Family Plot in the Bodie Cemetery

George W. - Son of J.A. and M.A. Conway —May 20, 1901—-Age 1 Year. 2 Months. 28 Days.

~~~GEORGE CONWAY-(d. 20May 1901)—- Age 1 Year, 2 Months. 28 days—-died in a Scarlet Fever Epidemic.

~~~Although Telegraph and Stagecoach, had made the route more secure, a “common ailment or insect bite” on the journey could produce disaster.

~~~Dysentery, which affected almost everyone at some time on or other on the Overland the Journey, could cause of death. This was particularity true, especially among infants. The  prospect of having to leave a “ new-born-baby” in an unmarked grave along the roadside, was intolerable. Leaving a “infants tiny body” among the sands of the Wilderness, surrounded by Indians and wolves, was the most painful burden the Emigrants had to bear.

Ones natural instinct was to mark a gravesite, so as to find the “final resting place of a loved one” again. But no, possible or adequate grave could be dug on the Overland Trail.

~~~The sun had baked and hardened ground. Digging was like breaking through solid-rock. Next, the rains would come, and wash away the shallow graves.

~~~No matter what grave-marker one might devise- —a pile of rocks, a piece of wood, a shred of cloth- no emblem—- would survive the harsh Winter snows and blizzards, or simple daily passage of time.

~~~There was also the urgent need to “obliterate a grave.” The Indians made a common practice of “digging up the dead” for clothing. This practice also, spread Cholera among themselves —even as they gathered up the treasures.

~~~Even if a grave escaped the notice, it was not likely to escape the prowling wolves and coyotes. Graves were obliterated by the small animal, leaving no trace to be found of a grave even if it had been Properly Marked. The emigrants came to believe, that the greatest service they could do for the deceased, was to “hide the gravesite.” Some Wagon-trail Companies dug beneath the road itself, so “the ox teams would trample over the evidence of a grave.”

The infant and children’s graves in the Bodie Cemetery express the grief and sorrow their parents. The expense to bury a infant, and to mark the grave properly with marble headstone required a “Family Plot” in the Bodie Cemetery. The “family plot” had a different meaning to the Miners themselves, their wives and children, and especially to all the other women, who lived in Bodie.