Last week we were in Aurora where there was more information hidden in the sagebrush and piñons than I had space and time to write about. High above the old town site, the Aurora Cemetery seems to be at the top of the world. It must have had a 360-degree view from its location before piñons closed in and hid it from view.
I have always had a fascination with old cemeteries and this one was unusually interesting to me. As we drove up the old dirt road and parked the quads by the enclosure of the cemetery, I realized there were grave sites scattered all over, not just in the enclosure of the main part of the cemetery. I learned from one of the quad riders, Brian Sierakowski, that the enclosed part of the cemetery had been a part of a historical restoration project by the E Clampus Vitus and other civic-minded groups. But, a forest of piñon and sagebrush had, for the most part, overtaken a lot of the cemetery. I was soon to discover that, in every direction, more graves, marked and unmarked, lay outside the tidy boundaries of the cemetery fence.
A big sign at the entrance to the enclosure made a poignant request to all visitors, it said: "A plea from each of us of the silent majority. As you are, so once was I, as I am, you soon will be. When these words you see, remember me, remember me...Amen (Please do no desecrate or violate graves S/Mineral County Citizens."
As I walked amongst the headstones, a gentle breeze swayed the branches of 100-year-old piñons overhead. As I read the inscriptions, several piqued my curiosity, some more than others. Two different sites set themselves apart from the others because of the apparent new addition to this long-deserted place. The dates of death were long into the end of the 1900s, which gave me pause to wonder about the people buried there, like the Davises. Clayton Davis was born in 1896 and died in 1987 and his wife Elsie was born 1899 and died in 1995. A simple hand-made iron cross with the information marked their final resting place. Had they once lived in Aurora and just wanted to come back to rest their remains in a place they had loved when their time on this earth was done? Aurora had long since disappeared and the only thing that remained to visually record its once thriving existence is this cemetery.
Then there was the imposing monument to W.M. Boring, a native of Tennessee, who died August 7, 1872. The recorded age of death was 43 or maybe it was 48 - time had been a little destructive to the writing. What made this headstone interesting to me was the inscription "Nevada state senator" at the bottom. When I got home I cruised the Internet to find more information. Although I never found any reference that listed Sen. W. M. Boring's first name instead of just his initials, I did find out that Boring was elected probate judge in Aurora, Sept. 7, 1864 and then elected district attorney, Nov. 6, 1866, only to be appointed district attorney again, April 5, 1869, after his successor T. N. Brown had been removed from office. Nevada had only been a state for six years and Esmeralda was one of the nine original Nevada counties when Boring was elected to the Senate Nov. 8, 1870. He was only to have that office for two years when he died. His successor was Frank Campbell who became senator in his place Nov. 5, 1870. Esmeralda County was to be subdivided around 1911, creating Mineral County, and placing a dying Aurora in that county to relinquish its status as county seat to Hawthorne and a then booming Goldfield to succeed as the county seat of Esmeralda County.
Exploring further in the cemetery brought me to a small group of headstones that were very sad. The largest headstone in the group of three listed the names of four children, all from the same family with the surname of Marden. All had died within 10 days of each other, the oldest being 8 and the youngest was 2. On either side were two more headstones bearing the names of what must have been siblings, one who had died at the age of 7 and the other dying at the age of 18. These were all the children of Lizzie and Horace Marden.
Again, the Internet provided a wonderful snapshot of the Marden family. Lizzie and Horace were married in 1856. Their first son, James was born in 1857 followed by another son, Esra born June of 1860. A daughter, Mary, was born in Mokelume Hill, Calif., in 1862 and another daughter, named after her mother Lizzie, was born in June 1864. Then came Hoddie in 1866, Frank in 1870, Dick in 1872, Daisy in 1874 and Pearl (probably born in Aurora) in 1876.
Horace was a freighter and he also built and operated stamp mills which had taken him through the gold country of California and eventually to Bodie and on to Aurora.
James, eldest son of the Mardens, died March 9, 1865, age 7 years, 8 months, and was buried in the Aurora Cemetery. In February of 1878, a diphtheria epidemic came through Aurora and took the four little ones; Dick, age 6 died Feb. 16, Frank, age 8 died Feb. 20, Pearl, age 2 died Feb. 23 and Daisy, age 4 died Feb. 26, 1878. The third headstone bore the name of Hoddie, who, at the age of 18, died March 9, 1884. Out of nine Marden children, only three, Esra, Mary and Lizzie, would live to be adults.
Mary became the wife of George Albright and made their home in Candelaria. By the time their second child was born, they were living in Bishop. In January of 1890 she had a son. She named him Horace Marden Albright.
H. M. Albright grew up to become the assistant to the U.S. secretary of the interior, co-founder of the U.S. National Park Service and the first superintendent of the newly formed Yellowstone National Park among his many lifetime achievements. His love for the wilderness and his dedication to the outdoors he credited to his grandfather Horace Marden who died Dec. 30, 1916, in San Francisco, shortly after hearing of his grandson's success in creating the National Park Service.
I am sure that there are many more headstones with great stories to tell. This is just a little history, gleaned from the headstones of the Aurora Cemetery.
Until next week, just keep on, keepin' on.
-- Jonni Hill can be reached through The Record-Courier at jhill@recordcourier.com or by calling 782-5121, ext. 213, or after hours at JHILL47@aol.com
