New information reveals that the supposed nearly 120-year-old roadside grave in Watson Township actually contains the body of the former property owner rather than an infant girl.

The tragic and eerie story was told last month about a roadside grave on the north side of 123rd Avenue just east of 15th Street, where it was noted there is a deteriorating tombstone near the side of the road at that location. However, Supervisor Kevin Travis did further research and learned Sylvester Tinker’s body was placed in the grave more than a century ago.

Longtime resident and former Township Clerk and Supervisor Cathy Pardee said it was her understanding that the grave has been there for almost 120 years because sometime in the winter of 1900 or 1901, a family was traveling on a horse and buggy along 123rd Avenue and encountered a blizzard. They were taking a child who had died to be buried in Hicks Cemetery, but they were unable to go any further because of the severity of the storm.

The story was accurate, but it was Mr. Pinkster who was buried. The infant girl, his daughter, actually was buried earlier in Hicks Cemetery.

The roadside grave remains today as about a one and a half by one and a half makeshift plot, according to Sexton Mark Simpson. He added that the tombstone is virtually unreadable after so many years.

The Township Board finally agreed to have property owner John Fahrne contacted about the situation and there may be plans to construct a fence around the tombstone and make it, as Travis called it, “An ad hoc cemetery.”