Watch out, I break for cemeteries!

Earl Park, IN

Tombstone of Theophile Deno b. 11-10-1861 d. 6-29-1881

my GG grandfather

and his sister

Anna Deno b. 7-23-1863 d. 3-11-1884

Tombstone of Theophile's sisters;

Delia Deno b. 3-10-1869 d. 1-30-1885

and

Leonie Deno b. 1-17-1871 d. 7-29-1887

Sacred Heart Cemetery

Fowler, IN

Headstone of Theophile Deno b. 3-2-1837 (in Canada) d. 12-30-1924

my GGG grandfather


Odile Palin Deno b. 10-29-1843 (in Canada) d. 2-17-1919
my GGG grandmother

Well, this past weekend my two youngest sons and I visited my daughter at Eastern Illinois University for family weekend. Of course we took in the football game where we certainly exercised our voices! The stands were packed with EIU students and their families and although the EIU Panthers lost the game, everyone seemed to have a great time. The boys and I had a great time visiting my daughter who appears to be adjusting to college life and being away from home.

On our way home I took a detour and drove over to Fowler, Indiana and Earl Park, Indiana where quite a number of my French Canadian relatives resided. (Yes, I used a little "bribe" to get the boys to go along with my "detour"....two trips to Dairy Queen was a SMALL price to pay for their help!)

With the help of a friendly woman (who else can you ask for directions from?) I located Sacred Heart Cemetery, Fowler, Indiana, in the middle of a corn field! Once there the kids and I searched for and located my GGG grandparents graves! What a find! Theophile Deno born 1837 died 1924 and Odile Deno born 1842 died 1919. Both of their headstones were pretty well protected from the elements because they are located under a large tree. We found many more Deno graves too. Not only were there Deno graves but also Boudreau's and Senesac's--both names in my family tree. This cemetery is very nice and well kept. It appears that quite a number of relatives may still reside in this particular area of Indiana for we saw a few businesses in Fowler with the Deno name on them.

Theophile and Odile's oldest son, my GG grandfather, Theophile Deno who was born in 1861 and died of consumption in June of 1881 before his twentieth birthday. My GG grandfather Theophile married Belle Boudreau in January of 1881. He died the end of June and their daughter Eva Belle Deno was born in December of 1881. Eva never knew her father. He was buried in St. Anthony's Cemetery (also known as Dehner's Cemetery) in Earl Park, Indiana. His tombstone also marks the grave of his sister Delia. Although less than ten miles from Sacred Heart Cemetery this particular cemetery took us forever to locate, driving down many a gravel road until finally we found it- once again in the middle of a corn field. It is quite a small cemetery and has some very old tombstones. We were lucky enough to find the tombstone of Theophile's sisters Delia and Leonie who also share a large tombstone as well. According to the Benton County Genealogical Society there are even more Deno's buried in this small cemetery, although we could not find them. I wish I would have had the time to photograph every tombstone and post it, but we were all getting very tired and wanted to get home! Perhaps a future visit will allow me the time to do so.

The most interesting fact I verified was that my GGG grandparents lost too many children in such a short amount of time. They had eleven children and six died before they reached the age of 25 years. Three died in the same year; Delia died 1-30-1887, Leonie died 7-29-1887 and Maria Rosa died 8-19-1887. I believe most died of consumption. The other interesting fact was that my GGG grandparents spelled their name "Deno," not Deneau, or Denault as I sometimes have found it. I am not sure who changed the spelling but it was nice to see that at least four generations back it was spelled DENO. Hopefully it will also make it easier to continue my research on this most interesting family.