{"id":5724,"date":"2014-10-17T16:04:13","date_gmt":"2014-10-17T21:04:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs2.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/?p=5724"},"modified":"2014-10-20T09:10:52","modified_gmt":"2014-10-20T14:10:52","slug":"scott-countys-rotten-bridge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/2014\/10\/17\/scott-countys-rotten-bridge\/","title":{"rendered":"Scott County’s Rotten Bridge"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you read this blog, you already know how much we love solving local history mysteries around here. Our latest one, featuring a peculiar epitaph referring to a tragic death, is perfect not only for this chilly month known for its ghosts and spooks, but also for this month of continuing bridge troubles.<\/p>\n

In our\u00a0Accession Collections is a collection of research materials on Scott County Cemeteries, compiled by Scharlott Blevins and Lorraine Duncan.<\/p>\n

In one of the files is a photo of a unique gravestone:<\/p>\n

\"dpl1998-13\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The unusual inscription reads:<\/p>\n

\n
Dearest brother thou has left us<\/address>\n
And thy loss we deeply feel.<\/address>\n
But it was Scott Co.\u2019s rotten bridge,<\/address>\n
That you had to suffer for,<\/address>\n
Oh we shall never forget you<\/address>\n
Dear brother Frank<\/address>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Naturally, we wanted to know a little more about poor Frank—and perhaps something about that “rotten bridge”—but the photograph doesn’t provide his death date or his last name.\u00a0 We weren’t even sure which cemetery was pictured.<\/p>\n

Our only clue was the gravestone in the background, which a sharp-eyed co-worker identified as belonging to Charles Meyer.<\/p>\n

According to the Scott County Iowa Cemetery Search<\/a>, which is maintained by the Scott County Public library System (hi, guys!), Charles Meyer is buried in the Maysville Cemetery in Hickory Grove Township.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, a Frank Meyer was buried there, too, in 1897.<\/p>\n

A search of Access Newspaper Archive—a subscription database that is available on all public workstations at all of our library locations—soon provided the obituary of Frank Meyer, who fell foul of a very rotten bridge, indeed, as witnessed by his brother, Henry:<\/p>\n

\"1897Aug28DailyIowaCapital\"<\/a>

The Daily Iowa Capital, Tuesday, August 31, 1897 page 4.<\/p><\/div>\n

Mystery solved!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you read this blog, you already know how much we love solving local history mysteries around here. Our latest one, featuring a peculiar epitaph referring to a tragic death, is perfect not only for this chilly month known for … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[366,22,1028,1232,1228,768,1233,1231,76,107,1229],"class_list":["post-5724","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-genealogy","category-local-history","tag-bridges","tag-cemeteries","tag-databases","tag-frank-meyer","tag-gravestones","tag-lorraine-duncan","tag-maysville-cemetery","tag-scharlott-blevins","tag-scigs","tag-scott-county","tag-tombstones"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pd0CXc-1uk","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5724","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5724"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5724\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5736,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5724\/revisions\/5736"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5724"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5724"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/sc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5724"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}