Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Tombstone Tuesday: Robert and Clarrissa Jamison

This looks like any other headstone so you might be wondering why I've posted it today. The fact that I even own the photo and can see what this headstone looks like seems miraculous to me. Over 30 years ago my husband's first wife Shelly diligently researched his family line and established the facts about this couple, Robert Alvey Jamison and his wife Clarrissa Jane Meals. They are my husband's paternal great-grandparents and are buried in Westlawn Cemetery, Canton, Stark, Ohio.
After I married my husband I got involved in researching our family histories, at his insistence! He spoke often of this couple and of the extensive work Shelly had done to document their lives and how familiar she came to feel about them as a result of the many hours she spent "with" them. He had photos of them that we've scanned and shared with other family members. We have the newspaper article that explains the circumstances of Robert A. Jamison's accidental death. I'll explain that in a future post (soon). And I found that I grew fond of this couple--I particularly like Clarrissa's name: 'Clarrissa Jane' has a nice ring to it.
My husband and I have no reason to travel to Ohio so I never expected to have a photograph of the headstone on Robert and Clarrissa's grave. But with all this new technology and terrific computer developments in these past 10 years, it's been possible for me to acquire many items like this.
As I discovered the Find A Grave web site, I was really excited because I came upon the photo of my mother's grave in Kansas, as well as many other family graves. I signed up and got busy photographing local gravesites for those requesting them. But it was many months before the idea came to me that I could request the same from someone else. I guess I'm more accustomed to giving than to asking! I put in a request for someone living in Canton, Ohio to photograph this gravesite and within two weeks I got the photo by email.
When I opened the eamil and saw this picture, tears rolled down my face. I'm not doing an adequate job of describing this, but it just seemed like a miracle before my eyes. Never in a million years did I expect to SEE the headstone of Robert Alvey and Clarrissa Jane Meals Jamison. Yes, it is a photo of an ordinary gravesite, but to me and my husband, and to his first wife Shelly, it's a really special photograph that speaks volumes to us. We are grateful to Find A Grave for offering this service to us and to the wonderful volunteers who make connections like this possible!

3 comments:

EmilyD1037 said...

What a wonderful testament to people in general and FindAGrave in particular.

Delia Furrer said...

Love this post, Becky. It's amazing the emotional feelings that come with Genealogy. Find-a-Grave has been such a blessing to us all. I found that someone had posted a picture of my husband's grandmother's stone. My husband never knew his grandmother and family had lost touch of her. It's sad but then a feeling of exhilaration when you can "connect" again through records.

Harold's Daughter said...

Find A Grave is one of the best ideas since sliced bread. I've been a member for 3+ years, but like you, never thought to request a photo! I just became a Photo Volunteer after finding the photo of my gr-gr-gr-gf CONN's grave near Indianapolis posted by someone else. Brought tears to my eyes too, because I despaired of ever seeing that particular stone.

I like the name "Clarissa Jane" too, perhaps because of my gr-gr-gm Zerilda Jane!