The Journey with hellen

We came upon this stone while searching for another stone completely, but we had to investigate it to be sure it was not the person we were seeking. We visited the Cemetery 4 times, over 6 weeks to make sure of our beliefs, of who this young person could be based on our research. After a great deal of online hours plus driving and lodging. We began to get closer to the answers.

 After all of our research was done, we realized that she did not have a profile online and did not appear in any family trees or Federal Documents. We had to dive deeper! Once we decided the last name was indeed "French" we could narrow it down. We found a "S. S. French" in the area of this time period. After locating some documents, which happen to be a marriage License we confirmed that the single initial is an "A" who we believe is Amanda.

However, we are not done yet and want to be sure of our beliefs. We noticed a witness to the Marriage was a person named Helen Baucus. We wondered, is this a friend or just a neighbor? We were not sure until we found Helen's burial site. Her headstone was the only time we found her name spelled with two LL's. Part of the inscription on her stone said "ERECTED BY DAUGHTER". Now we have more compelling evidence. We dive deeper once again! Hellen Baucus lived very close to the Cemetery at the time of the young girl's death. We were still not done, as it turns out "Hellen Baucus" buried by her daughter "Amanda" is only a few feet from a "CIVIL WAR HERO & MEDAL OF HONOR RECIPIENT, SAMUEL S. FRENCH.  Now we can contact a relative and put in their hands.

 This was Plaque was placed to honor Samuel for his bravery in battle. We noticed that it's placed next to his brother's headstone. His actual Headstone is a few rows up towards the road. If you visit his burial maybe you could also visit his forgotten daughter, about 20 miles away... Thank you.

 Samuel S. French - Wikipedia 

We decided to post this photo so you could see for yourself the inscription below.

This is the Marriage document we found to help confirm our beliefs of identity. We have several more documents that helped in our determination. Including the 1880 Federal Census showing residence at time of death of grand daughter.

Here we found a couple indentations in the grass, so we investigated further and found all 3 "GORDON" children a couple inches below grade. We carefully removed the overburden and scrubbed them clean. Pictures show a little dirt for an easier read.

Here you have a before picture of the toppled headstones. If you are a family member just know that we are very careful and thoughtful while reclaiming any burial. The "KEY' in any photo is only for proof of work. We hope you understand and consider us an ally in this area of care.

Here you have Annie M. Gordon. She died in 1881 at a young age, just before we cleaned it completely. 

Here we find Laura she died very young, from what we can tell was in 1874.

This headstone was the first to be discovered and while reclaiming it, we found the other two missing headstones. It shows Georgie died in 1870.

All 3 children had a profile on Findagrave.com most likely from the burial register. We uploaded the photos and hope in some small way this helped.