Memorial Markers Always Timely
No. 215
By SUE HUNTER WEIR
Enid Weston wanted to honor the intentions and wishes of her grandparents so she ordered new markers for two of their children. They were children who died more than 100 years ago so she never knew them. Their father died before Enid was born but she was fortunate to have known their mother, the woman that she was named after.
Placing a marker is an act of remembrance for those who might otherwise have been forgotten and a gift to the memories of the parents who loved those children.
Her grandmother spoke about losing her second child, Everett William Prill, but she never spoke about her first child most likely because he died as a result of being born prematurely on December 4, 1914, the day that he was born. Enid discovered him while she was working on her family’s genealogy. In the Cemetery’s records he is known simply as Baby Boy Prill. Everett died about a year and a-half later, on May 7, 1916. He was 22 days old, and he, too, was born prematurely.
The babies’ parents were Ferdinand Wilhelm and Enid Marshall Prill. Ferdinand was born on a farm in Bloomer, Wisconsin. His parents were German immigrants. Ferdinand, the ninth of their 11 children, was the first to be born in the United States. Enid was born in Illinois, as were her parents.
Since Ferdinand had so many siblings, he was not in line to inherit the family farm. He moved to Minneapolis where he worked at a number of jobs—mechanic, miller, and machinist among them. He married Velma Enid Marshall in 1914. The first child that they lost is buried in the Cemetery’s Potter’s Field, a sign that they had little, if any, money. Two years later, Everett was buried in a different section of the cemetery, and the location of his grave, although it was unmarked, suggests that his parents were at least slightly better off than they had been when they lost their first child.
Enid (the grandmother) told family members that she had never really had the chance to grieve for Everett. She was told that she would soon have another child. Although those words were undoubtedly meant to comfort her, they mistakenly suggested that a lost child can be replaced, and clearly that was not the case. And the prospect of losing a third child when she had so recently lost two must have been unsettling.
She did have more children, including Enid Weston’s mother, Dorothy. Dorothy was born in 1917 and lived until 1963. She grew up to be a woman that Enid described as “the best mother ever.” And Dorothy had two healthy brothers: Donald born in 1922 and Kenneth born in 1928. Both sons lived well into adulthood.
Every year, families place between five and ten new markers in the Cemetery. The majority of them are for infants who died so long ago that there is no one left who might have known them. The family members who place the markers are usually, as is the case with Enid, the grandchildren or great-grandchildren of the babies’ parents. Placing a marker is an act of remembrance for those who might otherwise have been forgotten and a gift to the memories of the parents who loved those children. It is also a gift to those who love the Cemetery. Thank you to Enid and to all of those who remember.
Sue Hunter Weir is chair of Friends of the Cemetery, an organization dedicated to preserving and maintaining Minneapolis Pioneers and Soldiers Cemetery. She has lived in Phillips for almost 50 years and loves living in such a historic community.
