Winchester, Virginia wasn’t that far away from Charles Town, West Virginia so we decided to go, look for yet another headstone!
Winchester National Cemetery is a closed cemtery, with no space left for any more burials. The cemetery is the final resting place for Civil War Union soldiers. The Confederate soldiers are buried in the cemetery across the street, according to the caretaker. It is a beautiful cemetery full of large monuments erected in memory of lost Union Soldiers.
We were looking for the headstone belonging to my father’s cousin, Edward Wheeler Niess, a veteran of WWII. After finding his name and location information in the book at the office, the caretaker took us right to the site.
After taking the pictures, we wandered around the cemetery looking at various monuments and asking questions of the caretaker, and didn’t leave the cemetery for another 1/2 hour! Looking over the wall from the front of the cemetery, you can see the Pennsylvania Monument. Edward Niess’ headstone would be out of the picture on the left hand side, clear at the back of the cemetery.
I thought that finding the headstones this week would be the high points of the week, but I found that was not so. While answering a genealogy request at the Historical Society I was searching through the tax records for the City, years 1850 through 1860, and I found several of my ancestors, but not theirs! I feel bad for them, happy for me!
I’m looking forward to the surprises next week holds. . . .
