Visit to Monticello, KS, July 2014

Here's a bit about my visit to Monticello, KS in 2014, while doing research on my Mize heritage. My grandmother was Alwilda "Wilda" Mize Chesney.

The Mize family was an important one in the Monticello area - a road is even named after them! 

I visited the community's museum where I got to see old implements retrieved from the Mize homestead's barn before it collapsed after being heavily damaged by a storm. I also visited:

1. The restored one-room Virginia School where probably two generations of the family attended school, 

2. The Mize property where four generations of the George W. Mize family lived in the original home (which was for sale at the time), 

3. The historic Monticello United Methodist Church (Mizes were founding members), 

4. The Union Cemetery where at least 150 or more people buried there are related to me either directly or by marriage.

Of course, a few hundred pictures were taken! I was able to get at least 85 of the headstones photographed, plus photos and scans of documents at the church and museum. The names of the related families are: MIZE, DUBOIS, REITZ, RENNER, KUEKER, WININGER, FRAME, GREENING, and GOLDEN.

Of special significance to me was the chance to visit the following graves:

gr gr grandfather, Charles Johnson Mize (Union Cemetery)
gr grandparents, Henry and Sarah Ann Dubois Mize (Union Cemetery)
gr gr grandmother, Abia Courtright Dubois (Murphy Cemetery)