Boots on the ground genealogy research trips are my passion. Traveling to various cemeteries and visiting local historical societies adds a level of grit to your research. These adventures offer a wider view of your ancestor’s life, past the papers, letters and memento mori we all own. Seeing the buildings where they worked, the houses they built, and naturally, visiting the cemetery. My aunts and grandmother tended these graves, carrying a pail and various gardening tools in the truck of their car, the image goes back as far as I can remember. Cemeteries have their own stories, and can connect a tall tale, or two; listen in the quiet spaces and the secrets will amaze you. Gather round boys and girls, I have a story about the mysterious grave found in one family plot in Lakeside Cemetery, Holly, MI.
Along the footpath, next to the fence is a neat row of four tombstones, three are identical in design and execution. The family stone on the plot names Shafer on one side and Goodwin on the other.
A passing glance would reveal the most obvious of questions.
Fred V Goodwin Born 1888-19-.
Hazel M wife of FV Goodwin 1900-1924
Esther A wife of GH Shafer 1856-1924
The mother and daughter died in the same year, and someone born in 1888 is still alive? But this would not slow a passing step, unless you knew a bit more. At the end of the tidy curve of granite is the fourth grave, the question mark. Not GH Shafer, he is buried elsewhere and that is a story for another day. The name is Avanell Atkinson, 1910-1925, marking a short life of 15 years.
Avanell was the second daughter of Cloyd (Clyde/Cloid) F. Atkinson and his wife Mary Frazier Atkinson, born August 27, 1910 in Ohio (1.). She ventured to Michigan after her sister Tabitha Louise was married to Harold Jones, November 12, 1924 (2, 3.).
The death certificate states she had been ill from January 23, 1925-March 31, 1925 with chronic intestinal nephritis following scarlet fever 4 years ago. (Emphasis placed by coroner.) Laboratory tests were carried out at Hurley Hospital, Flint, MI. The date of burial was April 3, 1925. Contributory cause is circled as if to remind the coroner to enter the pertinent information when the tests were returned. That information is lost to the fates, however, Avanell’s death left her remaining family scrambling to find a suitable burial plot with little means to pay.
Into this tragic situation arrives GH Shafer, surviving spouse of Esther. George is best described as opportunistic, among other nefarious traits. Hailing from a well-established family in Northville, he counted as his relations a member of congress and a judge. He enjoyed a level of hubris and nepotism that kept the police from his doorstep on several occasions. Arson, murder and battery follow his days through the Northville Record, not to mention several marriages and the questionable death of his first wife, Althea.
George sold the plot intended for his final resting place to the Atkinsons, causing a rift between himself and his son in law, Fred Goodwin. The heartbreaking train accident that killed their wives in November 1924, and George’s new relationship with local flapper Clara Barrows was the heart of the matter. Fred, coming from the conservative Goodwin family, could not accept this woman and her influence over George. By April 1925 George signaled he was moving the relationship to a permanent one with the sale of his burial plot and plans to be buried beside Clara. Sure, the sale of the burial plot wasn’t a great deal of money, but when you are the 7 fingered adult without steady employment, his behavior is not at all surprising.
Much thanks to all my readers following the story of Fred Goodwin’s Unmarked Tombstone. You can read the story here and you can donate to the GoFundMe to mark Fred’s final resting place with his death date, 1925.
Cheers!
MJ
Read more about Fred, George and their wives at this link.
- https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=3146&h=273460&tid=&pid=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=Abe2&_phstart=successSource
- https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:9392-S5QM-52?i=196&cc=1614804
- https://www.ancestry.com/interactive/9093/41326_342243-00279/159227?backurl=https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/109536035/person/130073982391/facts/citation/560383298099/edit/record
- https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/109536035/person/130073982392/facts