Book Description

All too often, a cemetery visit is prompted by the immediate passing of a friend or relative, which, let's face it, is the way of things. We don't readily connect these burial places as a space that can tell a tale. Mifflin County Historical Society author, Forest K. Fisher, asserts that cemeteries can do just that. Tombstone Tales from the Cemeteries of Mifflin County sheds some light on individuals who lived and died, yet above all, who left a story from which we can glean a bit of county history. Through the resources of the historical society archives, Fisher gained background for each story, and many were part of the history curriculum he taught locally for over 30 years. One particular story he knows first-hand, that of his late mother, Mifflin County artist Anne Kepler Fisher.This, his ninth book detailing local history from a central Pennsylvania county founded in 1789, the author visits seven Mifflin County cemeteries in the 62-page all color publication as he traces the impact of individuals buried there. Thirteen individuals are featured. Discover Mifflin County's first pioneer woman, the "Daniel Boone" of Mifflin County, a Civil War general buried in a cannon, the only man executed in Mifflin County, the doctor who died at the Alamo, the only county woman awarded the Bronze Star during WWII, the tragic short life of a ill-fated child, the minister and his exhumed remains returned during a perilous journey, the daughter and a grandson of signers of the Declaration of Independence, the county's first pediatrician, the artist who painted the Amish and the purported relative of Edgar Allan Poe.The story of Mifflin County can be told in many diverse ways. Tombstone Tales from the Cemeteries of Mifflin County represents local history through the lives of the departed. Visit a local cemetery, checkout the tombstones and take a walk through history.