Dad, Tim and I visited “the Wilson Bench” …
Back story…. In the 1870’s, my great, great grandfather, David Wilson buried 5 of his 13 children between 1870 and 1874 in a small cemetery in Harveyville, KS. David and his family moved to Wilmington, KS (4 miles south of Harveyville) following the Civil War.
Wilmington was at the intersection of the Santa Fe Trail and the Ft Leavenworth Military Road. At the end of the Santa Fe Trail as an important transportation route and the railroad being built in Harveyville, Wilmington went out of existence.
In 2009, my dad and I spent several hours trying to find the grave sites of these 5 children, finally learning that although cemetery records confirmed that they had been buried there, they did not have a permanent headstone. With this discovery, we ordered a memorial bench with the names and dates of these 5 Wilson’s. The bench was installed in 2010 and today was my first visit.
My great grandfather, Elmer Wilson was born in 1877 and most likely went to school in Wilmington.
