THE WAUPACA COUNTY POST

August 2, 1990

 

WHEN THEN WAS NOW

By Wayne A. Guyant

 

            The oldest complete date found on a marker in Waupaca’s Lakeside Cemetery is found on the stone for Lucius Hibbard, son of William B. and his wife, Philens Hibbard.  He was born November 23, 1844, in the state of Vermont and died in Waupaca on September 24, 1851, aged six years, ten months and one day.  There are, however, two other burials that show only the year of birth and the year of death. They are Ada Scott, 1846-1851 and S. H. Hutchinson, 1829-1851.

            William B. Hibbard was one of the first five Vermonters who arrived at the Waupaca Falls in the summer of 1849.  I cannot find what happened to this family; they may have gone back to their native Vermont as did his brother, Joseph.

            Olive H. Hibbard, wife of Joseph Hibbard, was born in 1814, possibly in Vermont.  She died November 28, 1878, in Vermont, to where she and Joseph Hibbard had moved in 1878 to spend their remaining years with their only son, Henry J. Hibbard.

            They left behind in this cemetery, far from their native Vermont, two children:  Abbie A. Hibbard, who died February 21, 1864, aged 19 years, 9 months; and Fred R., who died May 23, 1874.  Their daughter, Mary, was supposed to be the first white female born in Waupaca.

            A cemetery is not only a place for the dead, but also the living.  A cemetery can be a classroom full of history, geography, poetry, art and nature study.

            You can find on some of the older stones where the person was born, such as:  the country, state, county or city.  Some stones have poems, Bible verses, pictures of the person embedded in the stone, hobbies depicted on the stone, or an occasional epitaph.

            I will share with you at various times some of my favorites.  The eastern and western states are where the most unusual epitaphs are found.

            Here is a starter:

            “Here I lie between to of the best women in the world, both my wives, but I have requested my relatives to tip me a little toward Tillie.”

            “Here lies the body of Soloman Pease, under the daisies and under the trees.  Pease is not here, only the pod,; Pease shelled out and went to God.”

            Future articles will be directed more to people of the area, buildings of the past, or unusual happenings in and around Waupaca.

            The majority of the people I will be writing about are buried in either the Waupaca Lakeside Memorial Park or St. Mary Magdalene’s Cemetery.