Willie Uzel Meece was the eldest daughter of Theophilus Franklin Meece and Amelia Antoinette Brown Meece. I’m guessing that she was expected to be a male and that he would have been named after his grandfathers, William Carrol Meece and Dr. Uzel Marcus Brown. According to the U.S. Census, baby girls born with the name Willie peaked in the year of 1910 at 1,796. The population in 1910 was 92,228,496. If there was any forethought given to her name, then Willie in German is derived from Wilhelm, meaning “will” or “desire,” and “helmet” or “protector.” So, the name Willie, means “resolute protector.” In any event, I can’t imagine a 14-year-old girl being entirely happy with her parents name selection.
Willie was born on February 11th, 1870, and she died on January 21st, 1885 at the age of 14. Her epitaph reads, “She hath her crown of flowers”. In Christianity, the wreath represents the resurrection of Christ; and therefore eternal life or more appropriately the victory of life over death. Her parents were both devout Christians. It is unknown what she died from but smallpox, tuberculosis and yellow fever were prevalent diseases back then. Other than that, we know nothing else about Willie.
Based upon my previous research, I was able to find my great-grandparents graves pretty quickly. I was more than a little disturbed that I couldn’t find Willie at that same location. Her grave was found all the way on the other side of the cemetery in the opposing corner. No other family members were discovered at that site. We were unable to find the graves of my 2nd great-grandfather, William Carrol Meece, my 2nd great-grandmother, Hannah Bennette Fields Meece, or my great-granduncle and their son, John W. Meece. According to an Old City Cemetery plaque, there are at least 65 unmarked burials with more than 70 grave sites destroyed. There are very few graves around Willie. Conceivably her grandparents and uncle are buried beside her.
I was saddened to find her all alone. I wonder how many times her grave site has been visited over the last 139 years. Anyway, we repositioned her headstone and cleaned it with D/2 biological solution. We then hammered in ¼” PVC pipes on either side of the headstone to hold an American flag and artificial flowers. We raked around the grave site to remove the matted grass clippings and planted purple mums.
I was drawn, as was DMM, repeatedly to her grave site over the course of those 3 days. It’s as if we shared some sort of spiritual connection, a kindred spirit perhaps. How could you not feel empathy or compassion for a girl who died so young? Anyway, we were happy to have met her and delighted to have cared for her during our visit.
