in memory of

Betty Jean (Mills) Davey
1930 - 1999
WHITTEMORE HILL CEMETERY is located on top of a small rise in a hay field near the intersection of Whittemore Hill Road and Walker Road in the town of Owego, NY. We recently became aware my wife's, Judy Ann (Davey) May, Great Great Grandparents, WILLIAM H. MILLS and ELIZABETH (STANTON) MILLS, are buried there. The first part of our adventures follows.
    A word of caution. If you decide to visit the cemetery it is surrounded by private land. Brother Bill talked with the owner, who was extremely cooperative, and his only request was that we not leave ruts in his hay field. We were very careful and stayed close to cemetery edge with our vehicles. Also it had been very dry with hardly any rain when we were there. If there is any doubt, leave your vehicle by the road. It's a short walk into the cemetry.
 1st Visit, August 10, 1999
   Our first visit consisted of Judy's mother Betty, Uncle Tom and Aunt Irene, Judy, and yours truly, Frank. This is what greeted us. When Uncle Tom found William and Elizabeth's headstone it was tipped over from the settling of the ground around it. That is the headstone just as we found it in the middle of the picture. We were lucky that it had very little damage to it. 
     Nearby we found Willie Mills' headstone, their grandson, flat on the ground. We all agreed to return soon and work at clearing the area and resetting the headstones. 
     Unfortunately, a few days later Betty passed away. We are sure she would approve of our progress so far.
     This is another view of the cemetery. William and Elizabeth's headstone is shown on the ground here also. Many headstones are tipped over.Some are unreadable while others are still in good condition and need to be reset. The line of trees in the near background mark the cemetery boundry. I would estimate the cemetery is about three quarters of an acre in size. It contains 30 or more graves that we could see the headstones on. I'm sure there are several more that are covered by undergrowth. 
2nd Visit, September 11, 1999

    On a bright and sunny Saturday we made our 2nd trip. Our goal was to reset William, Elizabeth, and Willie's headstones. Here's where we started. Years of golden rod, weeds and berry bushes were entangled on the ground. We used shovels, brush hooks, rakes, a DR Trimmer and lots of labor to clear the area. 
     We had a lot of family members pitch in to help. Young and old. Sitting down are Uncle Tom and Aunt Irene. They are taking a break from cutting brush. Aunt Reiko is standing by them. That's Uncle Stan in the black hat, brother Bill in the blue hat and yours truly in the gray hair. Nephew Collin is in the pickup shoveling gravel. 
     Not pictured are Judy, Aunt Sarah, sister Kathy, son Scott, daughter Patti, brother Tim and nieces Miranda and Ciara. 
     Here we start to see things taking shape. William and Elizabeth's headstone was moved out of the way after careful measurements were taken so we could return it to the proper position. Then we filled the depression with item 4 gravel and tamped and leveled the base. The headstone was then moved back and reassembled. It actually consists of 4 separate pieces, none of which are easy to lift. 
     The headstone in the background is a Civil War Veteran. The top of it is decorated with musket and sword.
    Then we moved on to Grandson Willie's headstone. The same procedure was followed. Measure, move, fill and finally reassemble. This is a much smaller two part headstone. It sure was lighter to handle than the first one! The gravel in the wheelbarrow is all that is left of almost a ton that brother Bill hauled to the site in his pickup. 
    Next we straightened up the headstone at the very left edge of the picture with the little gravel we had left.. We think that this is Elizabeth's brother, Frank Stanton.  We still need to fill the depression at Frank's grave. Then we can spread top soil and seed the area.
3rd Visit, September 18, 1999
   Judy, Tim and I made a third trip the following Saturday and applied caulk to the joint between the two pieces of  Willie's headstone to join them and keep water out. We left our vehicle by the road and walked in this time as it had rained the night before.
4th Visit, October 9, 1999
5th Visit, October 11, 1999

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