The Racine Journal-Times Sunday Bulletin from Racine, Wisconsin • Page 23

An Invitation to Intrude: StJNDAY BULLETIN Juna 25, 1961 Sec. 1. 23 A Row of Lilacs May Conceal Poignant Part of County Past By Florence Monte (Lake Park Correspondent) Should you discover a spot where the lilacs grow, lonely and unattended, along a country road or deep In a woodlot are you're Intruding a poignant part of Racine County's past. Many a hedgerow of were planted to mark burial places, private cemeteries which became the final resting places for early settlers In the area. Time Erases Records' Most records of these tax exempt plots have been lost or misplaced through time.

In some cases there may not have been records. Memory, however, provides some clues to such areas in the county. Gilbert Karcher of Burlington tells of a private cemetery Moon Smooth, Scientist Says ITHACA, N. Y. moon is virtually smooth, a radio astonomist told the American Institute of Electrical Engineers.

The moon is not full of craters, as science fiction writers largely picture it, Thomas Gold of Cornell University said in a talk on radio investigations of the surface. Ninety-five per cent of the surface is undulating very slightly and smooth. Gold said, The other 5 per cent is very rough, he added. This could be caused by meteor craters. Because of its smoothness, the easily may be used to bounce radio signals from, Gold declared.

the Shaw Road south of Burlington, which, he said, is known as the Karcher Family Cemetery. He said some of his ancestors are buried there, along with several members of the Runkel family; that most of the graves are those of in fants who died in an epidemic of typhoid fever which swept the area. Because markings on the headstones of the eight or 10 graves no longer are legible, specific dates are not available. There's also a private burial ground on the William C. Wilson farm, off Spring Prairie Road, about miles north west of Burlington.

visible from the road, the little cemetery holds its secret of past lives and early settlers well; no records are available to even indicate its existence. Markings on headstones, however, indicate that private burials were conducted here, on a high knoll guarded by large trees, as early as 1847, when Josephine Lewis, infant daughter of William and Olive, died. Only four of the headstones bear legible inscriptions: "Sophronia Rooker, daughter of Joseph and Sabrina, died Aug. 28, another: "Alice Rooker, died Aug. and another headstone, fallen and broken, with only the name, "Dr.

William Lewis," decipherable. Grave Is Lost And there's a story that Aaron Smith, one of the pioneer settlers of Burlington, and a Revolutionary War veteran, is buried somewhere on the Conkey St. hill in the City of Burlington; somewhere near Cooper School. The grave was not marked, however, and It never has been located. There is one private cemetery about which the beginning Is known, because there's a record in the Register of Deed's office in Racine.

Signed by President John Tyler, it cites a land grant in The Wisconsin Territory to Stillman Parker. Mrs. Emll Nelson of My gatts Corners, a descendant of Parker, who was an early set tier in the Sturtevant area, recalls many facets of her fam lly's history. She tells of the private cemetery on her grandfather Still man's farm, in view of Durand Road and adjacent to the farm now occupied by Harold Mlckelsen, 8211 Durand. This land at one time wa.s part of the Parker holdings, just east of what now is Sturtevant.

A gray stone monument marked "Parker," and several small headstones are found in the plot, almost hidden today by a long row of lilacs, although it lies but 150 feet off Highway 11. Parker and his wife, Lucinda, came to the Wisconsin Territory from New York almost 131 years ago. Their original farm included 160 acres on U. S. Grant Helped Build Hungarian Home OSLO garians attended More than 250 Hun- the recent dedication in Oslo of the new Hungarian Home, a meeting place for Hungarian refugees.

It was founded by the Norwegian-Hungarian Assn. and Catholic Relief Services with the aid of a grant from the United States. About 1,450 Hungarian exiles live in Norway. government land on which they constructed a log home. The site was about midway between what now Is Durand Ave.

and the Richards Road. 22 Children Later, when the road which became Durand was cut through, Parker built another home for his wife and II children. Soon after, Lucinda Parker died, after expressing a wish to be buried at the end of the family orchard near the line fence oh the homestead. She 110 years ago and thus began the Stillman Parker family cemetery. Parker later remarried and brought to his home one Hannah Thorn, a young woman who had made her home in the neighborhood of Petrifying Springs.

Hannah Parker also bore him II the graves of the family cemetery tell the story of difficulties in sustaining life in those early days of hardships. Markings on the headstones read: Ida, Ellie, Hattie, Arthur, and a twin brother, name unknown, and of whom died prior to their sixth year. There, also, is the grave of William Parker, son of Lucinda and Stillman, a sailor who died from injuries received when he fell from the top mast of a sailing ship. Nearby is the grave of Albertus, another son of the first marriage, who died aged 20 years. Parker in later years left the homestead and built a family home in Parkersville, first name of the community now known as Sturtevant.

(Western Union Junction and Corliss in intervening years.) This family home is still there, a large, brick house next to the bank. But, when Stillman Photo The for an estimated 110 done their job well in guarding the Stillman Parker private cemetery near Sturtevant. The Parker monument, above, with the lilacs obscuring it from the eyes of the passerby on Highway 11, marks the final resting places of early settlers in Racine County. Similar private burial grounds, with their customary lilac plantings, can be found in scattered locations in the west end of the county. Parker died in 1887, his final resting place became the family plot in the private cemetery, and each spring the lilacs bloom as a living memorial to these early settlers and as a reminder for Mrs.

Emil son of her family's background. Today, Mrs. Nelson, whose father was the late John Parker, is the only descendant of the Stillman Parker family remaining in the nearby area. Trust your very Finest apparel to Model 'This seal protects your finest summer fabrics they come back to you rc- sized with 'like-new' freshness with colors bright, textures right. CHILDREN'S GARMENTS up fo 10 yeart CALL 2-8888 Free Pickup Delivery 506 SIXTH ST.

STORE AT 1123 ROMAYNE GET THIS HANDSOME REFRESHMENT CART FR OF EXTRA COST WITH THE PURCHASE OF A 2-PIECE LIVING ROOM SUITE AT WAREHOUSE FROM $99.00 UP 2 Pc. Living Room Suites SOFA and MATCHING LOUNGE CHAIR fro Visit Our Aisles of Living Rooms Out! Please Drive Carefully! FREE PARKING Behind Our Store ENTRANCE: 724 GRAND AVE. FREE DELIVERY At Your Convenience AND YOU GET THE SERVING CART FREEI BIG SELECTION Wide Choice of Styles Choice Fabrics Decorator Colors Foam Cushions 709 CENTER ST. NO MONEY DOWN EASIEST TERMS IN TOWN Buy Here Pay Here. No Finance Company to deal with.

Do all your businosi directly wifh U9..