Squint Shot 103010

In 1969, when Chuck and Barbara Keesler purchased the Jackson Furniture Company (which in later years became The Decorating Center owned by Ron Daly and is now open as Maria's Dance School), Mr. Keesler discovered something very interesting in the second floor of the building. What appeared to be part of the floor possibly, a large white, flat piece of limestone, was in fact something very interesting when it was lifted up and turned over. It was the original headstone for Martha Fowler, Ralph Fowler's first wife. You can read a bit more about her by clicking here. It was not determined in my research for The Fowlerville Chronicles, or at least I never found a report or article, that this headstone was ever used. Also, as I click off the history of the downtown area, the wood structures that were located on northeast block burned in 1891, years after Martha and her headstone would have been located at the original cemetery. Did this headstone get placed in the new brick structures when coffins were being moved from the original cemetery to Greenwood?

Also, as early as 1875 (Greenwood Cemetery was developed in 1884), the short article below was published in The Fowlerville Review. These are questions and thoughts that can only be surmised because we never will really know what happened so long ago. If you would like to see this old-fashioned headstone, it is located at the M.E. Church building at the fairgrounds in the historic village.