Unique Find!

[chukers]

I have not posted in a long long time just due to the fact I now only post when something is worth posting the normal every day silver coins and 100+ year old artifacts just aren't worth posting for me... but to me this find is.... its not treasure or worth anything but its very interesting and one of the main reasons I treasure hunt THE HISTORY of it all!

Went out hunting today... with my hunting buddies... it was 60 degrees and was a very nice winter afternoon. We found something very unique it was way way out in the middle of no where... a single marble (broken) gravestone and it read R.S. Drake Sept 11 1825 -Sept 12 1888. It was so neat to see this out where nothing is today...


I have done a little research on this guy... I do know he was in the civil war and his unit was The Texas Conscripts Unit... During the Civil War, the U.S. Congress passed a conscription act that produces the first wartime draft of U.S. citizens in American history... I assume his unit was responsible for rounding up eligible "of age" men to enlist in the Civil War... After the civil war R.S. Drake was listed on the Dallas County tax roll in 1870...


And then we find his name on a grave where he was laid to rest on Sept 12th 1888. I could only imagine what happened to him between 1870 and 1888... I do know this land where he is buried was purchased by the Bacon family in the late 1870's and early 1880's but did not occupy the land till a later time.


on a side note I thought he was in the Battle of Shiloh but I was incorrect


If anyone out there knows this name I'd like to hear his story... the fact that this was a marble headstone and footstone... someone really cared back then sandstone was usually used and marble was expensive... reportedly there was also 2 other headstones in this area at one time but now are no where to be found.


so my new friend R.S Drake... today I remember you and your life 126 years after you were buried... rest in peace my friend.



Due to limited information on the net I welcome comments and corrections.... I did speculate a little... to fill in the gaps.

 

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[CRUSADER]

Are you going to somehow fix it?

 

[ARC]

He died the day after his birthday.

 

[CRUSADER]

He died the day after his birthday.

Over celebration maybe....

 

[masterjedi]

He died the day after his birthday.

It says >>> it read R.S. Drake Sept 11 1825 -Sept 12 1888

 

[dansalata]

really cool and meaningful find...

 

[danimal03]

neat post. I like old headstones. I tried to see if I could find anything on your guy. But didn't find anything you probably didn't already know or saw. He is listed as a farmer in the 1860 census near Dallas and was born in Alabama.

here is the only Confederate roll I could find. Listed as "conscript" and does not even give a year. Trans-Mississippi CS documents are real difficult to research. I cringe when trying to research Tran-Mississippi guys as the documents are mostly missing and the little that is there is often incomplete, i.e. missing dates, years, etc.

 

[Benbuck6]

ok, hmm...I had been trying to find a link to a knife I picked up at garage sale, even asked about on here from a old lady who was originally from near Port Author, TX). The symbols on the knife have somehow eluded me to who, what, or why it was made...but felt I had seen them before. I opened this post and something struck.
For the longest the second from the top alluded me but pretty sure on close inspection of the knife it is the same symbol as on the grave marker...maybe common for the day but it may help me date the knife.

 

[danimal03]

I have owned several pre-1865 knives over the years. Kind of hard to see in the photo but I see a diamond, pointed hand, star, and cross. I think these symbols were decorative in nature and do not specifically mean anything. The pointed hand may represent the idea of 'going forward' since it is pointing towards the business end of the knife. On the headstone the hand represents going to heaven and I have seen this on several old headstones going back to the 1850's or so. Not sure on the age of your knife but it looks like it has some age. if I had to guess without examining it or seeing a better photo I would guess 1850's. but that is just a guess and I would need to see it better and the manner of construction. but it could be as late as late 19th century or even early 20th century. Not sure if this info helps but since no one had any more info I thought I would try and answer on the knife.