Recently while walking a gravesite with her dowsing rods, Audrey Jones said she started getting odd readings. Jones spoke during last week’s Bowling Green Chamber of Commerce meeting at the Visitors Center.
Jones and two other ladies from the Pike County Genealogical Society and Museum were there to talk about their work on genealogy for families in Pike County and how they have turned the old jail into a fascinating little museum.
But Jones’ work with dowsing rods had everyone there riveted. Also called witching or divining, dowsing is used to find the unknown. People have used it to find water or minerals. Jones said she could determine the size of a grave, if a man or a woman was buried there or if the grave belonged to a child. And the grave she was talking about was giving her odd readings, she told the group.
“Mr. Tom Lewis from Paynesville asked me to witch this grave,” she said. At one corner, she realized it was not a person buried there. When asked about it, Jones said, Lewis admitted that spot was where is grandfather buried his dog. It was at Lewis’ uncle’s grave that the readings got really odd, she said.
From one direction, she dowsed a woman. From the other direction it indicated a man was buried there.
“I did it six times,” she said. When Jones told him what she found, she said, he started laughing.
Lewis told her his aunt was buried 12-feet down, so his uncle could be buried on top of her.
“Enough of her was showing on this side,” Jones explained, and the uncle was showing on the other side.
“I asked him, ‘Are you testing me?’ and he said, “Yep, and you passed.’”
When the rods go left over right, it’s a woman, she said. Right over left indicates a man. Determining the size of a grave tells whether it’s an adult or a child.
Most graves are plotted with the deceased facing east, she explained. As she walks the length, the rods she’s holding move together, then apart.
She once witched an Indian mound where the bodies were jumbled together.
“It was very hard to witch it,” she said.
Diane Carver said she uses a single wire when she dowses. Just holding the rod, it starts to vibrate as it searches.
When showing some children how the dowsing rods work, Jones admits she should have been using the term dowsing instead of witching, because the next day at church the children ran up to the priest and told him that Jones was teaching them how to be a witch.
“I guess you’re not going to ask me back,” she told the priest.
The society, which has been in business since 1991, resides in the admin part of the old jail. It’s located at the intersection of E. Church and W. Cuiver streets.
“We have turned our jail into a museum,” she said.
Chamber of Commerce President Karen Arico encouraged everyone to visit the museum to see what these ladies have done. The former jail cells have been transformed into exhibits from different eras in our history.
“You can go into a one-room schoolhouse, or an Indian teepee,” Jones said. The society and museum are open on Thursdays from 1 – 4 p.m., and on Saturdays from 9 a.m. – 1 p.m.
She noted that tours by appointment are available. Just call her at 573-324-5810.
Jones said genealogy is the world’s largest hobby, and they are there to help people learn more about their family’s roots. Pike County, she explained, one of the oldest counties in the state. It used to run from the St. Charles County line to Iowa border to the north and as far west as Howard County.
“The number of people who passed through Pike County during the western migration is unreal,” she said. They get calls, emails and letters all the time from people seeking to learn more about their relatives from this area.
They put together a beginner’s book on genealogy called “Diggin’ Up Bones.” Jones also holds classes on genealogy.
“If you want to start your genealogy, we’re here to help you,” she said. “Everything behind you, is why you’re here,” Jones added. “So, start with yourself and work your way back.”
To perk the interest of the children, Jones said she asks the boys if they know which of their ancestors fought during the Civil War. Once they hear that, she added, their eyes get wide and they can’t open a book fast enough to start their search.
The Genealogical Society offers yearly memberships for just $20. With that membership, they send out a quarterly newsletter.
For the past 15 years, however, Jones said they have been working in a project to collect photos of cemeteries. They chalked the stones and uncovered headstones that have been buried for years. They put together a find-a-grave binder to help people locate their ancestors.
She showed what she considered a perfect page. It contains a photo of the deceased, his obituary, his death certificate, and his biography.
“This is what we’ve been doing for the last 15 years all over Pike County,” Jones added.
They are also working to put these pages on a computer, so that they could be made available digitally.
For the past 20 years, they have also been collecting obituaries for a different project.
“We put them on our computer,” she said. “We’ve also burned them to CDs.”
She’s also been working on the Poor Farm in Ashley township, searching for graves and trying to locate information on who is buried there.
“The sidewalks to the Poor Farm are still there,” she explained. It was established in the late 1800s and used to grow crops using prison laborers.
People should not be ashamed of their ancestors, Jones said.
“We do this, so they are never forgotten,” she explained.
“I’ve been looking for the past 30 years for my great, great, great grandmother,” she said. “I just found out this year where she died.” She was a Native American and will not be forgotten, Jones stated.
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