Last year when we were traveling in the mid-west we stumbled across the burial site of Jesse James – you can read that here. So this year when we were in Pennsylvania I thought it would be fun to visit one of their cemeteries.

This old cemetery has some fascinating stones – some too old and worn to read, but I took a few photos and you can begin to put together the story as you look about.

Here’s a young woman – she died at 27 and clearly was mourned by her husband.

Here’s a few other markers which point to the age of the cemetery.

But here’s the stone I was most fascinated by – the marker of a soldier. His name is interesting enough – Benjamin Franklin. I imagine that his parents were thinking of the great man who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and Vice President. This young man who died at 25 was a serviceman. You’ll note he died in December of 1862, in the midst of the civil war. My assumption is that he served the northern states. The battle of Gettysburg , not far from this part of Pennsylvania was in 1863 but was an incursion by the South into northern-held territory which includes this area. How he died we don’t know but the assumption I think is safe that he died in the civil war fighting the south.

If you want a fascinating read on these days read Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin. I did a post on it here. If you look you’ll see that there are a number of markers who give testimony to their history of living through the civil war.