News & Views of Phillips Since 1976
Tuesday October 8th 2024

“The rest of the stories””¦from October “Tales”: Edith Eaton and “Dracula”

By Sue Hunter Weir

Last month”'s story was about a mystery marker that city staff found in one of the city landfills. They brought it to the cemetery thinking that”'s where it belongs. It turns out that it did not belong to anyone who is (or was) buried in Pioneers and Soldiers Cemetery. The name on the stone was Mrs. F. Eaton. An unnamed baby was also listed on the marker. Two readers solved the mystery. Mrs. Eaton was Edith Dafoe Eaton, born in Canada around 1866. Her husband, Frederick F. Eaton was born in Maine in 1865. Edith and Frederick were married in Minneapolis in 1892. The baby”'s birthdate (he was a boy) and death date are the same, March 12, 1893. Edith died one week later. She and the baby are buried in Crystal Lake Cemetery. Frederick remarried in 1895. He and his second wife had two daughters””their oldest daughter was named Edith. Thanks, and congratulations, to Lu and Phil for having solved our mystery. Our next step is to contact Crystal Lake to see whether Edith”'s grave is marked.

Our other follow-up story is about the first screening of a film in the cemetery. The Spanish-language version of Dracula was originally scheduled to begin around 7:30 on October 2, 2013. Around 7:15, halfway through the cartoons and trailers, it began to rain lightly. Around 7:30 the wind came up and lightning and thunder rolled in. Since sitting under a flagpole and tall trees during a lightning storm is never a good idea, we postponed the feature film until the following week. Somewhere between 200 and 230 people attended the second showing. We had perfect weather and a great time. Think about it as going to a drive-in movie without the fuss and bother of a car. Taco Taxi, one of our great local businesses, was on hand with one of their food trucks. Keep an eye out for announcements about future screenings when the cemetery reopens in the spring.

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