Leslie Charles Hanby

Headstone GPS Coordinates: 

Birth: 27 Jun 1926, Kitsap County, Washington

Death: 20 Dec 1933, Seattle, King County, Washington 

Relatives in Seabeck Cemetery: Norma Johnston, Wayne Johnston

American Revolutionary War Patriots*: Elijah Hollister (Connecticut) DAR #A056716, Ephraim Jackson (New York), Cushing King (Massachusetts) DAR #A066387, Samuel Warriner (Vermont) #A121725, David Payne/Paine (Virginia), John Snyder (Maryland) DAR #A106907

Disclaimer: These lines have not been officially proven by NSDAR standards.

Over the years, numerous grave markers have mysteriously disappeared from Seabeck Cemetery. At times, the cemetery lacked a dedicated caretaker, allowing brush and overgrowth to reclaim the grounds. This neglect unfortunately attracted partygoers and individuals engaging in destructive or illicit activities. It is believed that during one of these periods, several temporary metal grave markers that were originally placed by a local funeral home for those awaiting permanent headstone, were stolen from the cemetery.

In 1979, a couple who had just moved into a new home in East Bremerton began landscaping their yard. To their surprise, they discovered several of these metal grave markers buried in the soil. Most had lost their identifying paper cards, but one remained legible—it bore the name Leslie Charles Hanby, a seven-year-old boy from Seabeck.

On June 27, 1926, Leslie Charles Hanby was born to Charles Leslie Hanby and Amber Kelso in Kitsap County. Leslie’s father worked in mills and logging camps all around the Puget Sound to support his family.

Leslie had a younger brother named Alan born in 1929. By 1930, Leslie and his brother were living in Seattle with their grandparents, Charles Leroy and Ethel Cornelia Kelso. At this point, it seemed their parents had separated. Their father, Charles, was living in Lilliwaup, Mason County, while their mother, Amber, was residing in Oregon as a lodger at the Johnston House. One of the other residents there was William Johnston, whom Amber married in 1931. By 1932, Amber and William had moved to Seabeck, where they went on to have several children. Tragically, between 1931 and 1935, Amber lost three of her children, including Leslie, to tuberculosis.

Leslie passed away at Children’s Orthopedic Hospital in Seattle on December 20, 1933 when he was seven years old. He was likely buried next to his one year old half-sister Norma Johnston, who had died the year before, in Seabeck Cemetery. His younger half-brother Wayne Johnston would also be buried in Seabeck Cemetery two years later. The location of their graves in the cemetery are currently unknown. The other metal markers found in the Carlson’s yard may have belonged to Norma and Wayne.