Thursday, February 10, 2022

Hutchings family grave markers










Teresa,

There's a family plot at the cemetery in Yosemite Valley, Yosemite National Park that has five stones, and one of the five stones has the names of all four people buried there: James Hutchings, his daughters Florence and Gertrude, and his second wife Augusta.  Florence and Augusta died in 1881, James died in 1902, and Gertrude died in 1956, the last person to be buried in that cemetery.  James' son William and his first and third wives Elvira and Emily are buried elsewhere.  Florence was supposed to have been the first settler child born in Yosemite Valley.  James was important to Yosemite history and Florence ("Floy"), a friend of John Muir, was the second most famous of the family.

The first photo (Hutchings Site 1) shows the plot with an asymmetric granite slab, a marble cross, and three individual stones near the bottom of the photo.  The three individual stones are shown in the second photo (Hutchings Individual Stones) in the same orientation as in the first photo.  The stones have initials for Augusta, Florence, and James.  The cross is a memorial for James Hutchings (Hutchings Cross).  The granite slab has a plaque for Gertrude (Hutchings Gertrude Plaque).  On the far side of the granite slab is the original inscription for James Hutchings (Hutchings James).  On the "shoulders" of the slab, oriented to be read from the side with James' inscription, are the inscriptions for Florence on the left (Hutchings Florence) and Augusta on the right (Hutchings Augusta).

The plot is at one edge of the cemetery, and the inscription for James faces the fence.  I think that originally the natural approach to the plot was from the side the inscriptions for James, Florence, and Augusta were supposed to be read from, then the cemetery was enclosed and the natural approach was from the direction of the three stones with initials.  The memorial cross was added in line with James' initial stone with the inscription facing the new natural approach.  Gertrude's plaque was added to the empty original back (new "front") of the granite slab.  James could be considered the winner with his name or initials on three of the five stones.

I've added photos of an interpretive plaque for James near the Yosemite Falls loop trail (James Hutchings Plaque) and part of a poster from the Women in Yosemite poster exhibit in the Ahwahnee Hotel (Florence Hutchings Poster).  More stories about both are readily available with a web search, but keep in mind that stories of that time were sensationalized, unverified, and many of the stories contradict each other.  Florence apparently died from a chill from getting her feet wet (unlikely!), a chill from falling into a horse trough (still unlikely), or from a head injury from a falling rock while leading a hiking tour (much more likely), with tear-jerking details for each.




-Randy

More Yosemite grave markers from Randy:


#FB00871

February 31, 1869

 #FB00892