The
Mason Cemetery is located in a field/pasture in Goldsberry, Macon County,
Missouri (northwest of Ethel, Macon County, Missouri). This location
used to be the back portion of the property of Charles Henry and Lucinda
C. Robinson Mason. The
cemetery
is located just north and west of the location of the old Fairview School
house. It is located about 1200 feet to the west, off of the main
road, Missouri State Highway, 149. There used to be a road to the
cemetery, but it is no longer there. It is
at the top of a small hill, where several cedar trees have been planted,
that are visible from the road. When Sharon Prince first recorded
the inscriptions in this cemetery, in the summer of 1976, there was a fence
around most of it (about 50 feet square).
It has been trampled by cattle and many of the stones have been destroyed
or buried since then. Some of the stones have been found being used
as doorsteps in neighboring farms (as early as 1930).
Sharon
Lee Geck Prince is the gggrandaughter of Charles Henry and Lucinda C. Robinson
Mason (they are buried in the above-ground vault, located at the Helton
Cemetery behind the Seventh Day Adventist Church in Ethel). To the
extent possible, all inscriptions are shown verbatim:
COOMBES:
Children
of S.L. and S.J. Coombes (inscribed on small stone):
Leota
- born July 5, 1884; died Dec. 25, 1887 "Not lost, but gone
before"
Infant
- born and died Feb. 11, 1887 "Our loved one"
Aaron
- born Aug. 6, 1892; died Oct. 12, 1896 "Gone to be an angel"
footstone
inscribed: A.C. (probably Aaron Coombes)
Ruth
Combes Dec. 25, 1898 - July 13, 1918; same headstone:
Lorretta,
her dau. 1917
(only
one date shown). [note: Combes is spelled as shown here;
with
a double "o" in the above graves].
MASON
Lena,
Dau. of C.H. & L.C. Mason; born Jan. 1, 1881; died Nov. 20,
1883.
(This
headstone is the largest existing stone in the cemetery; a cedar tree was
planted near the headstone, which has protected it from the elements and
cattle. A fence surrounded this grave in 1976).
Children
of R.A. and S. E. Mason (inscribed on small stone):
Earnie
- born Oct. 4, 1895; died Aug.4, 1896 "Be at Peace"
Dennie
- born Oct. 13, 1891; died Nov. 26, 1893 "Our darling one"
Nora
- born Mar. 8, 1886; died July 12, 1887 "Gone, but not forgotten"
Snoda
- born Sept. 8, 1889; died Nov. 18, 1891 "Budded on earth to bloom
in heaven"
footstones
were found with the initials: E.M.; S.M.; and M.M.
(could
be N.M.).
Several other stones were toppled, buried and not legible.