I have asked Teresa to post the picture I took of my greatgrandfather George Draper's gravestone that is in the Grace Lawn Cemetery at Howard. This is a very nice well cared for cemetery.
Ms Bear
Thank you for the compliment on the cemetery, Ms Bear. We think it is well taken care of also.
Do you have a day or weekend that relatives come to clean and weed?
I was surprised to find more family members buried there than I expected. All of the Hubbard and Williams and Draper's that are near this stone are my family.
On the 1910 Census the Draper's were living in Howard Township and they were listed as farmers. I wonder about the significance of the log on George Draper's stone since he was a farmer, I checked other census' to see if he was listed as a logger or sawyer but didn't find anything. George was born in Onieda County, New York so I will check there to see if wood was part of his life there.
I hope the next time I come I will be able to spend more time, some at the Library looking at the microfilmed newspapers for more obituaries. The ones that you, Marcia and Lois have posted have helped me so much.
Pat
Was George Draper a member of a burial society? Was he a Mason? There is a group called "The Woodmen of the World." Sometimes a log or tree relates to a group, sometimes it signifies a life cut short.
Most likely George Draper was a member of the Woodmen of the World organization, as some of them had log-shaped tombstones, and there were Woodmen of the World groups in the area. Woodmen of the World is a fraternal organization in the United States that operates a large privately held insurance company for its members. A local camp of the Woodmen of the World was instituted at Severy in October 1906.
I haven't found anything about any groups that he belonged to. I don't think he belonged to Woodsmen and I haven't seen any other stones like the one here. It is something to think about though.
I wonder if there is a way of finding the names of the members. Might be a gold mine for those doing genealogy.
Names of the members, or at least the names of the officers, might be found in old Howard newspapers on microfilm. That is where I found the information on the Severy club and members.
A local camp of the Woodmen of the World was instituted at Severy in October 1906 by J.W. Kaizer of Topeka, state manager, and H.H. Harris of Wichita, a deputy. The following officers were elected: J.S. Maben, C.C.; W.H. Pettyjohn, A.D.L.; F. Maben, O.; E.P. Maben, B.; W.H. Simons, Escort; Oscar Couch, Watchman; R.V. Hays, Manager; Smith Forest McDonald, Physician. The club's meeting place was Maben Hall, but the club was of short duration at Severy.
The Woodmen of the World organization has a website, and you might be able to get old records through them, however, some of these old organizations will no longer give out information, claiming they can no longer do so because of the privacy act (which is a bunch of nonsense in my opinion.)
I will check that website out tomorrow evening and let you know what I find.
Where would I order Death Certificates for Kansas? Would they be available for 1895 - 1915, and would they be at a County Courthouse or from the State? I should have checked at the Court House when I was in Howard but had my mother with me and she wasn't able to walk very far.
Death certificates for Kansas can be purchased from the Kansas Department of Vital Statistics. I think there is a website giving the cost and the address. They are available for deaths starting in 1911.
The website for Kansas Death Certificates is "Kansas Department of Health & Enviroment", they have them on record starting July 1, 1911, prior to that you can find them at the courthose in the county where the death occurred. The cost from the state of Kansas is $13.00. You need to put as much information as possible on the application as the state researchers won't research it for you if they don't find it almost exactly as you filed for it. I have had to refile sometimes just because of some very minor difference.
I have ordered them for lots of relatives in my genealogy research. The state of Missouri has them available to print at no cost on-line up to a point in time , now that is really handy for research. Unfortunately a lot of the information on the older death certificates is inaccurate. I have found numerous instances of erroneous information.
Frank Winn
I have found several on the Missouri site and I think how accurate the information was depended on who the informant was. One of mine was almost 80 and the information was given by a daughter-in-law and it wasn't very accurate. Made me take a second thought about who I would want giving information about me.
I ordered Marriage Licenses from Illinois and it took two full months to get them but is was worth the wait for information on them.