Left Behind

If there is one thing more tragic than losing a child, it might be losing a child hundreds of miles from where you live then having to leave them behind and return home without them. I recently stumbled across a mention in the newspaper, The Muncie Daily News of May 31, 1880, where a little girl had passed away while her family was visiting the Muncie area. Anna E Allen and her parents, known only as J and A M Allen according to her stone, were visiting a Mr Montgomery living a few miles south of town when the two-year-old died. No cause of death was noted but the little girl was laid to rest in Beech Grove Cemetery lot 505. Her sad little marker is in poor shape, both weather-worn and broken with the upper spire portion now in three pieces. Also buried on the lot are James H Montgomery, a Civil War veteran, his wife, Mary, and Rebecca, probably his mother.

 
Anna E, dau of J & A M, Allen died May 28, 1880, aged 2 y __ m & 28 d

A quick review of Ancestry's trees (also know as poison ivy) show six public trees and one private tree that include a little girl that fits her description pretty closely. Every one that lists a death location for their girl says she died in Warrensburg, Macon, Illinois, but not one of those public trees gives a source for their information. If this, indeed, was the same little girl, she would have apparently been the daughter of Josiah and Anna Margaret Ann (Brindle) Allen. I expect one person guessed that little Anna died in Illinois and others simply ran with it as fact. 

The following is garnered from various sparcely-sourced Ancestry trees. If this is your family, please do you own research rather than take this as gospel: Anna Margaret Brindle's sister was Mary Elizabeth Brindle, wife of James Henry Montgomery of Daleville, Indiana (just southwest of Muncie). This certainly fits well with our little girl, enough so that I may reach out to some of those tree owners and see if they will correct/update their information. 

Despite being buried 450 miles from home, this little girl has not been forgotten. She was not buried alone, but with her aunt and uncle, and will hopefully be reunited with the rest of her family tree in the digital world.