Helen Burggraf

Miss Helen Elizabeth Burggraf died on October 9, 1918. Her death certificate stated that she was the daughter of John Burggraf and Jesse Goodwin Burggraf. Little Helen was age three years, three months, and twenty two days. The cause of death was listed as laryngitis.

Some ninety years after Helen's death, someone remembered her with a floral tribute. A sculpture of a lamb and cross symbolize that this youngster was a child of God.

Helen Elizabeth Burggraf is buried in Castalia Cemetery in Margaretta Township.

The inscription on Helen's tombstone reads:

She was too pure for earthly love
Pure as the angels that are free from stain
She left us to join them in heaven above
Where we shall all meet her again.

Mrs. Lydia Lyon Goodwin

In the book THE HISTORY OF THE DESCENDANTS OF ELDER JOHN STRONG, OF NORTHAMPTON, MASS., by Benjamin W. Dwight, we read that Lydia Lyon was the daughter of Eliakim Lyon and Mary Strong Lyon. Lydia was born on December 15, 1812 at Stafford. She married Theron Goodwin in 1840 in Cuyahoga County, Ohio. Theron Goodwin was the son of Abel Goodwin and Olive Torrey Goodwin.

Lydia Lyon Goodwin's ancestry goes back to the Elder John Strong of Northampton, Massachusetts. Many other residents of Huron and Erie Counties were from this Strong line, including former Sandusky Mayor, Rush Sloane, and his grandfather Abner Strong, who was a key figure in the Undergroud Railroad of the Firelands area. Mrs. Lydia Lyon Goodwin died on March 31, 1843 in Ohio. She is buried in Oakland Cemetery in Sandusky, Ohio. The Oakland Cemetery interment card indicates that she was originally buried in Bloomingville, Ohio, but later was re-buried at Oakland.

The marker near Lydia's tombstone appears to be a Woman's Relief Corps marker. However, the Woman's Relief Corps was not organized until 1883, and Lydia Goodwin died in 1843, so it is unlikely that she was a member of this group.