She was a beautiful, young Irish maid, working in a wealthy English household. Her employer’s oldest son fell in love with her. When he announced intentions to marry her, his parents said they would disown him. He married her anyway. Then, bride and groom ran away to live happily ever after. “Her name was Mary Cordial,” my maternal grandmother Marilyn Matilda Dietz told me, that distinct glimmer of pleasure in her eyes—the one she always had when she retold this story. “And you are her legacy.”

This blog is a resource for those who want to--have to--find out more about who they came from.

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Tombstone Tuesday: Charles Burger & Carolina Ruf (Durthaler)

Photo (c) Kathleen Powers, 2008

The weathered tombstone on the left marks the grave of Charles F. Burger, husband of Carolina Ruf (Durthaler), at Lutheran All Faiths Cemetery in Queens county, New York. He is a veteran of the Civil War, having first served in PA under his real name and later in NJ under the alias Charles Hesse. He was my 3xGGF on my Grandmother Marilyn's and Grandaunt Jeanne's mother's side of the family.