Set in stone: Family restores relative’s headstone
Sadie Wiltrout only lived for 5 months and 24 days
But more than a century after Sadie died in 1908, she continues to tie generations of the Wiltrout family together.
The Wiltrouts, led by Beallsville resident Terry Wiltrout – Sadie’s great-nephew – undertook a project to restore her badly deteriorated headstone at Eutsey Cemetery in Saltlick Township, Fayette County, a loving gesture to honor her short life and to preserve family history.
Sadie’s story began with her birth on May 18, 1908, and ended on Nov. 11 of that same year, after she succumbed to meningitis, a disease that resulted in a high mortality rate among infants in the early 20th century, before antibiotics were widely available.
At the annual Wiltrout reunion in 2024, Wiltrout, Vice President of Operations and President of UPMC Greene, proposed replacing or restoring Sadie’s grave marker.
The simple marble slab bears Sadie’s name, the name of her parents, James and Emma Wiltrout, and a sentiment, “our darling baby.”
But the lettering had been mostly worn away by time and weather, and was nearly
Illegible.
“We thought we should do something to either get a new headstone or preserve the headstone of my Great-Aunt Sadie,” said Wiltrout. “When I presented that idea at the family reunion last year, we collected more than $400 on the spot to put toward it.”
It was not the first headstone project the family had undertaken. Ten years ago, the Wiltrouts replaced a headstone for Sadie’s parents, who also are buried at Eutsey Cemetery.
Earlier this year, Wiltrout reached out to a Washington County company that specializes in headstones, and they jumped at the chance to restore the historic headstone.
After months of painstaking restoration, the company completed the work, and on May 18, Wiltrout, his father, Domer, and his sons, David and Nick, placed the restored headstone atop Sadie’s burial site.
“It’s astonishing what they did; the restoration was phenomenal,” said Wiltrout. “The company sent me photos along the way while they were restoring it, and it is just beautiful. I am amazed at how it turned out.”
For Wiltrout, restoring the grave marker of a great-aunt who never saw her first birthday strengthened his connection with his family, which immigrated to the United States from Daaden, a small town in Germany, in 1752.
“For me, I think this brings me closer. We’re a very tight-knit family, the Wiltrouts. And although I never knew Sadie, and I never knew my great-grandparents James and Emma, this helps me to know them better and feel connected and closer to them,” said Wiltrout. “I get a lot of satisfaction out of my family coming together and doing this.”
During the headstone restoration, Wiltrout came across Sadie’s birth and death certificates, which he said “was almost like doing this detective work.”
She was one of eight children of James and Emma Wiltrout, and those who attend the annual Wiltrout family reunion – held annually on the last Sunday of July, with as many as 125 to 200 family members attending – are descendants of the Wiltrout siblings.
The family also keeps a genealogy book, which has broadened James and Emma’s descendants’ knowledge of their family roots in the area.
“It even includes the name of the ship they sailed on to the U.S.,” said Wiltrout.
Wiltrout said he is working on a digital version of the family history, and his goal is to create an up-to-date copy of the book.
“I’m trying to carry on that genealogy for James and Emma. Every year at the reunion, we get the names of new babies who are born and who are their parents. I’m in the process of making it electronic because right now, it’s a thick book, all paper, and we want to convert it and carry it on for the next generations,” he said.
Wiltrout said his family initially settled in Philadelphia before moving west to Fayette County.
He looks forward to the upcoming reunion, and to sharing the new tombstone with family members.
“(On Sunday), I will present this to our family, and they’ll all be tickled to death and someone will probably come up with another project for us to work on, and I’ll be happy for that,” said Wiltrout. “What’s satisfying to me is that interest in our family history is really starting to grow, and the younger generations are coming to the reunions and are interested in our history. I want them to carry on with our family traditions.”