Search This Blog

The Over The Hill Gang

The Over The Hill Gang
Let's ride! Riders are Jerry Cole, Billy Niverson, John Nave, Jack McClain, Larry Davis, Larry Burk, Merle Combs, Charles Thomas, Art Adrianson, Larry Miller.

Friday, August 1, 2014

Francis Slocum Gravesite

Only four showed up this past Wednesday. It was a little chilly, which might have kept some away. Merle Combs, Jerry Cole and I rode over to Chism's Corner for lunch. Billy Niverson drove his car over and joined us there. After lunch, the three of us who were riding rode up IN 13 through Swayzee, Meir, Somerset to county road 950 south and turned west until we got to The Indian Cemetery where Francis Slocum is buried. We walked around the cemetery and looked at all the graves. Here's a map where the cemetery is located:



And here is her tombstone:



Here are links to who she was if you haven't heard of her:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frances_Slocum

and

 http://indianapublicmedia.org/momentofindianahistory/trail-lost-sisterfrances-slocum/

She is fairly famous around our area, and we have a school in Marion named after her: Francis Slocum Elementary. A school system near here, Moconoquah (one n) School System, is named after her Indian name, "Mo-con-no-quah" meaning "Young Bear."

Her two daughters are buried with her (the two headstones to the left in the picture.)

We enjoyed the visit to the Indian Cemetery and learned some things.

I rode 56 miles this day, and the temperatures were in the 70s.

I rode home on The Francis Slocum Trail which runs from Somerset, Indiana to near my home, which is north of Marion. A very nice ride today.