lived and loved, I wonder if you knew

That someday I would find this spot, and come to visit you.