December 1, 2006. The last living grandchild of William Francis Bawden and Sarah Rosevear pasted away last month. Beatrice Lucille Bawden died November 14th in Van Nuys, California. Aunt Lucy was the fourth child of William Bawden and Annie Rogers. She was born May 24, 1915 in Montana. We are all saddened by her loss.
July 1, 2007. An ad hoc committee of family members is being formed to plan a family reunion/clan gathering. Tentatively, the committee is looking at Sacramento as a possible location and would like to set the date for the third weekend in June of next year (2008). If you have any comments or would like to be a part of the planning committee, please email Shawn.
October 5, 2007. Dave Bawden, one of the many great-grandchildren of William Francis Bawden and Sarah Rosevear, has set-out on a very ambitious project. Dave, an accomplished sculptor, has decided to create a bronze memorial for our ancestors Richard and Ann Bawden.
Dave writes that "the idea for this project came when Shawn (Francis Shawn Bawden) shared a photograph he had taken of Richard and Ann's gravesite in Illogan. The photograph showed an unmarked gravesite with only its attendant weeds and a nearby dirt path wandering through the overgrown vegetation. I felt they had been forgotten. Perhaps [they were] too poor themselves to afford a marker to note their passing."
The sculpture is inspired by a photograph of Eugene Smith's titled "A Walk to Paradise Garden". It is a black and white photo Smith took of his own two children walking up a path through a dark overhanging forest into the light.
"My goal is to complete this piece this winter, have it cast in bronze, and incorporate it on a double headstone. Later it will be brought to Illogan and installed when I, or some other relative, visit the site," writes Dave.
Dave can be contacted for more information.
December 2, 2007 It is with great sadness that we learn of the death of our cousin George Roger Bawden. Both George and his wife Jeri contributed many stories and pieces of information which helped piece together our shared family history.
Click here to read George's obituary.