A tragic and eerie story was unraveled Thursday night at the Watson Township Board meeting in response to a resident’s inquiry about a roadside grave on the north side of 123rd Avenue just east of 15th Street.

Township Supervisor Kevin Travis told his colleagues he was asked why there appears to be an old grave and deteriorating tombstone near the side of the road at that location, prompting longtime resident and former Township Clerk and Supervisor Cathy Pardee to tell the history.

Pardee reported the grave has remained 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 family decided to bury the girl in a shallow grave beside the road, so it 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.

There was some discussion about excavating the grave and moving the child’s remains to Hicks Cemetery, but Treasurer Sue Jones said, “Isn’t that bad mojo? I don’t want to move the child.”

Simpson agreed, maintaining that American culture frowns on digging up a grave, especially of a child. Some might even view it as grave robbing.

The Township Board finally agreed to have the property owner contacted about the situation. Otherwise, the only plan in place is to construct a small fence around it.