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Goodwin Family
Cemetery
Section 32, Hixon Twp.,
Clark Co., Wisconsin
Written by Janet Schwarze
with information and photos submitted by
Harold Zander.
~Photos
of the Cemetery Cleanup~
There is a small cemetery
in a farmer’s field in Hixon Township which has basically
been abandoned since the early 1900’s. It contains
the remains of three of the fifteen offspring who were
born to Archibald Leroy and Clara Margaret (Clark) Goodwin
during a span of twenty-five years between 1876 and
1901. Clara's father,
Israel Clark
a Civil War Veteran, had died on that same farm in Clark
County, Wisconsin on a hot August day in 1877 while
digging a new well.
The terrorists who spread
the waves of fear when the settlers of Clark County
were taming the wilderness, were not Muslims from the
Mideast who wrapped themselves in bombs. They
were trusted friends and neighbors who carried deadly
diseases such as diphtheria in their respiratory system
and spread it by a loving touch or a kiss on the cheek.
In those days,
150,000
got diphtheria every year in the United States and approximately
15,000 of them lost their lives as a result of it.
The very young and the very old were most often the
victims. In fact, until a vaccine was developed
in the 1930s, diphtheria was one of the most common
killers of children. Prior to that, far too many
young adults felt the anguish of cradling the lifeless
body of their little one for the last time after loosing
a battle with it. Those parents never expected
to say, "Goodbye" so soon or to bury those who represented
a hope for the future. Others stood tearfully
at the gravesides of loved ones they'd known all their
life, often singing a few hymns and saying a prayer
before dropping them into hand dug graves. Funerals
were dangerous gatherings back then. Those who
were aware that a dreadful disease had claimed the life
were not likely to attend.
Death is never easy to
cope with, but when a beloved child dies, it can be
utterly unbearable. "Archie" and Clara lost their
little Nettie during the diphtheria outbreak of 1880.
They buried her tiny body on their own farm in a small
grave shaded by trees which no longer stand. Their
friends and relatives were undoubtedly afraid to visit
them to offer comfort when it was most needed.
What an isolated, lonely sadness plagues force families
to endure. According to handwritten records,
Nettie had died of diphtheria while still an infant.
Her brother, Acie died at birth in 1890 and just a year
later, their sister, Julie, also died on the day she
was born. Her ten perfect toes never bore her
weight and no one had the joy of hearing her first words,
or watching her smile as she climbed a tree on a clear
blue day. Can we even begin to imagine the loss
Clara and her husband felt when those babies died?
Each had been thoughtfully named because an early death
couldn't possibly erase the love their parents felt
for them. Most surely, Clara and Archie wondered
if they'd ever see any of their children reach adulthood.
How very proud they must have felt to have the privilege
of raising a dozen healthy offspring!
The Goodwin Homestead
Land Records
After selling the farm to his second eldest daughter
Ida and her husband
Jacob “John” Mengel,
in the spring of 1909 Archie moved most of the family
to “about 25 miles northeast of Edmonton, Alberta”
according to the book,
“The Silence of
the North” written by the youngest of
the children, Olive Alta Goodwin and published in
1973 under her married name,
Olive A. Fredrickson.
Olive’s mother, Clara Clark Goodwin, died in 1910
near Athabasca, Alberta, Canada as the result of
an epileptic seizure leaving 9-year old Olive and
several of her siblings motherless. Clara was buried
in an unmarked grave on the farm Archie was renting
at the time. When Olive visited the area many years
later she found the burial site had been plowed,
planted with grain, and there was no longer any
way to determine the actual place her mother had
been buried.
On June
11, 2007 the Goodwin children, who were so long ago
buried in that small cemetery in Hixon Township, will
be honored by the descendents of the Clark and Goodwin
families. A tombstone marker bearing their names
and dates has been inscribed will be placed there in
their memory.
Grave Site (2007)
The Goodwin Family Marker which will soon be placed.
Descendant Roland Bingham with Dolores before the
Goodwin home as it looks today.
Zander Family Photo Album
Contributed
by Harold Zander
~Photos
of the Cemetery Cleanup~
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