Before I start, I wanted to take a minute and introduce my blog to Elizabeth, wife of A. H. Markham. She was 27 when she died in the mid-1800s, and was buried in what is today known as Southgate Park beside one Mr. Jonathan Grable. I've passed her grave hundreds of times on walks through the park, and always wondered about the life of the woman buried in this tiny cemetery. Who was she? If she was wife of A. H. Markham, who is Jonathan Grable? What did she die from? Above all else, the biggest question that has been bouncing around my head all of these years is the one I hope to answer with my novel:
Why is Elizabeth Markham buried in Southgate Park?
This spring, I resolved to finding out more about Elizabeth's life, and hit many dead-ends. Despite having a headstone, she may as well not have existed. I tried contacting the local historical society, as well as the parks and recreation department of my town, and no one seemed to know anything about the tiny cemetery or its inhabitants. I was just about to pack the whole thing away and resolve myself to not knowing Elizabeth past what her headstone could tell me, when the whole thing broke wide open.
My cousin Rachel offered to look around to see if she could find anything on Elizabeth. Not only does Rachel have an inhuman amount of Google-Fu, her mother is also our family historian, giving Rachel access to some other avenues to explore than I had. I passed on the meager information about Elizabeth that I had and hoped really, really hard she would uncover something. Unfortunately, she hit all of the same roadblocks I did. But then she asked the right question: Who is Jonathan Grable? Through trying to learn more about him, Rachel cracked the case on Elizabeth Markham. Prior to marrying ol' A. H., Elizabeth was wife of Moses Grable. Jonathan Grable was her father-in-law.
With this new lead, Rachel turned up an amazing amount of information on Elizabeth, and with that information came a slew of new questions. It was through the sorting of her life that I realized there was a story to be told here, and I agreed with The Universe to be the one to tell it.
That leads us up to right now. It's 9 am. I'm going to publish this blog and then make good on my word.
