Julia Emma Baird Begun
The most interesting thing about the Baird-Begun plot, is that Julia’s tombstone is so much taller than her husbands. I am not a cemetery expert, but in my short travels in general it seems that in pioneer cemeteries the husband’s tombstone is usually the taller one, with occasionally the wife’s just a simple flat headstone, next to a tall monolithic monument to the husband.
In looking at their headstones, perhaps they each had similar ones in size, but H.D’s was broken, or replaced, as his appears newer.
But, then, she died in 1911, and he in 1925.
Perhaps the family had more finances for her tombstone at that time.
Here are the details on Julie’s tombstone:
Julia Emma Baird
Wife of H.D. Begun
1857-1911
And his:
H.D. Begun
1857-1925
Also note that to the East, behind each of the headstones, there are smaller, flat markers that say “Emma” and “Father”.
The question…why is it “Emma and Father” rather than “Mother and Father”, or “Emma and H.D.”…or whatever his first name was.
What was his first name? And why does she get her entire name listed on the headstone, while he only gets his initials?
From an internet search for “H.D. Begun”, it turns up this, in the McMinnville News-Register:
"Downtowns of Old Burned Often", by Jim Lockett
This is
from the
If this link fails to come up, then go to:
And do an archive search.
Jim Lockett’s article mentions that in the summer of 1904, there was a fire that burned a store owned by H.D. Begun and Edward Bros, Jr.
(Jim notes that this story was reported in the Dayton Herald newspaper that year).
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