This week, May 15, is the hundredth anniversary of my great-grandfather’s death.

Here’s another fun fact: I am now the same age as he was when he died. We were both born in July one hundred years apart.

I knew, and still know, very little about his life other than the ordinary recorded facts of the deaths of his wives and children, his church affiliations, his work and property ownership, and a few other snippets that I have extracted from newspapers from the early 20th century.

For some time I have had a plan to visit his grave site on May 15, but...