Wednesday, June 29, 2022

Carved in Stone Doesn't Make it Right

Once a name is carved incorrectly in stone, it is difficult, if not impossible, to correct it. The following tombstone is a case in point. This post was first published 29 Dec 2009. It is my understanding this monument was erected long after the lives of the mother, Harriet C. Bebout, and her son, John Bebout, had ended.





This lovely tombstone for John Bebout and his mother Katherine is located at Pleasant Grove Cemetery, Crittenden County, Kentucky. There is just one thing wrong with the tombstone - the mother's name is incorrect. Most records list her name as Harriet or Harriet C. Bebout. It would be easy to assume the C. in Harriet's middle name stood for Catherine, making the name on the tombstone correct. However, in the will of her father, John E. Wilson, recorded in Crittenden County Will Book 1, page 46, she is listed as "Cassa Bebout wife of Peter Bebout." When her daughter, Harriet Ann Bebout, married James P. Sullenger in 1863, the wedding was at "Casander Bebout's."

Her full name might be Harriet Cassander or Harriet Cassa , but it surely was not Katherine. Harriet C. and her husband, Peter Bebout, were my 4th great grandparents. Harriet C. Wilson Bebout was born in 1824 and died in 1908. Peter Bebout was born in 1823 and died in 1862.

Published again 29 June 2022, Western Kentucky Genealogy Blog,  http://wkygenealogy.blogspot.com/

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