I KNEW where Sugar Grove was and that it was now Sweetwater, but I had never heard of any Engle’s that were around there (having attended the local school system and being familiar with the local names. That was a new one). So, I decided to try and
find out where they were.  

A local elderly gentleman dropped by a few days later and my Dad asked him if he knew of where there might be graves for the earliest settlers in Sweetwater.  That gentleman told my Dad “Yes, I know where there might be some.  There was an old cemetery back in the field across from where I lived.  Used to feed pigs in that lot”.  This conversation occurred in mid-summer.  At that time of year it was impossible to get to the cemetery as you would have to walk through corn that was over your head. 

However, in the fall after the corn had been picked, Dad, Mom and I rode up to Sugar Grove and hiked across the field to the cemetery.  There we found a bunch of graves in a horrible state of neglect.  Many of the stones were knocked down.  Many of them were no longer visible and had to be dug from the dirt and grass that had grown over them.  BUT standing nearly straight and proudly was the grave of Nancy A. Engle, wife of Levi.  We had found the grave of the missing Nancy and ultimately her son William and many members of his family.  Others have since come behind me and the cemetery has been cleaned, the stones righted and dug up from the dirt.  It is now a peaceful sweet little spot that is still in the middle of a cornfield/bean field.  Nancy and William and the rest of the family are now taken care of and it is a wonderful thing to behold, especially when I remember what we first saw that day so long ago.  

That experience deeply affected me and my research into the Engle family has continued on and off to this day.  I often wonder about Nancy, who she was, what was she like.  I only hope that she can be proud of the hundreds of her descendants who are now here on earth.

             Deb Hoover-Rasch