213 Franklin Street

Delamater family monument. Monroe Street Cemetery. Cleveland, O.

There are four faces inscribed with eight names. Three sides are filled. The earliest family member was born in 1819, the last one memorialised in 1876. The last died in 1943.

The face above is the most detailed in information, and reads:

Addie Hale,
Delamater
Born Aug. 8, 1865.
in Janesville Wis.
Died Mar. 15, 1872.
at 213 Franklin St.
________________
Mary Girtie,
Delamater
Born May 30, 1862.
in Janesville Wis.
Died Sept. 5, 1863.
at Amsterdam N.Y.

Now, i am not a genealogist. The Delamater surname does not have the greatest frequency in America. My guess is pre-independence New York Dutch. The paterfamilias was Edward, his son Edward was born in Cleveland on 1 January 1856. From this sketch, the family moved a few times between New York, Wisconsin, and Cleveland (at least). A poor family would not have the money for such a central monument.

Here's a point—we are born, often have family lives, and sometimes the family continues; other times, a line ends. I apologise to any Delamaters, i do not know the circumstances, i am positing an example of some familial histories. This transience is a poignant marker of our existences upon this earth. These are things to ponder as Hamlet pondered on the skull of Yorick.

But, in this stone a street address was listed. Why did they think that necessary? To-day there is both Franklin Avenue (no houses), and Franklin Boulevard. Franklin was the prestige street in Ohio City, which merged into Cleveland in 1854. In 1906, the names and numbers of streets were revised throughout the city. In recent years, several houses on Franklin Boulevard were renovated and restored.