For Tombstone Tuesday I thought I'd contribute the following picture and story about my great-great-uncle William Finley Eagleton.
(Thanks for taking the picture and putting it on Find-A-Grave, B.J.!)
William Finley was my grandma Beulah's uncle, her mother Louisa Adaline Eagleton's brother. He moved off to Colorado at an early age and the family never knew what became of him.
It wasn't until a while later that I unearthed a relative of Finley's -- one of his daughter's descendants. She was able to tell me what had happened and provided me with the article that I have included here. You can click on it and read it for the details. It is certainly a sad story but at the same time it is interesting to read how much reporting has changed in the last century. They didn't have any problems reporting about possible suicides nor did they refuse to reveal names to protect the identities of the innocent.
Fin's accident was just that -- an accident. I hope it was quick.
When I found out what had happened to him I told my grandmother. She said she wished that she could be given the chance to explain to her mother where her brother had gone to. He just disappeared and they never did hear from him again.
He certainly hadn't meant it that way.
William Finley Eagleton was born 2 Feb 1862 in Crawford County, Illinois, the son of Pvt. David Newton Eagleton and Margaret Jane Conrad. He married Eva Margaret Goddard on 30 April 1897 in Jamestown, Boulder Co., CO. He died of an accidental gunshot wound on 6 Jan 1902.
