Ansel Marshall @ 100 years old, yes 100 yrs :-) ~~he was the Energizer Bunny in 4-Low ~~: 02/04/09

I had done alot of research on the internet last spring on Ansel's genalogy and knew for sure that his mom was buried in the Glen Abbey Memorial Park at Chula Vista, CA. I was a little uncertain about his dad. There were conflicting birth dates and over the years his dad had changed his name from Hirum Walter Marshall to E.M. Marshall. and Ansel could not remember when his dad had died or where he was buried. I did find that there was an Edward Marshall buried at the Chula Vista cemetary, but the birth dates did not match. In order to confirm that the Edward that was buried at Glen Abbey was his dad, I needed to find the death certificate and see who had filed it. First we went to the cemetary office and got a copy of the index cards with the recorded DOB, and DOD. Then we went to the satellite County Court office in Chula Vista to get the death certificates.

There was quite a line to wait in. Ansel was a good sport and came in with me. He needed to sign the application as next of kin. These folks were ahead of us in line... what do you suppose they were there for????

It took an hour, but we did finally get the death certificates for both Edward M. Marshall and Eva Marshall. Both of them had been filed by Vivian Breshnen, Ansel's older sister. Viola... it was in fact his dad. The cemetary records had them buried in different sections. It didn't appear that they were buried near each other.

The main entrance with the administrative offices. The staff was very pleasant and helpful.

This is the west entrance to the cemetary, it was probably the original main entrance, and original main office. Now it serves as the ....

Made me chuckle, in fact I had to go in and ask if it was part of the cemetary, and in fact it is and they said they have many weddings at the cemetary chapel.

This is the Glen Abbey Chapel, which was built in the 1920's after the infamous one in England. It sits up the hill from where Ansel's parents are buried.

I had the "addresses" from the front office telling me that they were in block "6" where I would find Eva and Edward Marshll. Unfortunately that was all they could tell me. She was in section 76 and he was in section 65. I started out in the 80 degree sunshine doing a systematic grid search for their plots. After 20 minutes and no luck, the head grounds keeper pulled up in his Gator and asked if I needed any help? I showed him the addresses I was trying to find, and he pulled out his book. I was very impressed. It turned out that, their graves were actually side by side. She being in the most right of section 76 and he being in the most left of section 65 of the same row. All these years Ansel did not know they were side by side. His dad died Feb 5, 1956 and his mom died December 30, 1964. When Eva died, Ansel was in Burns, and his sister was in San Ysidro taking care of his mom. He remembered that it was the worst snow storm he had endured in his years in Harney County... the airports and highways were shut down, and he couldn't safely get to San Diego and was not able to get to San Diego for her funeral. He had never been to their graves. Ironically every year he and Martina place flowers on her parents graves, but they had never been to the Chula Vista Cemetary where his parents were.

Sadly when the sexton identified the graves, they were unmarked, just grass. He took the time to show me and explain to me how the plot, row, section system worked. It all made sense and I was confident in his identification of the location of their graves. Then I brought Ansel over and explained. He was very sad, and very emotional about the fact that they had laid there all these years without any indentification. He had assumed that his sister Vivian had taken care of the headstones.

Ansel looking at the unmarked graves of his parents; Eva Mae Marshall and Edward M. Marshall aka Hirum Walter Marshall in the Glen Abbey Memorial Park, Chula Vista, CA.

Ansel with tears brimming, reflecting on his parents lives.

The next project was to research the deeds of the property that they lived on in San Ysidro. I found out that I needed to go to the main County Courthouse in downtown San Diego. It is located at 1600 Pacific Hwy. A very beautiful building, that in an abstract way reminds me of the Oregon State Capitol in Salem, Oregon. It is much bigger than the OR capital building. Ansel came with me on his electric horse (the scooter) We had to pass through and intensive xray security scanner like the airports. I forgot about Ansel's pocket knife... geezzzzzzzzz (it was in his checked baggage on the way down)

Finally we got in, and made our way to the Assessors office. Fortunately I had a little experience with deed research, searching the indirect and direct recordings in Harney and Crook counties, which made digging through the micro fische (sp) records a little easier. and I was able to find the deeds. I have to commend the staff, for being so patient and helpful. If you know me, I don't easily take "no" for an answer. Which is what I received over and over again, making the deed find and lot id a sweet victory for me.

The San Diego County Courthouse sits on the edge of the harbor. What a beautiful setting. The pic below is of a yacht docked in front of the courthouse. It has it's own helicopter in a bag, as well as an out board motor boat tucked in the side. S'pose this is Arnold's??? To the south of this impressive vessel is a "Maritime Museum", of which the sailing vessel and submarine behind it are part of.