1996 OWEN CEMETERY TRIP

SAGINAW MICHIGAN

Husband James, Wife Rhoda, & Son Robert

I have never met any of them, and my dad had never met his dad, Robert. Obviously curious about my Lorimer line, I started the search for more information. Through interviews and hard nose research, I was able to dig up very little. I did discover that Robert Levi had served in the U.S. Army in Texas, and that he had another family with (yet undiscovered to me) descendants there. I also discovered that James Herbert was born in Canada, and that he was buried in Saginaw Michigan, and thus our trip was planned.

On September 30, 1996, My dad an I set out for Saginaw. Armed with information I had gathered from the State Library, and relying on some dead reckoning, we found Owen Cemetery. We had stopped in Saginaw first, and at our stop at City Hall we were able to access James' death certificate, as well as Rhoda's. A Major discovery as we finally found the name of James' father, John Lorimer. No other information was present, but we had a name, alas a new search for another time! We left City hall; My dad writes "...we went to the township offices and found that the records were located at the newer township cemetery. We went there and talked to a Lady that was helpful in directing us to the Owen site and also verified the names we were looking for. I think we had lunch then and planned our route from there. We searched and found Owen right where it was supposed to be. Went by it once because it the entrance was overgrown some and the entrance was oblique to the road and not easy to see." It lies to the west of Saginaw in Tomas Township on north river road, not far from M46. It's not a bad little cemetery. It's not open any more, but it is still maintained.

After about thirty minutes of looking, we found the plot. All in all, the site seems to be an eight person family plot, in which there are five stones, only three of which are marked. The order is (left to right): James, Rhoda, a little stone with a large metal plant hanger, and a larger diamond stone.  The little stone I assume was for a baby, and if there was writing on it, it has weathered away.  The diamond stone appears a little weathered, but I don't think there was ever writing on that.  The little stone and the diamond stone both appear to be older that James' or Rhoda's. Robert's stone lies at the right end of the next row.

We found James Herbert Lorimer.  However, the stone is labeled 'Herbert J. Lorimer'.  Furthermore, James' obituary states that he was born on Feb. 20, 1861, and died Nov. 12, 1955.  The stone only gives the years - birth 1858, and death 1955.  The birth year is in conflict.
	We also found Rhoda May Lorimer (Cradit). Her stone is labeled 'Rhoda C. Lorimer'. Her stone also only lists the years, and those both seem correct (1878 and 1943).
And we found Robert Levi Lorimer. His stone is marked 'Robert L. Lorimer', and gives full birth and death dates - Jun. 23 1906 and Oct. 19 1988.

    For me, I finally got to meet some people I've only heard about or seen pictures of.  Sure they're buried, but I was standing there with them.  For dad, he finally met his dad, and he took a few moments.  It's hard to describe what he was thinking and feeling, so I'll let him tell as he talked to me.  "...it is difficult to put into words to finally know that someone you've heard about but have not been explained the circumstances of all the bad feelings had lived and died all in a space of several years and who was a biologic father but never even tried to contact us boys to see how we were and what we were about or to even help in our rearing. As far as I was concerned the grave marked a non person in my life. I was also thinking how rotten a person I would have been had I treated you and Mark the way my father treated me and Uncle Bob. I hope your formative years were much happier than mine were."