It was finally sunny here yesterday, so we went to New Munich to cruise the cemetery (doesn't everybody do that on a nice October day?)I was actually looking for SAND relatives buried there (dad's grandparents) but found this stone, too. Oddly, I didn't expect to find it, but then realized that Sebastian Janson & Mary Roos' son Dick was the postmaster in New Munich for years. We even found the house I remembered in town...and it's still the PO.
Of course, Dick is buried there too:
...so the trip was definitely worthwhile. The cemetery in New Munich is square, with a white wall surrounding it, except for the southeast corner. There, it looks like the wall was deliberately broken out, and an addition was added. There are 2 graves there, one of which is a Mary Janson. Hmm. Who was she, and why, when there's still plenty of room inside the cemetery, did they bump the wall out like that?
March, 2010--Joe Janson wrote to say
"Mary Janson, whose grave is just outside the walls of the cemetery, was the daughter of Dick and Pauline Janson (and my sister). Because she died at birth and hadn't been baptized the church wouldn't allow my parents to bury her inside the consecrated walls. My brother Tom took it upon himself to right this wrong and the church opened up that area to the rest of the cemetery within the past ten years. That's why the wall is cut out like it is".
Thank you, Joe.I considered that possibility, but thought the church made exceptions for infants. Sadly, they didn't. (I'm personally offended that the wall looks broken on both ends, rather than neat and square. But, I suppose jagged makes it clear that the church was not happy about doing it. Sometimes the Catholic Church really is just plain WRONG).
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