Tombstone Tuesday--Charles Stark

     Charles Stark is my maternal great grandfather. According to his Civil War pension file he was born in 1845 either in Elberfeld or Dusseldorf, Prussia and died on April 26, 1895 in Claremont, O'Hara Township,, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. Charles has a somewhat colorful story which needs to be reported on Flipside. Of late I have been tiptoeing around the tale as some new information has come into my hands which has made me rethink my original spin on the events. A piece was presented in SNGF this weekend and is also dealt with more fully in the Charles Stark section of my home page. Although as mentioned, some of the home page story needs to be rewritten.

FATHERCHARLES STARK1845-1895SGT. Co. D 5th W. VA. CAV. Charles is buried in the single interments area in Division Two, near Section E and F, Union Dale Cemetery, on the North Side of Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. Also buried in Union Dale are his wife, Wilhelmine Catherine Schwarz Stark, and two daughters, Lucy Stark Munger and Dorothy Stark Cooper.

     I have not visited Union Dale. My brother, Jeff, and my Dad photographed the tombstone in 1993. From Jeff's notes, it was rather difficult to locate. There was only a record of Charles Stark's burial, but no real direction as to where the grave was located--other than the vast area of Section E and the unnamed land where the actual grave marker is located. After walking around on a hot 90 degree Pittsburgh summer day, they managed to see the tombstone. 

     Jeff was puzzled when he saw that great grandfather did not have an American flag marking his service in the Civil War and returned to the cemetery office to correct the oversight in the record book. Returning with the flag, he had to dig down in the dirt beside the tombstone to locate the metal holder which had been pushed into the ground over time. As I have mentioned on numerous blogs, my family goes beyond the call of duty helping with the family genealogy. Jeff also found the other Stark graves and took photos for my records on this Union Dale day.