by Leslie Beesley

While visiting Section 4 at Oak Hill, I stumbled upon a headstone so old and weathered, I could barely read the name to whom it belonged. I learned it belonged to one Lucy Faulkner, born and died in 1890. I searched the vicinity for family buried nearby, but found none. Who did this little child belong to? Was there family buried in other parts of the cemetery? Had her family once lived here but later moved away? I went home with many questions about what became of this little girl’s family and how she came to be here seemingly all alone. 

Lucy was born to William Bayntun (better known as W.B.) and Marian Bowman Faulkner. W.B. came to the United States from England in 1877. Marian also came to the States from England, with her family in 1876. They settled in Victoria, Kansas, where she and W.B. were wed in 1883. Initially, W.B. and Marian settled in Western Kansas, in Ellis and Gove Counties before moving to a farm in Douglas County early in 1890. (Marian’s parents and siblings were living in Douglas County and quite well known by this point in time.)

After the move to Douglas County, Lucy was born. She was one of nine children born to W.B. and Marian. Sadly, she died at the tender age of eight weeks old at the farm in Sibley. The Faulkners lost another baby, but it is unknown when and where. In 1892, Lucy’s family moved to Belleville, Kansas, where they would ultimately settle. W.B. and his brother-in-law Henry Bowman built the town’s mill. It was called the Belleville Milling Company and it would have many iterations over the years. It stood on the corner of 13th and O streets in Belleville. W.B. would own and operate his mill with great success for the remainder of his life. In 1907 W.B. died, leaving Marian and seven children behind, some of them were quite young. 

Marian dedicated her life to raising her children and spending time with her family. She traveled back and forth to Lawrence to see her family, and they visited her and her children in Belleville. When her children were grown, Marian traveled to visit each of them. She traveled to care for a sick daughter and a sick brother and to tend to her mother in her sickness. This is what family does. I learned that most of Lucy’s family is buried in the Belleville Cemetery, but most of her mother’s family is buried in Oak Hill; they are in Section 7. When I visited their graves, I looked down the hill to the north and could see the area where little Lucy is buried. It comforted me to know that family wasn’t terribly far away.