More Scenes In the Brethren Cemetery

Beaver Creek, Maryland

Here we see the marker for John Witmer (Sr.), father of Elizabeth (Eliza) Witmer who married John Hammer. Elizabeth and John moved from Maryland to Illinois. One of their sons was D. H. Hammer, Senior, whose son was my grandfather.

John Witmer lived from December 1773 to August 1858. He died at age 84, which seems oddly common in my family.

In the second photo, Witmer's grave is on the far right. According to notes I inherited from my grandfather, John Witmer served in the War of 1812.

The final tombstone in this series is of John Funk, who was not one of my ancestors, although he married a Newcomer so I suppose he was a distant relative.  He is said to have built the large mill on Beaver Creek between 1811 and 1821 to replace a wood gristmill that had collapsed. Later he sold it to the Doub brothers, after whom the mill is currently named.

Funk lived to be 89. I've noticed before that old tombstones show that plenty of people lived to a ripe old age.

I began this series of cemetery pictures with a photo of the fine Victorian entrance gate to the cemetery, so I'll conclude with the same gate as seen when we left. The sun was low in the sky and temperatures were dropping so I didn't even find markers for all of my ancestors who are said to be buried there. Perhaps another day...