“Death at 4:30 PM Thursday following a short illness of diphtheria, claimed Hilda Juanita Dockery, three and a half years old daughter of Mr. and Mrs.1 WA Dockery2 of Lakeview avenue and Oak street, New Boston. The child was stricken with a coughing spell which resulted in her death. A tube had been inserted in her throat in an effort to save her life.”
“Besides her parents she leaves two brothers and a sister.”
“Funeral services will be held Saturday at 10 AM at the home and will be private. Interment will be in Glendale cemetery under direction of AC Sowards.”3
Hilda Juanita Dockery Death Certificate
The above issued death certificate4 of Hilda Juanita Dockery corresponds with the obituary provided by the Portsmouth Times. Information that, while subtle, may have given a false location of burial for Hilda. The family resided and the funeral services were conducted approximately one city block from Milldale Cemetery (also known as School Land Cemetery) in New Boston, Ohio, however, both the death certificate and the accompanying obituary state that the burial was at Glen Dale Cemetery. This error may be attributed to that area of New Boston being known as Glenwood. The amalgamation of Glenwood and Milldale may have resulted in the Glen Dale entry. To further complicate the matter there is a Glendale Cemetery located approximately 9 miles from the family’s known residence. Upon further research no additional family members are known to be buried at Glendale and no direct or proximal family members were known to reside nearby prior to or after Hilda’s death. This lack of relationship between the family and the listed burial ground weighs heavily in favor that Glen Dale is not the correct burying ground and that given the family’s residence and location of funeral services that Mill Dale Cemetery is the correct burying ground. In more recent times, however, it appears as though a grave marker has been provided for the possibly misdocumented burial at Glen Dale Cemetery. This marker appears to be of a newer design and fabrication technique that is consistent with markers that are often placed later by family members. While it is possible that it was placed by a family member who had first-hand knowledge of the burial location it is also possible that it was placed based upon the above documentation. The proving documents would be sexton records for either Mill Dale Cemetery or Glen Dale Cemetery that recorded the actual burial.
Dockery Headstone
- Dova L Meenach Dockery
- Willard Arnold Dockery Sr.
- Hilda Dockery. (1932, October 7). Portsmouth Times, p. 23.
- “Ohio Deaths, 1908-1953,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:X63X-YFH : 8 March 2021), Hilda Juanita Dockery, 06 Oct 1932; citing New Boston, Scioto, Ohio, reference fn 61137; FHL microfilm 1,992,769.
