 |
| Daniel Lantz's gravesite |
This grave was another one which was nearly lost. Only pieces of a badly broken and scarcely legible headstone remain. Yet, Randy Brown, chair of OCTA's Graves and Sites Committee, was able to identify the grave based on partial descriptions of the headstone in earlier years left by veteran trail sleuth, Paul Henderson. Based on these descriptions, Brown surmised that the dead man had originally been from Wayne County, Indiana. Brown knew of several diaries pertaining to emigrant trains from that area and, after some searching, he was able to identify the deceased as Daniel Lantz.
After identifying Lantz, Brown made a trip to Centerville, Wayne County, Indiana, to research his life. During that trip, Brown also stopped at the local cemetery to take some photos of the graves of family members of Martin Ringo another Centerville resident who also died on the trail in Wyoming. Brown was just getting ready to leave the cemetery -- he had "already lingered much too long waiting for the shadows to move" -- when a car drove up. A man got out and approached Brown and asked if he was the one who had been asking questions about the Lantz family. Randy confessed that he was the one. The man stuck out his hand and said, "Then, meet one. I'm Thad Lantz," a great-great-grandson of Daniel Lantz. Thad Lantz and his wife had just made a quick stop in Centerville en route back to their home in Wisconsin. They had not been in Centerville for at least ten years and were just making a quick stop. The two men could not have been more surprised to encounter each other. As Brown said, "The entire Lantz enterprise had been a series of serendipitous events...." For more information on the Lantz grave, see Randy Brown's article, "Daniel Lantz and the Wayne County Companies of 1850" in the Fall 1991 issue of the Overland Journal.
The Lantz grave is located on public lands maintained by the Bureau of Land Management 3.5 miles northeast of Granger, Wyoming. From Granger, turn west on U.S. 30. Proceed under the railroad overpass and in about 1/4 mile, turn north on a gravel road. The grave is on the right, about three miles northeast.
****
On April 2, 1850, a California-bound company of gold seekers left their homes in the Wayne County, Indiana, towns of Richmond, Boston, and Centerville. Daniel Lantz, age 45, a wagon maker from Centerville, was a member of this party.
The company arrived here at Black's Fork on July 9. Daniel Lantz had been ill for several days, but on July 10, his condition was so much worse that the company agreed to stop "until there was a change in him for better or worse." They camped all that day and the next. The dying man was tended by the company's doctor, Dr. David S. Evans of Boston, who did not believe that Lantz could live another morning.
James Seaton of Centerville recorded the death of Daniel Lantz in his diary entry for July 12, 1850: "Mr. Lantz is still alive but insensible. He lived until 9 1/2 o'clock A.M. When he was no more he was buried at sunset near the road in a very decent manner. His grave was marked by a neat stone. His disease was the bloody flux. There are 10 more get the same disease but none serious."
Daniel Lantz left a wife, Mary, and five children behind in Indiana to mourn their loss. The Centerville company reached Johnson's Ranch near Hangtown in the California goldfields on September 15.
« Return to People & Places main page
|
|
