Just the Facts
Early Bristol family
Joseph W. Lee, a farmer & native of Canada came here "in an early day" died Nov. 22, 1857. His wife, Cornelia was a native of NY. Son W.W. Lee born in Bristol, Dec. 7, 1851 owned a dry goods & general merchandise business in Bristol.
Joseph & Cornelia had 3 daughters who died young
Eveline G. d. Apr. 14, 1848, 3 yr.; Jane F. Dau. d. Apr. 7, 1848, 21 d; and Helen M. d. Aug. 20, 1846, 7 m.
Cornelia remarried
After Joseph's death, Cornelia married Samuel B. Romaine (shown as "Romain" in Chapman's history) of Bristol, who was born June 3, 1808 in NY, and d. Apr. 19, 1878 aged 69y, 10m, 16d. Cornelia d. Jan 6, 1906, ag. 81y, 6m, 29d.
Joseph, Cornelia, the daughters and Samuel are all listed on one large stone that appears relatively recent in Oak Ridge Cemetery in Bristol, Indiana. A stone in the next row is for Samuel B. Romain, b. Sept. 25, 1985, d. Apr. 23, 1921, probably the son of Cornelia & the earlier Samuel B. Romaine.
Moved/tombstone replaced?
Graves from an old cemetery on Illinois St. near the railroad tracks was moved to The Bluff in Oak Ridge Cemetery in Brisol, high above the St. Joe River in about 1917. It is likely that the Lee family graves were among them, and the stones were eventually replaced by the larger, single stone by a member of the Romaine family. How the gravestones ended up in a basement window is still a mystery.
Mystery Gravestones in 150 yr. old home
During a renovation some years ago, the family that includes Mary Jane Fisher and her daughter Karlene Christensen, noticed the two gravestones wedged into a basement window of the Wall home, Mary Jane's former in-laws.
Although some of the engraving is obscured by their placement, the stone on the right reads: LEE d. Aug. 20, 1840, aged 7 mo. 8 da. and the stone on the left: LEE, of C.F. Lee d. Apr. 7, 1848 aged 21 da. Despite the discrepancy of the year, the stones likely belong to Helen, aged 7m and Jane F. aged 21 d.
Mary Jane and Karlene consider the mystery gravestones in the basement to be a fascinating tie to their love of Bristol and its history.
Follow BristolSun on Twitter
