One of the oldest stones there is Drusilla Stout ( photo to the right). She was my grandmother's grandmother and we both have her name. My middle name is Drue. I've always loved the name. It's so old fashioned and southern. 

Drucilla's stone is also one of the most haunting looking stones in the cemetery. It just feels so OLD and mysterious. It sits on the edge of the cemetery, with the newer stones in the central areas... almost like it's receding out to a time we can't see.

When I asked, my grandmother told me that Drusilla was the mother of "Grandma McKinney" ( Martha Elizabeth Sanders) and her two sisters, Eliza and Josephine. She had been married to an unknown Sanders and they thought her maiden name was White. My grandmother had also been told stories about the hard life she had, marrying very young, becoming a widow, then marrying an Andrew Stout. He was a mean man, who abused his family. My grandmother did not romanticize anything. She had no tolerance for cruelty so she did not give even the dead a pass on that.

Grandma McKinney married William Hugh McKinney, who my grandmother adored. She told me that he was a delightful, funny man who made his family happy.

I've tried to push past the history on this stone to the right for a long time now. With census and records research, but I never really knew Drusilla's origins or family. I kept looking at all the White family records. I did discover that she always stated that she was born in Kentucky and her parents were born in Kentucky. Sometimes after a few decades people would just say they came from the state they lived in, but she stuck to Kentucky ( which helped me to finally figure it out)

I found her as a young widow in the 1870 census ( living with her Sanders daughters and a Solomon McKee, age 16 farm hand ) and I found her in the 1880 living with her mean new husband, Andrew Stout. I found her as widow to Stout in the 1900 and then as the widowed mother in law, living with Martha and William McKinney. But I couldn't seem to find her earlier, with parents. 

It turns out that I was just not seeing what was in front of me, because I was sure she belonged to the White family. Sometimes "facts" get in the way of the truth. So I finally tracked down Grandma McKinney's death certificate. It stated her father was a George Sanders and her mother was "Drew McKee". I had found a Drusilla McKee in the 1850 census of Hardin county, the right age, and everyone had been born in Kentucky. They lived in the same area as the Sanders family. I had dismissed it because in my mind I was looking for Drucilla White. It turns out there was a kernel of truth there. Drusilla's mother was Martha White, her father was Thomas McGee. They had all come to Hardin county in the mid 1840's from Whitley county, Kentucky. 

So now Drusilla has a complete history, I was able to push back the wall of time a little more and give her a childhood and even grandparents. I still think her stone is old and lovely. It turns out that George Sanders was an old man, born in 1801 who married the 19 year old Drusilla after his first wife died. She had been in their house ( as a helper?) in the 1860 census. The "Solomon McKee" who was living with Drusilla in the 1870 must have been a brother ( another clue right in front of me that I didn't see). So I have more of a sense of who she was and how she lived. It's a satisfying feeling, even though I know there will be more mysteries... It's probably what makes this research so addictive and interesting in the first place.

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