I came across this stone in the Western Heights Cemetery in Dallas County, Texas. A co-worker of mine told me about the cemetery and piqued my interest when he said that Clyde Barrow, of the famous Bonnie and Clyde, was buried there. It was only about fifteen minutes away from the house so I figured, why not?
The cemetery is smack dab in an older area of town, traffic going by at a million miles an hour, and it seemed strange to walk the cemetery because of that. I'm used to going to small cemeteries out in the middle of nowhere, where the only thing you hear is the chirping of birds or maybe the occasional car. It was still a peaceful place but it was punctuated with the sounds of society.
I spotted Clyde and his brother Buck right off. I didn't want to leave that early, though, so I wandered a bit. The stone whose picture is above is the one that struck me the most. The inscription says (as best as I could make out) :
In memory of David T. Ogle
Born in Sanwan County California January 22, 1859 died Aug 28th 1861 aged 2 years, 8 mos and __ days
Also E. D. Ogle born Jan 17th 1861
died November 26th 1863 aged 2 years 9 mos & 25 days
Brothers, most likely, and hand carved. It stuck out like a sore thumb because it didn't look like any of the rest -- it poignantly reminded me of the stones one sees in the old burial grounds in New England and not in some north central Texas city. Doesn't it to you? I saw it and thought that it looked like it just didn't belong there.
The stone's details are fascinating, if a bit misleading. Sanwan County? I looked it up and there doesn't appear to be one, now or in the past. Some Californians could tell me if that's accurate, I'm sure. Perhaps the carver just meant San Juan. If so, did they mean San Juan Capistrano? San Juan Bautista? North San Juan?
We might never know which they meant. It looks like the Ogle family was in California in 1859 but by 1861-1863, when little David and little E.D. died, they were living near this Dallas cemetery. Who knows where they went after that.
I just really liked the stone.
And on another completely unrelated topic....something that's making me angry! I used to background color my post titles by placing a div tag in the title. It's been working for the last couple months. Suddenly, the last two posts, it won't let me do that any longer? Grrrrrr. I just want to know why before I throw myself down in a prepubescent tantrum.
So, it's off to Ohio! See all of you on the flip side!
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