Family Remembrance

Last weekend Jordan and I got to be involved in something very special regarding his family history, and until Aunt Pat sends us the pictures she took of the event, I thought I'd blog about some of the details while they are fresh in my mind.

Jordan's great-great grandfather, Rock Vizina was married to a young lady named Eliza Dishno. They had 3 children together, and unfortunately, just 2 days before Christmas in 1883, Eliza and the youngest of the children David (2 years old) were killed in an avalanche about 10 miles south of where Jordan and I live now. Rock was working in the mines at the time and the oldest two children were pushed out of the little log cabin by the snow and miraculously survived. Unfortunately, Eliza and David were buried inside. She was only 24 years old at the time. They were buried at the base of Spring Mountain, about 3 miles south of the town of
Gilmore, Idaho.

This last Saturday, relatives from every branch of Rock's line gathered from as far as Michigan to come and place a permanent headstone on the graves of Eliza and David. It was amazing to see this event. It was amazing to see the legacy that Rock left behind. All that remained of the original wooden headstones was...well, nothing but a wood plank. In the 1920s someone carved new headstones out of wood for the mother and son and placed them on the graves, but only David's was somewhat legible, and the date was actually incorrect.

Just for my own info...Rock remarried a young lady named Angela Navarro and they had 10 children together. Their 3rd child, Helen Josephine, was the mother of Rosemary Coleman, Jordan's grandmother, Jame's mother.

Family history can be so fun and interesting when you dive in and actually have some of the living relatives that can share stories from the time periods you are studying. Such a wonderful weekend.

Reiny had fun gathering wildflowers to place on the new marble headstone...so cute!