Indiana Spirit Quest #99: Napoleon's Bugler!! Traditional Geocache

Pioneer Cemetery (All photos by The Shadow)

The Indiana Spirit Quest series of geocaches will take you to a number of small, rural, historic cemeteries built by Hoosier Pioneers. In less than a year, the quest has grown to almost a hundred caches hidden in nine northeast Indiana counties, and the hiders have grown to three cacher teams, each comprised of A Man and His Dog...The Indiana Division of Historic Preservation & Archeology claims there are over 100,000 cemeteries and burial grounds in Indiana. Personally we think this is an absurd figure, but since they're a part of the IDNR, they MUST be right...so we're at the one-tenth of one percent mark and climbing! PRAIRIEPARTNERS has set a record for one-day ISQ finds on 10-16-2004 at 55! 103 cacher teams have logged over 1,300 finds.

TOP TEN FINDS

FTF's

1. 32 --Dragon Ryders Three
2. 16 --Bluegillfisherman
3. 14 --Buddaman
4. 8 --Pinestrail

The Shadow has selected Eddy Cemetery, Section Six, Troy Township, DeKalb County, for your caching pleasure. Listen to what he has to say:

This is a mid-to-large size cemetery. It is still very active and growing. There are numerous veterans here, from the Civil War to VietNam. Strangely, very few have the bronze markers. That makes it a bit tougher to spot them.

John Houlton, the first settler in DeKalb County is located here in a family plot, along with two wives, Nancy and Sarah. "John Houlton, the first settler of De Kalb County, Ind., was born in Highland County, Ohio, Sept. 21, 1804, a son of Samuel Houlton, a pioneer of Highland County, and a soldier in the war of 1812. He was reared in the wilds of Ohio, having Indian boys and wild animals for playmates. In 1827 he came to Williams County, Ohio, and worked for his brother Samuel in a saw-mill on Fish Creek, near its confluence with the St. Joseph River. They rafted the lumber down the river to the Fort Wayne market. He was married Feb. 5, 1833, to Sarah Fee, who was born May 12, 1812. The following September they moved to De Kalb County, and Sept. 4, raised the first house in the county. It was built of round logs, was one and a half stories high, and twenty feet square. It remained standing till 1860, when it was torn down, and the De Kalb County Pioneer society had a number of canes made from its logs, presenting a cane to each pioneer whose settlement dated prior to 1840.

Mr. Houltons wife died Jul 12, 1839, leaving three children---Samuel, born in Lima, Ind., Feb. 1, 1839, was a member of Company B., First Michigan Infantry, in the war of the Rebellion, and died in Libby prison; Margaret, born April 8, 1836, was the first female white child born in De Kalb County; Sarah, born July 1, 1839. All grew to maturity. Margaret married William H. Slentz, and had three children. In 1839, Mr. Houlton married Nancy Lewis, daughter of Samuel Lewis who settled in Williams County, Ohio, in April, 1834, and was the seventh settler on the St. Joseph River. Nine children were born to them. Mr. Houlton died on the old homestead, June 2, 1875. He was a consistent Christian, and a member of the Disciples church. At the time Mr. Houlton settled in De Kalb County, the Indians and wild animals roamed the forest at will. The only ting he ever hunted was squirrel; deer was safe from his gun, although there were many at that time. One Sunday a flock of thirty turkeys came into his orchard, just at the rear of the house, and although acting contrary to the wish of Mrs. Houlton his early Presbyterian training would not allow him to shoot one on the Sabbath. He set out the first orchard in De Kalb County, in the spring of 1834, obtaining the trees in Constantine, Mich." (From an old account) --THE SHADOW

The earliest burial we could find a record for was that of an "Emigrants" child in 1836 and the oldest named is NELLY ALDRICH, Wife of S. Aldrich, Sen. , Died Sept. 20th 1836, aged 54 years, 5 days. Stating the deceased age in years , months and days was an early convention, but here is one I've never seen before: "Infant son of B. and A. Jackman, died Mar. 11, 1847, age 36 hours."

How about this: MOTHER JANE THURSTON, (1823 - 1905) Widow of Daniel Thurston, later widown of Henry Sanders (Looking to bury her third?).

An old lady: LUCY ALDRICH, (1795 - 1896)--Age 100 years, 9 mo, 18 d.

ANd now to our honored Veterans, and there are a lot of them folks:

CHARLIE F. ALBERTSON (1896 - 1960) INDIANA PVT. CO. C 347TH MACHINE GUN BN (Bet the Huns took to a-runnin' when they saw THESE guys commin'-- a whole BATTALION of Machine Gunners??! and 346 more battalions behind them? It's a wonder the Germans didn't up and surrender on the spot!!!

Here is one of our brothers:

And now our Civil War Vets:

ALDRICH, Isaac F., Co. A, 29 Ind. Inf., d. Dec. 15, 1863, Died at Jeffersonville, IN.
ALDRICH, Simeon, Co. F., 44 Ind. Inf. Fife Major, Died at home Dec. 2, 1912.
BERVERLIN, Charles, Co. F, 44 Ind. Inf., Battle Creek, Tenn.
BEVERLY, Charles, Co. F., 44 Ind. Inf., Died at Battle Creek, Tenn.
BONTREAGER, George, Co. H, 100 Ind. Inf., Died at home Sept. 18, 1870.
ENZOR, Ephriam, Co. A., 129 Ind. Inf., Died at home May 29, 1868.
HAUGHEY, John L. A., Co. C. 44 Reg. Ind., Died at at home at Ashley, b. April 19, 1840, d. Jan. 27, 1924.
HAYNES, Andrew, Co., K., 100 Ind. Inf., Died at home in Butler, Aug. 16, 1908.
NICHOLS, Alexander L., Co. F, 44 Ind. Vol. Inf., Died at home June 16, 1916.
PINCHIN, Abner, Co. H, 129 Ind. Inf., Died at home.
RENSCH, William, Co. L, 1st Reg. Ind. Heavy Artillery, West Div., Died at home July 24, 1912.?

RICHARDS, Franklin, Co. C, Ohio Vol. Inf., Libby Prison.

ROBINSON, John S., Co. G, 53 Ind. Inf., Died at home, May 4, 1906.
SHOEMAKER, McKey,(1845-1861) --16 years old-- Died at Camp Carington, Indianapolis, Ind. of measles, never inducted in Army. (Crossed Rifles engraved on Tombstone)
SLENTZ, Abner, Co. H, 129 Inf., Died at home.
SLENTZ, Henry, Co. F., 44 Ind. Inf., Died at home, Eaton Rapids, Mich., Feb. 24, 1921.
SLENTZ, John K., Co. H, 129 Ind. Inf, Died at home, April 2, 1934, age 95y, 8m.
SLENTZ, William H., Co. G, 153 Ind. Inf., Died at home, March 5, 1874.
TURNER, Martin, Co. F, 44 Ind. Inf., Died at home.
WILKINS, William, Co. C, 12th Ind. Calvery, (Why do they do this? it's CAVALRY) Died at home, Feb. 16, 1868.

COURTWRIGHT, William, Co. A, 129th Ind. Inf., Died at Cleveland, Tenn. of disease.
SPRITZ, Carl, Co. H, 129th Ind. Inf., Died of disease at Merietta, Georgia.
BOHART, Samuel, Co. H, 129th Ind. Inf., Died of disease at Cleveland, Tenn.
SEARFAUS, John, Co. H., ??? Ind. Inf., Died of disease at Washington D.C.
JACKMAN, Joseph, Co. A, 44th Ind. Inf., killed at Shiloh, Tenn., April 6, 1862, no monument.
McCLELLEN, Jacob, Co. A, 44th Ind. Inf., killed at Shiloh, Tenn., April 6, 1862.
McCLELLEN, John, drowned in Eel River.

HOULTON, Samuel, Co. I, 1st Michigan Inf., Captured at Gettysburg, Penn., on July 3, 1863. (According to the official records, member of Co. B, captured on July 2, 1863, died at Andersonville Prison Camp on April 4, 1864 of Dysentery and buried in Grave 337, Section K -- National Parks Service, Record #10377)

ALLWOOD, Charles, Co. G, 13th Ind. Inf., Died at Raleigh, North Carolina, July 3, 1865, of disease.
HAINES, Semer, Co. ?, 11th Ind. Inf., wounded at Vicksburg and died at St. Louis, Missouri, of wounds.
TURNER, Stephen, Co. F, 44th Ind. Inf., Lost at Stone River.
McCORD, David, Co. A, 44th Ind. Inf., Died at Shiloh, Tenn.
BRUNER, Fredrick, Co. A, 44th Ind. Inf.
HARGER, John, Co. K, 182 OVI, Died at Nashville, Tenn. of measles.

AUSTIN, Samuel, War 1812, Died at home.
AUSTIN, Solomon, War 1812, Died at home Jan. 20, 1853 or 1858.
BROWN, Samuel, War 1812, Died at home. (Battle of Lunts Lane)

SPANGLER, Arthur M., Sgt. 5, Cav. Inf., Korea, SS, BS, MPH, June 4, 1917 - Sept 12, 1950.

Co. A, 44th Indiana Infantry

ORGANIZED at Fort Wayne, Ind., and mustered in November 22, 1861. SERVICE.- Investment and capture of Fort Donelson February 14-16 ;Battle of Shiloh, Tenn., April 6-7.. Battle of Stone's River December 30-31, 1862, and January 1-3, 1863. Battle of Chickamauga September 19-20; Siege of Chattanooga September 26-November 23.. Mission Ridge November 25. On Provost duty at Chattanooga, Tenn., till September, 1864. At Tullahoma September 28 to October 2. Return to Chattanooga, Tenn., October 15, and Provost duty there till September, 1865. Mustered out September 14, 1865.

Regiment lost during service 4 Officers and 76 Enlisted men killed and mortally wounded and 9 Officers and 220 Enlisted men by disease. Total 309.

Photo by Rupert2

January 20 by Rupert2 (427 found) #426 Well folks, this was indeed a special one for me. A few weeks ago my grandmother gave me the family book she has been working on for several years. After doing some digging around I discovered that my Great-Great-Grandfather is buried in the Eddy Cemetery. Today I finally had the opportunity to make my way up to ISQ#99, not only to claim the smiley but to visit his grave. Martin Van Buren Turner is directly mentioned in the cache page as having served in Company F of the Indiana 44th Infantry. He lived most of his life in Steuben County serving as the local blacksmith. His brother Stephen Turner was killed in the Battle of Stone River in Tennessee during the Civil War. M. V. Turner has long been a "dead end" in my family history, but thanks to a lead made possible by the ISQ we have been able to take it back another generation.

I must also thank the mysterious gentleman sporting a dark cape who assisted in my quest.

The cache container was a small camo'd match holder. As of March '06 it's a loc-nloc. BYOP. Park with care. If you find a fallen US flag, please stick it back in the ground. As always, please be respectful, and cache in, trash out. God Bless our troops in harm's way.

Cache In - Trash Out!

Click to subscribe to ftwaynegeo!