A grave discovery
Upper right: The wordless concrete grave marker of Ethel Lee Fuller, unearthed by Larry Hammer several weeks ago. Lower right: It wasn’t until the discovery of this small granite headstone near the wordless concrete marker, in combination with a search of the original cemetery book, that the grave was confirmed to belong to Fuller. Left: A second wordless grave marker discovered near Fuller’s after further examination of the area. The identity of who is buried at this plot is unknown at this time.
Photos by
CHANSE WATSON
Photo by CHANSE WATSON Small nameplates dot the grassy land of the Murray Cemetery, each one indicating where an individual that had been lost to time is interred. Sandy and Larry Hammer purchased the nameplates themselves and painstakingly researched where the correct position for each one was.
Photo by CHANSE WATSON Sandy Hammer looks upon the Murray Cemetery map that shows visitors where (mostly) everyone is located on the grounds. Sandy has been instrumental in the cemetery’s rehabilitation efforts and has been responsible for cleaning up, replacing and marking many of the grave markers/headstones.
Photo by CHANSE WATSON Larry Hammer tells cemetery visitors the story of how he came across Ethel Lee Fuller’s previously lost grave on the southern end of the grounds near a large tree. Larry, an avid history buff, has also spent his fair share of time working on restoring the historic Murray Cemetery. With the help of historical documents found in the Murray House, which he and Sandy own, the duo have successfully marked dozens of previously unmarked graves.
Photo by SANDY HAMMER Ethel Lee Fuller’s entry in the original Murray Cemetery book. The book is currently on display at the Murray House.
Photo by SANDY HAMMER Fuller’s name mentioned again in the cemetery book, along with other deceased individuals.
Murray Cemetery caretakers find, identify lost burial plot
MURRAY — If looking at a list of all the historic places in Shoshone County (and there are a lot of them), there could be an argument made that the Grand Army of the Republic (G.A.R.) Murray Cemetery is at the top of the list (or at the very least, top five).
Receiving its first eternal resident in 1887, Murray’s second cemetery — the first on the east end of Murry being abandoned due to unsuitable terrain — has become the final resting place for several U.S. military veterans, prominent pioneers of the county, and longtime residents over the years.
Gravestones of notable historical figures such as Maggie Hall (otherwise known affectionately as Molly B’Damn), A.J. Prichard, Catherine Prichard, Captain Tonk Roncrecy and Edith McCorkendale (otherwise known less affectionately as Terrible Edith) can be seen when one walks through the eerie, yet peaceful, graveyard.
With anything that’s more than 100 years old, there’s bound to be some natural wear and tear. While various volunteers and caretakers have done a little here and there to maintain the sacred place, mother nature has certainly taken her toll.
Visitors to the cemetery can see faded headstones worn away by the passage of time and inclement weather, grave plots obscured by soil and foliage, and in extreme cases — whole grave markers completely gone or buried.
This was the case with 2-year-old Ethel Lee Fuller, who was born on July 5, 1885, and passed away on Nov. 16, 1887. Fuller was buried near the southern side of the Murray Cemetery — presently near a large tree — with a stone grave marker and a small granite headstone with her initials on it. Over the years, nature did what nature does and retook parts of the cemetery — this included the young Fuller’s grave.
While it is unknown how long the burial markers were lost, thanks to the efforts of cemetery caretakers Larry and Sandy Hammer, we now know when they were rediscovered.
Larry and Sandy are the current owners of the historic 1884 Murray House — one of the last original buildings left in town.
While fixing up, restoring, and running the Murray House as a bed and breakfast for the past four years, the couple has also contributed a large portion of their time to restoring the Murray Cemetery.
“It just meant so much to us to keep the history,” Sandy said.
Part of this restoration has included the remarking of lost and unmarked graves.
Using the original cemetery book that was found in the Murray House as a guide, Sandy has placed numerous name markers in the cemetery where certain graves should be. Each marker shows the deceased’s name, date of birth and date of death.
In the midst of her work, Sandy was having trouble finding the location of a particular grave belonging to Ethel Lee Fuller. While she knew that Fuller was buried in the Murray Cemetery, a lack of any physical evidence made determining the exact location of her grave difficult.
Until new evidence could be found, Sandy decided to place Fuller’s name marker close to the area she thought the grave was based on listings in the cemetery book — right near a large tree in the southern part of the graveyard.
It was on the weekend of May 23 that Larry was cleaning around that tree and just happened to see something white sticking out of the ground.
“I got down and started clearing dirt away with my hand rake and uncovered the big flat-piece headstone first, but there was no writing on it,” he said.
With this new discovery, Sandy was so sure that the grave belonged to Fuller that she moved the name marker to it.
The next day, Larry came back to the cemetery determined to find an actual headstone with a name and sure enough, that’s what he found — along with another unmarked grave as well.
“You can’t explain the feeling that ‘you know what? She has a home,’” Sandy said.
The second smooth-granite headstone simply reads “E.L.F.” but it is enough to be sure that this is the grave of the young girl.
While one mystery has been solved, the discovery of the new unmarked headstone next to Fuller’s grave has prompted Sandy to go back to the book and track down the unknown deceased’s identity.
With 160 name markers in the ground now and another 25 in the mail, Larry and Sandy hope to identify as many lost graves as they can while also updating the cemetery.
Planned updates include naming the various plats and maybe even installing a columbarium.
The G.A.R. Murray Cemetery is located on Kings Pass Road near Murray.
