Does anyone have any ideas where this gentleman might look next? Tom Bombaci's NM Funeral Homes page (http://bombaci.rootsweb.com/NMFHomes.html) only lists one funeral home in Raton. I'm wondering how common it was for burials to be on family-owned land in those days, or whether that is not a likely occurrence. Would the cause of death, influenza, have any bearing on how and where someone would be buried? I found only two mentions of John Monroe Thorne. The first was on the LDS Web site, http://www.familysearch.org, and the second was a reference in Ancestry.com to Soldiers of the Great War from Georgia. The LDS site referenced an Ancestral File Number of G1JN-WL. There is also an entry for the IGI, and these may be identical. Ancestry.com lists page 215 of Volume I as the reference page for John Monroe Thorne, but I couldn't find the name listed when I printed the page. It's one of those brick walls that we've all encountered. If anyone has a suggestion or an idea, will you please share it with Mr. Thorne? Thank you. Susan ----- Original Message ----- From: B. Thorne To: susanbellomo@yahoo.com Sent: Saturday, May 07, 2005 1:03 PM Subject: Wickens & Johnson parlors Hi Susan, We took our trip to Raton, New Mexico. We were unable to locate my grandfather's grave but were able to find two newspaper articles. One of the articles mentioned that his funeral was at the parlors of Wickens & Johnson. We couldn't find anyone in town that recognized this name. We've looked on the internet and found a Wickens & Troupe. I'm wondering if maybe they have any affiliation with Wickens & Johnson funeral homes. Do you have any way of getting information on Wickens & Johnson and where their records might be located? Thank you, Everett ----- Original Message ----- From: Susan Bellomo To: B. Thorne Sent: Sunday, April 10, 2005 1:21 PM Subject: Re: grandfathers grave site Hello, Everett. I've not been able to find any specific information on your grandfather. Unfortunately, New Mexico didn't begin keeping vital records consistently until 1919. The Spanish Influenza Epidemic is what showed our State government that we needed to do so. I have found a list of cemeteries and some cemetery transcriptions (listing of people buried in each cemetery). It is laborious, but you may want to visit the cemetery transcriptions and search (Edit-->Find-->Thorne) for your grandfather's name. Raton is in Colfax County. You may also want to check Union County, which is adjacent to Colfax County. Cemetery Transcriptions (for Colfax County) http://www.rootsweb.com/~nma/cemtry.htm Listing of all the cemeteries in Colfax County (no transcriptions--just locations) http://www.rootsweb.com/~nmcolfax/cemeteries.htm I wish you the best of luck finding your grandfather's grave and hope the lists and transcriptions will help. Susan Stockbridge Bellomo susanbellomo@yahoo.com State Coordinator, NMGenWeb http://www.rootsweb.com/~nmgenweb/ County Coordinator, Chaves and Otero Counties ----- Original Message ----- From: B. Thorne To: susanbellomo@yahoo.com Sent: Monday, March 28, 2005 12:08 PM Subject: grandfathers grave site Hi Susan My name is Everett Thorne my family and I are traviling to Raton on April 23 we are in search of my grandfathers grave, my father told me he was buried there in l9l8 his name is John Monroe Thorne . No one in my family has ever been able to locate his grave my Father told me died in the flu epademic in l9l8. If you can direct us on how we may search the area I would be very grateful. Thank you for your time. Everett