It was a perfect day in the Sierra Foothills today. My friend Al lives two ridges south of me on the Georgetown Divide. I'm north of the North Fork American River, and he's south of the Middle Fork. As the crow flies, he's about 10 miles from me, but maybe 40 miles to drive. His home is not far from the Greenwood Cemetery where John A. Stone is buried. Al went to the cemetery today and took pictures for us. Here's Al's report:I visited the Greenwood cemetery with a friend. John
A. Stone's grave was not hard to find using the picture you sent me. The grave is located near the center of the cemetery. There are a couple of pictures attached taken from the main entrance, showing my friend standing at the grave site.
All the inscriptions are easy to read, and I have transcribed them
below. There does not appear to be a foot-stone, as the grave next to
him does have. The rock material of the outer headstone seems different than the face where the inscription is. It gives the appearance that the inscription is on the original stone, but that at some later time, the original might have been placed into the outer polished stone, possibly for preservation. The flat stone laying on the ground appears to be original also. Perhaps at one time the inscribed stone sat directly on the horizontal stone. I am not sure of this, however. Since you mentioned there might be an older stone buried beneath the soil, I decided to investigate. I took along a 8" long nail, courtesy of Georgetown Hardware, and pushed it into the ground around the visible gravestone. I was not able to find evidence of a buried stone using this method.
Here is the inscription:
John A. Stone
Early song writer of California
Known as
Joe Bowers
Author of Put's Golden Songster and
Put's Original California Songster
and others
Native of Pike County, Missouri
Crossed the plains by wagon in 1849
Died at Greenwood, Calif. Jan 23, 1864
In Memoriam |
This was an enjoyable outing. Thanks for asking me to help out.
Al, Georgetown, CA
|
sj
