In honor of Veterans Day, here is Life magazine 16 April 1945. This issue included a story called "The Forgotten Front." The pictures were taken by Margaret Bourke-White, one of Life's famous documentary photographers, and featured the US war effort in Italy. 

The reason I am particularly fond of this issue and own several copies of this specific magazine, is that my Dad is in one of the pictures.  See the page below.  He is in the photo on the top left.  I have included an enlarged version of it, too. 

 

 

Dad is on the left--the handsome guy with his fist on his chin.  Dad said that Bourke-White had finished her story and then her film was destroyed. So she came into their unit to take more photo.  And that's how his picture ended up in Life.

  

Lexington Presbyterian Church was authorized by the Lexington Presbytery and acquired its first minister in 1789.  Its congregation began meeting at the current location in 1845, according to its website.  This is another church that I haven't been inside.

 
The Stonewall Jackson Memorial Cemetery is just up the street from the church. I can walk through the cemetery and see the names of various people in my family tree, the closest of which are James Patton Alexander and his wife, Louise Houston Alexander, aka Cousin Louise.

These are pictures of the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church in New York City.  This is the current location of the church where James Waddell Alexander preached--the cousin who was the subject of my last post.  I took these pictures on my recent visit to New York City.  It is the largest Presbyterian sanctuary in New York City.  And it is truly beautiful inside. Much of the wood is hand carved and original.

Rev. Alexander didn't actually preach in this facility, however.  The church has had four buildings.  It was founded on Cedar Street in lower Manhattan in 1808.  It moved north to Duane Street in 1836 and further north to 19th Street & Fifth Avenue in 1852.  According to a brochure about the church, in 1873, the current church was built "on an undeveloped area just south of Central Park."

Some interesting tidbits:

• The clock is not electrical and has to be wound about once a week.
• There are no chimes at the church because it was built near a hospital & they were worried that chimes would disturb the patients.
• At the time the church was completed in 1875, its 286-foot high steeple was the tallest building in New York City.
• The rose window shown in the lower picture doesn't face the outside; there is a passageway behind it and a clear glass window of equal size & shape overlooks Fifth Avenue.

 

This is James Waddell Alexander (March 13, 1804 – July 31, 1859). He was the son of the Reverend Archibald Alexander of Princeton fame and Janetta Waddell Alexander.  Like his father, he attended Princeton and became a Presbyterian minister. 

Alexander was pastor in Charlotte County, Virginia; at the First Presbyterian Church in Trenton, New Jersey; and at the Duane Street Presbyterian Church in New York City, which became the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church.  He served at the latter until his death, which, tragically, occurred at the age of 55.  He had returned to Virginia because of poor health and died there of dysentery.

He married Elizabeth Clarentine Cabell and they had seven children.

He was my second cousin four times removed.

Tinkling Spring Presbyterian Church is located in Augusta County in Fishersville.  It was founded in 1740.  I have only visited the parking lot here, but it's on my list of places to revisit.

Some of Archibald Alexander's descendants were active in the church and/or are buried in the cemetery.  These include Coiners, Gilkensons, and Wilsons.

New Providence Presbyterian Church is in Rockbridge County outside of Brownsburg. It was established in 1746.  I have been in this church for family reunions mainly.

It has a huge cemetery beside & behind it where people have been buried for centuries.  Many of my Willson relatives are buried here.  And my mother's great-aunt Grace Swain Brown is also buried here.  I just discovered that during the past year.  I saw that my mother's mother had lived with her Aunt Grace Brown in Richmond at the time of the 1910 Census.  Then I tracked Grace to see what happened to her & found out she had moved to Rockbridge County where her husband's family was from.  She had one son who died in his teens.  She, her husband, and her son are all buried at New Providence.

Timber Ridge Associate Reform Presbyterian Church is right across the street from Timber Ridge Presbyterian. It was formed in 1856.  I have never been inside the church as far as I can remember.  More significantly to me, it has an adjacent cemetery where many of my Alexander & Gibson family are buried.

My father is buried there, as are his parents.  My father's father died when my father was only 3 years old.  At that time, my grandmother purchased 16 plots for John Alexander (my grandfather) & his heirs.  She assumed that her three sons and their wives would want to be buried there.  Now that's planning ahead!

Apparently when my Aunt Midge (my grandmother's sister-in-law with whom she had had some issues) died in the 1950s, Midge somehow arranged to be buried in the Alexander plot.  Family legend has it that my grandmother had no idea that this was happening until she went to the funeral and saw where the hole had been dug.  She was really miffed at Aunt Midge for doing that.  My Aunt Nannie (another sister-in-law, apparently one with whom there was less friction) is also in the plot.

My Dad's two brothers elected to be buried in the Fairfield Cemetery along with their wives & the wives families.  So there's still plenty of room in the cemetery if we need it!

Two pictures featuring Nell Lyle Bonds Callahan.  In the top one, Nell is by herself; and in the bottom one, she is flanked by my parents. I'm pretty sure this was taken in her home in Albuquerque, New Mexico, when my parents visited. My cousin Bruce & my brother Graham also visited her. 

And I visited her once when I was on a business trip there.  At that time, she was 91 years old.  We ate dinner at a Mexican restaurant near her home.  She was my first cousin twice removed...in other words, she was my grandmother's first cousin.  

Nell was quite an energetic woman.  And she told wonderful stories about her family's trip west.

Oakwood Cemetery (the subject of my last couple of posts) is located on Nine Mile Road just south of I-64 in the city of Richmond, Virginia. It is a huge cemetery, and I mean HUGE.  The picture above is just one view of a section of the cemetery.  No one picture does it justice.

Oakwood was established about 1854 and covers approximately 66 acres. Over 17,000 Civil War dead are buried here & they cover what looks to be about one-third or one-fourth of the cemetery...see the CSA sections at the bottom of the map below.

Plat A below is where my great-grandparents are buried,  They are in Section 3, lot 15, close to Memorial Drive. It is adjacent to the CSA sections.

And Section E, Division 9, lot 6 is where my grandparents are buried.It is on the same side of the cemetery as Part A.  Both of these are separated from the main entrance by a hill/ravine.