Hello All, Here is a narrative I wrote about an investigatory journey I took to Oskaloosa, Iowa, earlier this year to verify some facts about the Chace Family's presence there in the mid-1800s. My trip was very rewarding and I was able to discover some surprising material that I had not anticipated. Anyone who has ever thought that genealogy consists of a boring set of birthdates and deathdates has never had such an exhilarating experience as I encountered while doing research in Oskaloosa. Getting my hands dirty in a cemetery stood as the pinnacle of an awesomely rewarding trip. Cheers, Jeffrey Chace -- Jeffrey Chace http://www.chace.demon.nl Our family records traditionally show that Burgess Thomas Chace, who was born 22 July 1785 in Swansea, Massachusetts, died 6 September 1858 and was buried in Providence, Rhode Island, but I have had a bit of trouble tracking down his grave there. Little did I suspect that I would discover he wasn't where we always thought he was. I had known for quite some time, having heard stories from my Grandfather, that the Chaces had lived in Oskaloosa, Iowa, before heading southwest from there and ending up in Shawnee, Kansas. Once, about 15 years ago, I had stopped through Oskaloosa naively believing that I would be able to find some information about the Chaces. However, not really knowing anything about the nature of our family, I had not a clue as where to begin. To my credit, I at least had enough sense to go to the library there. The Librarian suggested that I look at old newspapers, but having only a vague idea about the timeframe in which the Chaces had lived in Oskaloosa, I had no idea where to begin. I asked for the Oskaloosa newspapers from the late 1800s. The Librarian helped me with microfilm from 1898. Although there were entertaining articles about what would occur at the end of the century and how the world may be coming to and end, and advertisements touting the benefits of electro-shock treatments, I could find nothing of the Chaces. And, no wonder, considering that I now know they had largely immigrated to Iowa from Rhode Island in 1852 and all had emigrated to Shawnee, Kansas, by 1863! Furthermore, the fact that they were Quakers would typically have precluded any mention of them in the newspapers. Well, having spent the last five years studying the history of our family in depth and laying the foundation for proper research, I headed back to Oskaloosa in August of this year. Armed with local contact information for the Mahaska County Genealogical Society and again for the Public Library, I ventured into town. Finding the Genealogical Society, I entered, was greeted by Mabel, and paid my four dollar usage fee. I quickly discerned that most of the information in their library would be of little use in my peculiar pursuits, but I did find two pieces of information of importance – The 1856 Mahaska County Census and the WPA Iowa Cemetery listing. In the Census records as spelled by the recorder, I found many familiar Chases. Alonzo - age 40, Amasa - age 33, Lydia M age - 32, Phebe M - age 6, Henry V - age 4, Burges T - age 70, Burges - age 40, Edward - age 15, Joseph B - age 28, Amanda M - age 20, and Alice E - age 0. Whoops, there's Burgess Thomas Chace at age 70 happily nestled in amongst his progeny when he was supposed to have lived out his life and to have died in Providence. Hmmmmm. Next, I examined the WPA Iowa Cemetery listing. Lo and behold, again I found Burgess. But this time listed as Burgess I. Chase. According to the WPA record, Burgess was buried in Lincoln Township in the Center Grove Cemetery. I asked Mabel if she was familiar with the cemetery and indeed she was. However, she warned me that half of the cemetery was gone, a victim of the construction of 63 Highway. And, the WPA list showed Burgess's headstone as "broken." But, who knew? Perhaps he was still there. Mabel gave me directions to find the cemetery and off I went. But first a stop at the library before it closed. Walking into the Oskaloosa Public Library, I had a vague memory of the building from 15 years prior. However, it had been refurbished and was now a fine, modern library in stark contrast to the drab, dungeon-like experience I had previously encountered so many years before. Furthermore, the Genealogy section had been recently moved to its own room in the library on the main floor and was quite expansive. In Lydia Meader Chace's autobiography, she states that the family had been members of the Spring Creek Monthly Meeting and the Pleasant Plain Quarterly Meeting, so this time I came with a printout of card catalog record showing the Spring Creek Monthly Meeting Minutes contained on Microfilm. Loading the film, I begin my perusal of the Quaker Meeting Minutes of Spring Creek. Slowly, page after page, the dates kept climbing and no Chaces were found. Into 1866, I decided to stop as I knew that the Chaces had long since removed to Shawnee by this time. A bit deflated at yet another defeat at the Oskaloosa Public Library, I went to return the microfilm to its proper location. I had been so sure that I would find them this time. I had prepared. I had corroborating material pointing me in exactly the right direction. And yet, no, it seemed not to be. Placing the microfilm amongst the other rolls, I happened to notice a roll entitled "Center Grove Preparative Meeting of Friends" and having seen the WPA listing for Burgess Thomas Chace in Center Grove Cemetery, I figured I would give the roll a look. Within a couple of minutes of loading the roll and beginning my perusal I discovered recorded on 1st Mo. 3rd 1861, "The Overseers informed that Elijah Chace has accomplished his marriage contrary to our Discipline which information is forwarded to the Mo. Meeting." Oh my, now this was interesting. Elijah Chace was the son of Thomas Chace Sr., who was the eldest son of Burgess Thomas Chace. Little had I known that Elijah, the Quaker man who had built such a beautiful house in Prairie Village, Kansas, and who had worked so diligently at the Quaker Indian Mission in Shawnee teaching the Shawnee Indian boys farming, had fallen afoul of the discipline of the Monthly Meeting. Had he eventually been disowned as so many other Quakers had who had married against the advice of the Friends Meeting as Elijah's uncle Ezra Cornell had? Further investigation is definitely warranted. Why had Abigail, Elijah's wife, not been an appropriate bride for him in the opinion of the Quakers? Abigail was also Quaker. And I have evidence that her parents, Levi Ellis and Sarah Frazer were married at Newbery Friends meeting in Indiana in 1830. Perhaps they were Hicksites? Orthodox Quakers considered Hicksites, a sect of the Society of Friends, to be heretical since they denied the divinity of Christ. I was intrigued by this morsel of information in the Cedar Grove Preparative Meeting Minutes. What else would I find? It didn't take long to discover another interesting entry. A few pages later was listed: "At Center Grove Prep. Meeting of Frds held 7 Mo. 4th 1861 … Also that Joseph B. Chase has neglected the attendance of our meetings & has joined the Methodist Society, which information the clerk is directed to forward to the Monthly Meeting." What? What was going on here? A virtual melt-down of the Quaker Meeting with regard to the Chaces. Two Disciplinary Cases within 6 months! Further, in the meeting minutes of 8 Mo. 1861, "Amos Hiatt, Wm P. Picknell, David Wilson & Amasa Chace are appointed to set a value on the stone on our meeting house lot, & dispose of them if opportunity offers & report to next meeting." Phew! At least Amasa was staying out of trouble. Finally, the last record I could find of the Chaces in the Center Grove Preparative Meeting Minutes was "A List of Apportionment for the Members of the Center Grove Preparative Meeting" which listed Amasa, Alonzo, Edward, Elijah and Burgess (son of Burgess Thomas Chace). I found no further record of the Chaces in the Meeting Minutes except more mention of Amasa diligently working to get rid of the stone on the meeting house lot. The few entries I had found were quite provocative – better than advertisements for electro-shock therapy, and certainly shocking. I left the Library after having been there a couple of hours and travelled just north of the Oskaloosa town center on 63 highway. As Mabel had instructed me, I passed William Penn University, and immediately past the University on the left-hand (west) side of the highway appeared a cemetery – quite large with about 300 gravestones. Surely this must be the cemetery to which Mabel was referring, but she had told me it would be on the right-hand (east) side of the highway. I pulled into the driveway of the graveyard and got out and began walking every one of the gravestones looking for Burgess T Chace. Julie, a friend of mine, was along with me that day and helped by walking about half of the stones while I looked at the others. After about an hour, we had finished. But, alack and anon, no Burgess T Chace nor were there any Chaces or Chases at all. Hmmmmm. I decided to try a little further down the highway and look on the right-hand side as Mabel had indicated. Into my car, we drove up 63 Highway travelling a bit farther from the University, and within about a mile, bingo! A wooden sign declared "Cedar Grove Cemetary" [sic]. Excitement welled up within me as I saw the tall grass and small, tooth-like gravestones hidden in its midst. Would Burgess T. Chace's headstone still be here? Had it been destroyed and the grave desecrated with the building of 63 Highway? Was the gravestone, if it did still exist, broken as recorded in the WPA list? Wandering into the small graveyard, I saw that my search would be succinct as there were merely thirty or so gravestones most of which were no longer legible due to weather wear. Looking at some of the larger and still legible headstones revealed no Burgess T. Getting down on my hands and knees to peer at some of the smaller weather-worn stones I began to think that my quest was doomed. Even if his stone was still here, I probably would not be able to read it due to erosion of the stone over the last 147 years. After about twenty minutes, my attention kept being brought back to a simple, small stone about one and a half feet tall and about ten inches wide and a couple of inches think. Something caught my eye, I think it was merely a pattern of letters that looked as if they might be long enough and in the right sequence to spell "BURGESS T CHACE." But, my naked eye could not discern it definitively. I asked Julie if she could make anything out and she shook her head and said, "I can't see anything on it." I was not absolutely sure, but my excitement had returned and I decided there was only one way to know whether this was indeed Burgess Thomas Chace's final resting place. We got back in the car and sped off to Wal-Mart to buy tracing paper and some crayons. Returning to the cemetery, I hurried to the grave and the paper just fit the on the front of the headstone. I began to rub across the top with a purple crayon and within a minute the name "BURGESS T CHACE" came into view! What my eyes could not see, the crayon had revealed! Hurriedly, but with caution not to mark the gravestone with the crayon, to keep the paper flat and in place, and not to tear it, I completed my rubbing and what to my wondrous eyes should appear, but the following epitaph: BURGESS T CHACE D i e d 9 m o & 6 d y 1858 A g e d 73 Y r 1 m o & 15 d y Beaming with satisfaction at having been able to fill in a missing piece to a long ago forgotten puzzle, I asked Julie to hold up the paper next to the gravestone so I could take a photograph. Indeed, the crayon had done the trick as the photo which can be found here http://www.chace.demon.nl/BurgessTChaceGravestone.jpg now testifies. No inkling of the secrets contained on the face of the stone could be discerned and yet the rubbing stood out next to it as proof of the grave of my ancestor. Before leaving the small graveyard, I took photos of some of the other gravestones and of the sign at the entry stating: "Center Grove Cemetery , Restored by Stephen P. Allison, Boy Scout Troop 71 Oskaloosa, Ia. as his Eagle Scout Project. Rededicated July 8th, 2000 by the College Avenue Friends Church. For Information on Pioneer Cemeteries contact: The Mahaska County Commission for the Preservation of Pioneer Cemeteries at (641) 673-8122." My thanks go out to Stephen P. Allison for all of his hard work. What a triumphant return to Oskaloosa! I now had Quaker Records, Census Records and a rubbing of my Great Great Great Great Grandfather's gravestone. These were but small remnants of the lives my family had led and yet, they were tangible pieces with which to understand them better and further build the story of their existence, journeys and hardships. Burgess Thomas Chace travelled to Oskaloosa, Iowa, near the end of his life to be with his family. Burgess only had about 3 years to call Iowa his new home before passing on to his ultimate reward. A few years after his death, all of his family members had left Iowa. Julia, his wife, and Achsah, their daughter appear to have returned to Providence, Rhode Island, and during Civil War hostilities in 1863 his sons Amasa, Burgess, Alonzo, and Joseph and their families all left for Shawnee where they lived out the rest of their lives. Burgess's grandsons Elijah and Thomas Jr. joined the rest of the family in moving to Shawnee. But Thomas Jr. first spent a stint in the Rhode Island 10th Regiment Infantry Artillery, Company L, from May 1, 1862, to August 30, 1862, fighting for the Union during the War Between the States. Burgess's grandson Edward ended up moving to Washington DC to be with his twin brother Albert where they eventually went into the upholstery and carpet cleaning business together as AH Chace & Bro. To my knowledge, only Thomas Chace Jr. ever returned to Iowa for any significant period of time. After joining the rest of the family in Iowa after his military enlistment and then moving in 1863 to Shawnee, Thomas returned to Iowa matriculating at Iowa College in Grinnell (now Grinnell University) from 1865-1867 and studied in the Preparatory and English Department preparing himself to enter medical school. While he was in Iowa, I wonder if Thomas ever took the time to visit his grandfather's grave from time to time? Eventually, Thomas too lived out his life in and died in Shawnee, Kansas, leaving Burgess Thomas Chace alone in his grave in Iowa, the only member of the Chace family left behind there lonely and forlorn. As I stood looking at his headstone, I felt a strange sense of melancholy having discovered the forgotten grave. I wondered if Grandpa Burgess could see me from beyond the grave and knew that I had come to find him, rejoin him to our family, and erase the century of error which had mistakenly placed him in Providence at his death all the while he languished on the Iowa prairie waiting for someone to come visit him? http://www.chace.demon.nl