My great-great-great grandmother, Almira Botsford Jenks remains one of my open projects. I have not been able to find where she was buried.

Almira Jenks, the daughter of Simeon and Esther Clark Jenks was born on 27 June 1807, in Salisbury, Connecticut. She migrated to Oakland County, Michigan with her parents and siblings in the early 1820s. On 20 November 1828, in Bloomfield Twp, Oakland, Michigan, she married Morris Jenks. They settled in Southfield, Oakland, Michigan and they named their farm Deer Lick Farm (that is a whole other story).

The couple were the parents of four children: Leman Case Jenks, Esther Jenks , Oliver Torrey Jenks, and Minerva B Jenks. Morris died 13 November 1878 and is buried in the Southfield Cemetery.

It is obvious that Morris’ grave marker has broken and fallen over. There is no marker for Almira in the near area of the cemetery or anywhere within the cemetery. I have pulled the cemetery records and there is no mention of Almira Jenks or the wife of Morris Jenks. So, where was she buried?

All evidence I have been able to locate indicates she died on 6 March 1883, 5 years after her husband. A number of her children and their families are buried in the Southfield Cemetery, but I cannot find her.

To add to my confusion I have found the Letters of Administration for her estate probate records.

This document is dated 27 February 1893 – a full 10 years after all of the records show she died. Her grandson, Llewelyn Lee, is named as executor of her estate. Llewelyn Lee was my grandfather’s uncle (AKA Uncle Willy) and was living at Deer Lick Farm with his parents Charles Norton Lee and Esther Jenks Lee. The 1880 US Population Census shows Almira living alone at the farm with her son, Oliver Torrey Lee, next door.

At the time of Almira’s death, Michigan did not keep death records. It looks like I will have to look for the details of the filing of the estate papers in hopes of getting a clue of what happened.