A Family Secret?

An enigmatically carved marker

On the south bank of the Welland River west of Niagara Falls, Ontario, can be found the Young Cemetery. Also know as the Young-Misener Cemetery, this family burial ground was in poor condition until fairly recently. A few years ago the City of Niagara Falls restored the cemetery, setting the many stones that has fallen flat over the years into concrete bases. In the process a number of previously unknown gravestones were uncovered. One such gravestone was a small enigmatically carved marker.

Under good lighting conditions the following letters can be seen with the year 1905 inscribed vertically on the left.

A L E
B N 9
D N 14
A 4 D

The inscription suggested the death of an infant on 14 Nov 1905. A check of the Ontario Death Records (available through Ancestry) revealed the death of an Alice Louisa Everingham on the previous day. The cause of death, however, was somewhat unsettling: “Smothered in sleep.” Had I uncovered a dark family secret?

Alice Louise Everingham had been born four days previously on 9 Nov 1905. Her parents were George Everingham and Dollie May Hutchinson.

George Albert Everingham, the son of Abner M. Everingham (1834-1914) and Eliza Ann Wills (1842-1883), was born on 28 Apr 1877 in Ontario. His wife, Dollie, was born across the Niagara River in Buffalo in June of 1888, the daughter of Michael Hutchinson and Mary Ferman. It is not known when and where George and Dollie married, however, Dollie was only 16 when she became pregnant with Alice.

George and Dollie has three more children: Raymond Victor, born in 1907, Lester, born in 1909, and Arthur born in 1913. Lester and Arthur were both born in New York State. The family emigrated to the United States before Fester’s birth but returned to Canada before Dollie’s death in 1914. 

Young Cemetery, Crowland, Welland, Ontario

According to her death registration, Dollie was killed in a railway accident. She was buried at the Drummond Hill Cemetery in Niagara Falls.

In 1915, George married Florence Beatrice Wright (1896-1972). They had one child, Myrtle, born in 1916. George and Florence are buried at Lundy’s Lane Cemetery in Niagara Falls.

The Young Cemetery is located on land granted to George Young in 1798. The first burial was that of eleven-year-old Samuel Young, a grandson of George, in 1822.