I now feel like I have just enough of a backlog of digital images to participate in the meme “Tombstone Tuesday”… so, the first up is one of a set of sinking stones from the “New” Rockford Cemetery.

This is the headstone of my 3rd Great Aunt Katherine Baker Sears who died 162 years ago today. She is buried in the Sears Lot just south of the Hessler Mausoleum.

Katie Baker was the eldest child of Eugene and Amelia (Grove) Baker and the oldest sibling of my 3rd Great grandmother Lena Grove Baker Johnson. She was born 05 December 1874 probably in Joliet, Illinois where her parents married and lived for a short time before Eugene brought them back to Kent County, Michigan.

In 1895 she married Clifton F. Sears. They had at least two children before he died in 1899—Dorothy and Charles F. After Clifton’s passing she kept house for her brother Frank Baker for a time and and from 1909 to 1943 she worked for C. F. Sears Co, her father-in-law’s dry goods store.

Katie was involved in the community with the Methodist Church, the Garden Club, Tuesday Club, Dorcas circle and more.

Rest well, Aunt Katie!

Happy hunting,

Jess