CEMETERY CARDS ~ They can reveal a gold mine of genealogical information–Here’s what I’ve found…..

We all know that cemeteries can provide us with much needed information on our ancestors.  The amount I’ve learned, over the years, from these sources, is amazing.
 
Some cemeteries provide images of their burial cards online.  For others, you need to go to the cemetery itself and look at the cards, or the large burial books.  Be sure to check online for the cemeteries your ancestors are buried in.  I’ve found that when I’ve gone back to search, some years after my original search, new records are available.

Here are some examples of what I have learned from cemetery cards:

• Place & date of birth
• Last residence
• Date & place of death
• Cause of death
• Parent’s names
• Lot owner
• Specific burial location
• Cost of the lot
• Who ordered the burial

Holy cow!  That’s a gold mine for any genealogist.

This morning as I was researching my Fenner line, I ended up checking the website for a specific cemetery and found 17 listings.

In this case it was Spring Grove Cemetery in Cincinnati, Hamilton, Ohio.

Here’s what came up when I searched for “Fenner.”

This is just a screen shot of a portion of the listing.



I scrolled down to the specific person I was resarching, Nicholas Paul Fenner, Jr. who died in 1909.  Here’s what I got:



I don’t know about you, but this makes me do my happy dance.

Here’s another example of a cemetery card.  This one is from Woodmere Cemetery in Detroit, Wayne, Michigan.



TIP: If you locate something on any website, download it, print it, grab a copy of it however you can.  Why?  Because the web is a fluid thing.  The burial cards for Woodmere Cemetery were online several years ago. Then they were taken down and then I thought they’d been put back up.  However, today when I searched I could not locate them.  This is true of anything you locate on any website.

Have you had success with burial cards and cemetery information?  I’d love to hear about it.

OTHER POSTS THAT MAY BE OF INTEREST

CEMETERY RECORDS ~ What Can They Tell You?  How Do You Use Them?
 
FIND A GRAVE.com ~ Submitting Records Using Their Spreadsheet

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2010-2016   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

TOMBSTONE TUESDAY ~ Mary Cooper Swart–1729 to 1792–Albany New York

Photo placed on findagrave.com by Chip Rowe and used with permission

Headstone Inscription

Momento Mori

In Memory of Mary Swart

Wife of Evert Wynkoop Swart

Born Nov^r 1^st 1720:

Departed this Life March 7^th 1792:

Aged 61 Years 3 Months & 25 Days

A good Name is better than precious Ointment

And the Day of Death than the Day of ones Birth

Reader whoe’er thou art, behold they Doom

Time hurries onward to the silent Tomb;

Improve the Day of Grace before too late

The gloomy Monarch close your final Fate

This is the first time I’ve seen the words “Momento Mori” on a headstone.  I had to look up what it meant.  According to several websites, including Wikipedia, it is Latin for “remember you have to die.”  Other variations included “remember that you must die.”

NOTE: If you do the calculation of her birth date, based on here age at death, as stated on her headstone, it does not match the birth date given. Based on 62 years, 3 months & 25 days, her birthdate would have been 10 Nov 1729, not 1 Nov.  However, she was baptised on the 9th of November, so I’m concluding that the date of November 1st is correct and that the math for the age on the stone was done incorrectly.

I’ve been studying my Cooper line this past week.  My 3rd great grandmother, Lany Cooper married Monson Thorp, Sr.  It took me years to track down the Cooper line, but since doing so, I have traced them back to my 7th great grandparents, Obadiah Cooper and Cornelia Gardenier who were both born in New York circa 1690.

Maria “Mary” Cooper Swart is one of the 10-12 children born to Obadiah & Cornelia Cooper.  She is my 6th great grandaunt.  She married Evert Wynkoop Swart and they had one known child, John Swart.

Here is her baptismal record from the records of the U.S. Dutch Reformed Church Records in Selected States, 1639-1989.  The name Cooper is also spelled Couper in some records.

I have not yet located the marriage record for Evert Swart & Maria Cooper.  However, I have located her probate record, in which she leaves everything to her “beloved” husband, Evert and her son, John.  I’ll transcribe that probate in another post.

Mary is buried at the First Reformed Protestant Dutch Church Cemetery in Fishkill, Dutchess, New York.  You can visit her memorial here #76417698.

The cemetery is located at 1153 Main St., Fishkill, Dutchess, New York.  According to FindAGrave there are 567 interments at the cemetery.  Mary is the only Swart documented.  Here husband and her son are not buried with her.  There are 15 Coopers at the cemetery.  One of them is her brother, Cornelius Cooper.

I’m excited to continue my research on this Cooper line.  They are proving to be an interesting group. And, there are LOTS of them.

 

OTHER POSTS THAT MAY BE OF INTEREST

SURNAME SATURDAY - COOPER - Have I really gone back 3 more generations?

TUESDAY'S TIP - U.S. Dutch Reformed Church Records in Selected States, 1639-2000

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2010-2016   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

UPDATE ON WILLIAM H. THORPE DEATH INFO

Yesterday I shared with you my search for the death date and/or burial location of my great grandaunt’s husband, William H. Thorpe.  Please refer to that post here, if you haven’t read it THOUGHTFUL THURSDAY - Why don't I have a death date or record for William H. Thorpe?

It was certainly an adventure and a great way to spend the afternoon.

I shared my blog post on several Facebook genealogy groups I belong to.  I share posts that might be relevant to a location or topic.  One of those groups is Detroit Genealogy.  This group has been helpful to me in the past as far as offering research advice and doing lookups.

Don’t you know that before I had a chance to go hunting for William’s death certificate on SeekingMichigan.org, (Update Oct 2019 - the new website for locating Michigan death records is michiganology.org)  one the the members of the group located it for me.  Thank you Deidre Erin Denton.  This certificate gives further evidence of other information I had located.



Then this morning, Deidre surprised me again by posting a death notice from the Detroit Free Press for William.  Further evidence and again, my thanks to Deidre.

This is why I encourage other researchers to join Facebook and get involved with the genealogy groups from all over the country and the world.  This is not the first time I have received wonderful help from a group I belong to.

The other two things I have done to complete this record for William H. Thorpe.

• I requested a photograph of his headstone on FindAGrave.
• I sent an email to Elmwood Cemetery asking for a copy of his burial record and/or the exact plot where he is buried.  I’ve been to Elmwood Cemetery and they have always been very helpful.

I’d certainly call this a successful research session.

Here’s hoping your next hunt turns up some great finds.

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2015   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

TOMBSTONE TUESDAY–Who In My Family is Buried at Grand Lawn Cemetery in Detroit, Michigan?

I thought I would do a bit of a different take on Tombstone Tuesday.  I wondered who in my family is buried at Grand Lawn Cemetery in Detroit, Michigan?
 
I knew of Grand Lawn Cemetery long before I ever became interested in genealogy research.  My paternal grandfather, Harry W. Gould died in 1960 and I knew he was buried there.  I was just a young girl, but remember when we went to Detroit from our home in Florida for his funeral & burial.

My paternal grandfather, Harry W. Gould

My paternal grandmother, Marie W. Lindsay Gould

I began by conducting a search in Legacy 8.  I went to the “Search” tab and then “Find.”  It took me a couple of tries to come up with the correct parameters for the list I was trying to create.

For a complete tutorial on using the SEARCH function in Legacy 8, please see my post at Legacy 8 - The Search Function - What Can You Find?

Here are a couple of screen shots to show you what I did and the results.

(Click on any image to enlarge it)


My search revealed that there are 36 individuals in my Legacy database for whom I have recorded Grand Lawn Cemetery in Detroit, Michigan as their burial location.



I then created a report from this list, using the options function.  In this report I added a burial column, giving the date and the relationship to me.  There are many other options you can use.

What I noticed right away was the absence of some relationship values.  Let’s look at Mary Lamond.  When I calculate her relationship to me, using the Legacy 8 relationship calculator she comes up as my Grand Aunt’s Husband’s Mother.  Since that is not a “direct” relationship I notice that Legacy does not pick it up on the report.  Nor is she labeled in my database on the Family View.



Let’s get back to those Grand Lawn burials. Here is the list created by Legacy, based on my search criteria.

Again, in creating a blog post, I have learned new things about Legacy and also noticed some errors in my tree, which I’ve now corrected.

Here are just a few of the headstones from burials at Grand Lawn Cemetery.

PLEASE contact me if you think you might be related, even remotely, to anyone mentioned in this blog.

OTHER POSTS THAT MAY BE OF INTEREST

CEMETERY RECORDS - What Can They Tell You? How Do You Use Them? 

FIND A GRAVE - Submitting Records Using Their Spreadsheet 

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2015   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

SUCCESS! – FIND A GRAVE POSTED THE ENTRIES FROM MY SPREADSHEET

View of the back of the Aboyne Parish church.  Isn't this a lovely place?

I said I would let you know how it went with my first submission of a spreadsheet to FindAGrave.

I went GREAT!  Their website said it could take a week for them to post the entries.  I’m figuring, if I hear back within a couple of weeks, I’d be happy.

THEY RESPONDED THE SAME EVENING THAT MY ENTRIES WERE SUBMITTED!

Talk about good turn-around time.  I checked my submissions by going to the FindAGrave website.  Every memorial was on the site.

However, I learned something about the marker transcriptions I submitted.  There were many headstones that had multiple names on them.  Such as this one.

                                         (Click on this image to enlarge it)

When I entered the information on the spreadsheet on each individual name, I did not enter the entire headstone transcription.  As a result, for Elizabeth Smith (see her on the headstone above), her marker inscription read “Also his wife Elizabeth Smith died 28th Jan. 1938 aged 78 years.”

This did not read well, in my opinion, as it was a partial transcription.  Even though it referred specifically to her.  I went onto each individual memorial that I had submitted and made sure the entire headstone transcription was on each memorial.  It took me about 15 minutes to accomplish this and now I’m satisfied.  

I have no doubt that when you have more than 25 entries to add to a cemetery on FindAGrave, that using the spreadsheet submission is the quicker and more efficient way of doing so.  You can always go back later and double check your work and make any adjustments, as I have done.  I suspect that anyone making entries of 25 or more is doing so for mostly non-family members, as they photograph or transcribe a particular cemetery.  That being the case we would not have a lot of biographical text to enter.

So, that was my experience.  I have another 50 or so people to add to the Aboyne Kirkyard Cemetery on the FindAGrave site.  I’ll work on that tomorrow, using the spreadsheet.  Then once they are all on the site, I will add the headstone photos.  This is a form of “giving back” that I am really enjoying.  I have had a great number of FindAGrave volunteers take photos for me through the years, and I cannot thank them enough.

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2014   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

FIND A GRAVE.com - SUBMITTING RECORDS USING THEIR SPREADSHEET

I just submitted my very first spreadsheet to FindAGrave.  I have been a member for 7 years, 11 months and 23 days.  I have added 296 memorials and I manage 384 memorials.  

When I go to any cemetery to look for my own ancestors, I always try to check the FindAGrave site to see how well documented that cemetery is.  While I am photographing headstones for my own family, I also take additional photos of headstones nearby, if they are not on the FindAGrave site.

Many of the cemeteries I have visited are well documented.  However, during our trip to Scotland earlier this month, we visited a cemetery that I knew was not well documented.  I took pictures of over 50 headstones.  Only one of the headstones I photographed is a verfied family member.  However, there were many other headstones with the same surnames as my ancestors.  

Why not take the pictures and add them to the FindAGrave site?  That way family members can locate them.  And, I may later find out that those people are part of my own family.

So, that is exactly what I did.  I have always added memorials one at a time.  Since there are so many, I decided to try the spreadsheet submission method.  I downloaded the Excel template and followed the instructions.  
Here is a link to the spreadsheet: http://www.findagrave.com

(Click on this image to enlarge it)

Here is the spreadsheet from FindAGrave

Their spreadsheet was easy to use.  I saved my own blank copy of it for future use.

I've submitted the spreadsheet and will await their email to see the results.  They say I should receive the email within about a week.  

I have more names to submit, but I want to see if this spreadsheet method works correctly before I submit the rest of them.   

I'll let you know if my additions were successful.  If you have submitted spreadsheets to the FindAGrave site I'd love to hear how it went.  Did everything you had on the spreadsheet come out correctly?  Were there any problems?

OTHER POSTS THAT MAY BE OF INTEREST

Adding Sibling Links to FindAGrave
Michigan Death Records - Where can you find them?
Evernote - A useful tool to help you organize your research and everything else

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2014   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

FOLLOW UP ON HOBART B. STEWART–MURDER VICTIM

In a post on February 13th, I wrote about the tragic killing of Hobart B. Stewart.  He was killed during an escape attempt from the Boys  Industrial School in Fairfield County, Ohio.  You can read about it in this post:  http://www.michiganfamilytrails.com/2014/02/thriller-thursdayhobart-b-stewart.html

I could not locate any death certificate or burial record for Hobart Stewart, in my usual haunts like FindAGrave, Ancestry or Family Search.  I checked on FindAGrave in Woodland Cemetery, Ironton, Lawrence, Ohio, as that is where is deceased wife, Marcella is buried, according to her death certificate.  Neither of them were listed on the site.  

Next, I went to the Ohio Historical Society website, as I know that they have vital records information at that site.  I put his name into the search criteria and up popped this record:  STEWART, Hobart B., 12/17/1936, Fairfield County, Cert. 75584 (Ohio Death Certificate)

I knew that had to be our Hobart because the date of death and location matched what information I already had.  I was able to order the certificate online for only $7.  About 6 days later the certificate arrived in the mail.

NOTE:  I'm as excited as a kid at Christmas when I get the mail and see that a record I ordered has arrived.
 

DEATH CERTIFICATE FOR HOBART B. STEWART (click to enlarge the image)

This certificate confirms much of what I already know such as his date of birth, date of death, his parent’s names and that his death was a homicide.

WHAT NEW INFORMATION DID I LEARN FROM THIS CERTIFICATE?

• His residence at the time of his death – 1123 S. Broad
• That he was married at the time of his death to a woman named Ruth who was the informant on this certificate.
• That he was either buried or removed to Ironton, Ohio
• That an autopsy had been performed after his death
• The name of the Coroner who performed the autopsy
• The name of the funeral home and that his body was embalmed

All of these items help to complete the story for Hobart B. Stewart.  Of these items the most surprising to me was that he was married at the time of his death.  There was no mention of a wife in any of the articles I read.  

NOTE:  I have not located an actual obituary for him yet.  

We know his wife, Marcella died in 1930. 
So who is Ruth and when did they marry?

I have not located a marriage record for Hobart & Ruth yet, despite my intensive efforts on familysearch.org and Ancestry.  

However, I did locate two CITY DIRECTORY listings which have Hobart and a woman named Ruth in the same house in 1934 & 1936.  This certainly fits with her being his wife on the death certificate.  Also of note is that his son Charles H. is listed in this directory at the same address.

Here are images of those directory listings.

1934 Lancaster, Ohio directory listing for Hobart B. Stewart

1936 Lancaster, Ohio directory listing for Hobart B. Stewart

  
TIP:  City Directory listings can tell you a great many things about someone and they are a very useful source of information which I use frequently.

What did I do next?

I went onto one of the genealogy Facebook pages I belong to and posted a query about the burial location for Hobart B. Stewart.  The name of the page is  I Come from Lawrence County/Ironton, Ohio   

Here is my post.

"Looking for burial site in Ironton. Hobart B. Stewart died on 17 Dec 1936. Actually he didn't just die, he was murdered. The incident occurred in Hocking, Fairfield, Ohio and the Boys Industrial School. I sent for and have just rec'd his death certificate. I have tried locating him on FAG, with no luck. His death cert states he was buried/removed to Ironton. It does not have "cremation" circled, so I'm assuming he was buried, although not certain. His first wife was M...arcella Jean Wood who died in 1931. She is buried at Woodland Cemetery in Ironton. I'm wondering if he could also be in Woodland?
If any of you have any idea, records from Woodland or other info, I would be very grateful. AND, if any of you are related to this family I would love to hear from you. Thanks!"

Within an hour I had a response from someone I have communicated with often via the Ohio Facebook groups I belong to.  She told me that Hobart is buried at Woodland Cemetery in Ironton, Ohio and gave me a burial number.  

TIP:  As I have said before, belonging to regional groups on Facebook and being on social media in general, is a great way to enhance your research and meet others who can assist you.  It’s also fun to assist them when they need something.

Now I need to call Woodland Cemetery and see if I can find his exact location.  

What I did today was to double check entries at Woodland Cemetery on FindAGrave.  There were none for either Hobart or his wife, Marcella.  

I created memorials for them and requested photos of their headstones.  There are several Facebook friends who are regular photo volunteers in the area.  I may have to wait til the weather clears though, in order for the photos to be taken.

Here are the links to the memorials:

Hobart B. Stewart memorial #125478990

Marcella Jean Wood Stewart memorial #125480839

WHAT I STILL WANT TO DO

As I said in my previous post about Hobart B. Stewart.  I would like to know what became of his children and I am still looking.  I have not been able to locate any information about them after the 1940 census.

If you are related or have information about Charles H. Stewart, born 30 Apr 1918 in Ohio or Phyllis Jane Stewart, born Feb 1926 in Ohio, please contact me.

OTHER POSTS THAT MAY BE OF INTEREST:

ADDING SIBLING LINKS TO FINDAGRAVE MEMORIALS

CEMETERY RECORDS - WHAT THEY CAN TELL YOU, HOW TO USE THEM

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2014   Diane Gould Hall

CEMETERY RECORDS–What can they tell you? How do you use them?

That's me visiting my 3rd great grandmother

One of the most informative records I have used over the years are cemetery records.

They can provide a wealth of information.  

If you’ve been doing genealogy for any length of time, then you are familiar with Find A Grave and more recently Billion Graves.  On those sites you put in a name and search for your ancestor.  Or, you enter your own memorials.  These sites are very valuable and can tell us where someone is buried, when & where they were born & died, or link that person to other family members. And sometimes, you’ll even find bio information that will give you all kinds of leads.  

However, sometimes all you find is a memorial with very little information.

HOW MANY OF YOU MAKE PHONE CALLS TO CEMETERIES?

This is something I have been doing for years and I’ve found it to be very valuable.  Let’s say I find the name of the cemetery on a death certificate, memorial on FindAGrave or somewhere else online.  

Why would I call the cemetery?

• To obtain the exact location of the grave – Lot, Section, Plot number etc.
• To ask if their records indicate the cause of death.  Many times this is indicated on a cemetery record (especially the older ones)
• To ask if their records indicate who purchased the plot or who currently owns it.
• To inquire if there are other family members buried in that cemetery.
• To ask if there is any correspondence attached to the record

Here are some records I have either received via email or obtained during a visit to various cemeteries.  The amount of information varies from place to place, but some of it is really a gold mine for a genealogist.

This card for John Doller gives us an address, date of death, age at death, cause of death, date of burial, location and the name of the funeral director

For Catherine Lindsay we get her residence, date & age at death, including months & days, cause of death, burial date, undertaker's name & grave location in the cemetery

This record was obtained from very large old cemetery books. This is my great grandmother, Bessie Lindsay

I had to photograph this large book in 3 sections.  But look at the great information in the record.  Name, funeral home, age, cause of death etc.

This page gives, the interment date & location, the name of the nearest relative and who it was that ordered the grave.  In this case it's my grandfather, H. W. Gould

  

So, what do you think?  Worth the effort to obtain cemetery information?  Absolutely!

TIPS & NOTES: 

• Cemeteries are sometimes very busy, state your name & purpose and ask if they have time to assist you.  I tend to stay away from the phrase “I’m a genealogist.”  Believe me, there are some cemetery employees who have had bad experiences with pushy researchers.  I just say that I’m trying to find burial locations for some family members.
• Often, I just get an email address & mail the my request to them.  I rarely have to wait longer than a day or two for a response.
• If someone does take the time to help you, and many will, be sure you get the name of that person.  Make a note of who you spoke to and when.
• Send a thank you card.  Yes, a real, handwritten note.  This was a tip given to me, by an experienced genealogist, when I first began researching.  I have had great results with this method.  You will often find out that other family members are in the same cemetery or one handled by the same office.  That employee will remember you if you’ve thanked them.  And guess what?  They will be more than willing to help you again.

Just sitting in front of your computer and finding records online can be very rewarding and yield great benefits.  But, at some point, we all have to begin looking elsewhere for information.  This is just one way that I have found to be very helpful over the years.

Here are a couple of related posts that you may find helpful.

Adding sibling links to FindAGrave memorials  http://www.michiganfamilytrails.com/2014/01/adding-sibling-links-to-findagrave.html

Michigan Death Records – Where to find them  http://www.michiganfamilytrails.com/2013/12/michigan-death-records-onlinewhere-can.html

Ancestry acquires FindAGrave  http://www.michiganfamilytrails.com/2013/09/ancestry.html

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2014   Diane Gould Hall