Shortridge
While Butsch Freeland did find a few newspaper articles that mixed in the name “Abram,” more than 200 documents by her count — including city directories, the U.S. census, and mortgage and deed papers — showed that Abraham was indeed Abraham.
But not on his death certificate.
Correcting an error
Abraham’s daughter-in-law Lillian Rebecca Martin had filled out the form, which included errors and gaps where she indicated that she didn’t know information about his family. She was from near Logansport and hadn’t been married for long, Butsch Freeland said.
“He died, and her husband — the son, Walter — was not well, and she was the second wife and just didn’t know the family that well,” Liz said.
With that information, the gravestone was ordered, and “Abram” has made its way into histories written since, Butsch Freeland wrote in her history of Abraham’s life.
Growing up, Tom and Liz heard their great-great grandfather referred to as Abraham, A.C. and, sometimes, Abram. But now that they’ve seen overwhelming evidence pointing to his real name, a new gravestone would right a wrong, Tom said. And it could be fashioned to match the stone of Abraham’s first wife, who is buried next to him.
“As an ancestor of ours and one who meant a lot to this city, in a way of education especially, we want that to be right so that anybody who ever sees that or anybody who decides to know more about it or whatever, that headstone will say ‘Abraham C. Shortridge,’ which is correct,” Tom said.
Contact IndyStar reporter Domenica Bongiovanni at 317-444-7339 or d.bongiovanni@indystar.com. Follow her on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter: @domenicareports.