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
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
Surnames
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Goodwin
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Mengel
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Moore
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~Photos of the Cemetery Cleanup~
For further information regarding the Goodwin Family Cemetery, email Clara (Clark) Goodwin's living descendent, Harold Zander at halzander1@yahoo.com, or snail mail him at P.O. Box 115, Starbuck, MN 56381, or call him at 320-239-4348.