Resting Places

I am predating this post to the day it should have been published.  On 2 December I was in Male in the Maldives, a port on a cruise that took Mr GeniAus and me from Dubai to Cape Town.

As Tapophiliacs Mr GeniAus and I like taking photos of cemeteries. Unfortunately on our tours we don't usually stop at cemeteries so we try to take snaps from our buses as they traversed the highways. We were lucky in Male, where we did a walking tour, that we were able to take more reasonable photos of the Historic Islamic Cemetery.

On the Road Again, Cemeteries, Yes, They Can Go Together

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This month, Man and I will be parked with our RV in the midst of BLM (Bureau of Land Management) land, somewhere about 6 miles northeast of Quartzsite Arizona with about 160 other friends from our online camping group.  There will be between 500,000 and 1 million others camping in the acres and acres of BLM land that surround "Q" (as we affectionately call it) during January.  There is a huge RV show as an additional draw and hopefully warmer and dry weather. Dry is good when you are sitting on the desert floor.  Yes, I have experience in "wet" while sitting on the desert floor.  That desert floor turns into a sloppy quicksand-like consistency.  4-Wheel drive trucks can and do get stuck.  Dry IS good!

Anyway, I am preposting this month's post here at Worldwide Genealogy, because I fully intend to be having a lot of fun on the 16th.

This month, I would like to share with you another way to blend my love of the life of a nomad (RVing) and genealogy.  Visiting cemeteries!

You know, as a family researcher, you snoop out cemeteries, you can almost smell them.  You will find a cemetery no matter what!  It is a challenge, it is necessary.  You understand, I know you do.

Man and I and friends were visiting Big Bend National Park two years ago.  I spied (at 45 MPH) what I just knew was a cemetery.  It was.  One grave, one Nina Hannold.  (The links herein will lead you back to the full blog posts at Reflections From the Fence, my main blog.)  And, yes, there are two stones here for Nina.

One year Man and I visited Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument.  General Custer died here. Custer has a connection to our area of SE Michigan where we live when we are not RVing.

We stopped several years ago in McIntosh County Georgia, where my my great-grandparents lived and are presumably buried (long story that), and stopped at Fort King George, where we found the burial spot of 140 British Soldiers who died there between 1721 and 1727.

Along the Natchez Trace, Man and I found this spot marking the loss and burial of 13 Confederate Soldiers.

Also along the Natchez Trace, we found slave burials, at Mount Locust.

Terlingua, Texas, The Ghost Town, has a great old cemetery, full of local color and customs.

A day spent in the Bok Gardens, and, yes, friend Charlie (also a family history researcher) found the burial spot of Edward William Bok.

Sometimes Man and I get a bit of a surprise.  One research trip through Georgia we ended up, well, go read the post.  Have to say, that cemetery hunting in rural Georgia is a challenge, and we thought we had come up with a great way to get some information from the local funeral homes - - really, go read this one!  (The photo is not from THAT funeral home.)

One must do, what one must do, here I am gaining access to my family's cemetery in rural Virginia.

Yes, my love of family history/genealogy and RVing do blend together quite nicely.  Kismet discoveries along the roads and highways and back country of the USA feed my need to touch the elders as well as a method of paying my respects and honor to those who have passed before us.

Next month, we will be, well, we don't know.  Probably where ever the dust blows us.  We'll let you know when we get there.  I'll have my eyes open for cemeteries and research opportunities, that is a given!

We also partake of Geo-Caching now and then.  My first cache find, while we were in Gulf Shores Alabama for the winter, and, yes, it IS in a cemetery!

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Genealogy 2014 - 2015: Successes and Goals

Mary Peacock (nee Hugill)

After today, someone else is taking over my '31st-of-the-month' time-slot. My previous posts were about sources and strategies for family history worldwide. Today I want to reflect upon the highlights of 2014 and my goals for 2015.

In 2014, unforeseen events (ranging from a back injury to moving house) meant that there were many disruptions to my usual genealogical activities. A health scare reminded me that spending quality time with family and friends is more important than being an educator, a genealogy professional or a blogger!

Genealogical highlights of 2014:   (links open in a new window)

1. Collaboration via CuriousFox.  I have been swapping information with a distant relative who contacted me via CuriousFox. She sent me certificates and other information for our PEACOCK and HUGILL ancestors from Yorkshire, and confirmed that my Mary PEACOCK (nee HUGILL) died 17 Feb 1900 at Stockton-on-Tees, Durham, England.


2. New data via National Probate Calendar.  I found many relevant entries in the National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations, England and Wales 1858-1966). For some, I've already ordered copies of the wills. Others are on my wish list, but in the meantime they gave me locations, death dates, occupations and relationship details that helped with research in other sources.


3. New data via FindMyPast.  Many record sets released on FindMyPast during 2014 revealed new information for my family history. For example:
   
   • 'British in India' collection has 5 pension fund documents for Mary PORTER (a widow in England) with names and exact birth dates (between 1811 and 1821) for her five children.
   
   
   • Yorkshire collection has records such as parish registers and Bishop's Transcripts for my many family lines in that county.
   
   
   • Trade Union records refer to my John William CORDUEX in registers of two different railway unions.
   
   
   • New South Wales will books 1800-1952 in which I have already found 13 records for my family (including some people who lived outside NSW). I expect to find more when I do a systematic search for all names in my family tree.


4. Newspaper notices.  In the York Herald, Yorkshire Gazette and Sheffield Daily Telegraph (digitised and available via FindMyPast and the British Newspaper Archive) I found obituaries and other items for some of my families including HUDSON of Barton-le-Willows and BATTY of Bolton-upon-Dearne.


5. HUDSON family at Crows Nest.  I added another generation to the family tree after finding clues in Queensland funeral records and cemetery burial registers.

My genealogy goals for 2015:

• Change my priorities.  Spend more time on my own research and less time on answering emails from people who expect everything to be free!


• Share my knowledge more efficiently.  (1) Write more mini-guides.  (2) Use my Twitter page more often (because it is a quick way to share genealogy tips and links).


• Organise my records.  Before scanning or taking digital photos of all my family history material, I need to write down a 'style guide' for naming and filing the images. I will use a modification of the system described by Nancy Loe (a.k.a. 'Sassy Jane') in Cataloging Digital Family Photographs and Records and Organizing Genealogy Research Using Archival Principles. My paper filing system has always been source-based, so Louis Kessler's idea of a source-based incremental fix will suit me perfectly.


• Use DNA for genealogy.  I need to become more familiar with various tools for analysing DNA results, and to persuade more of my distant cousins to do the FamilyTreeDNA Family Finder test for autosomal DNA and the X-chromosome.


• Plan my genealogy cruise presentations.  Prepare my talks well in advance of Unlock the Past's 'Barrier Reef' cruise in March 2016. (You can get AUD$40 discount by quoting the code UTPC-WEB06 when you book any Unlock the Past cruise.)


• Research the HUGILL family.  My top priority is to find parents' names for Mary HUGILL (born c.1813, Hull, Yorkshire) and confirm that George HUGILL (born Hull, later of Stockton-on-Tees) was her brother. (Perhaps the wills and probate documents that I've ordered will help.)


• Write about my ancestors.  Many of those posts (which I will put in Jottings, Journeys and Genealogy) will be quite brief initially, but I'll update them as my research progresses. Hopefully people who read them will contact me and help fill the gaps in my knowledge.

Someone else is now taking over my '31st-of-the-month' time-slot, but watch for additions to my own blogs, which include UK / Australia Genealogy;  Genealogy Leftovers;  Queensland Genealogy;  and Jottings, Journeys and Genealogy.
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You might also like:

• Use FreeBMD postems to find new relatives


• CuriousFox: a gazetteer and message system


• Widen the Search: a Genealogy Success Story


• Finding Genealogy Data in an Unexpected Country


• A Genealogy Indexing Addict in Australia

(This post first appeared on http://worldwidegenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/12/genealogy-2014-2015-successes-and-goals.html.)

Sounds Easy - - Until - - Ordering Memorial Markers

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Sounds easy - - ordering headstones and monuments for Man’s family members whose final resting places have been unmarked for years.

Sounds easy - - until you actually start the process.

Suggestion - - maybe just do one at a time?  Dealing with three cemeteries has proven to be a bit of a challenge.  They all have different rules.  Different requirements.

Here are some suggestions, from things I am learning along the way.

Call each cemetery first thing.  As soon as you decide you want to place monuments, call the cemetery.  Ask questions.  What requirements, what restrictions are enforced.  Keep good notes, you are going to need them.  Get contact information, names, full street address and phone numbers, Also obtain the full address and contact data on where the memorial is to be delivered. Street address for delivery could well be different from where the office is.

Some of the restrictions will be size, some will be the type of materials required. Some cemeteries only allow bronze flat memorials.  Some restrict the smallest size allowed, or the largest size allowed.  Some require that “companion” stones are only one specific size.  (BTW, a companion stone is one that has two names, usually a husband and wife on the same stone.)

Inquire as to requirements for the base to set your memorial on.  Marble, or concrete.  Does the cemetery require that you have a request in for said base by a certain date, here in Michigan, there is one cemetery we are dealing with that must have an order for the base placed no later than September 30th.  Or, we wait till next spring.

And, of course, you need to know, what fees are involved. After you pay the price of the memorial marker, how much will you need to pay to the cemetery to have the memorial installed to their specifications.  One cemetery charges $600.00 for a companion stone.  One cemetery charges $250.00 for installation of a single bronze.  Once cemetery is replacing some weird little concrete stub of a “marker” for a minimal installation cost to us.

Work closely with the cemetery and the monument makers.  Put them in touch with each other. One cemetery we are dealing with requires a form to be filled out by the monument maker which we must sign off on or they will not accept delivery.  One cemetery has suggested a rubbing be made of other family stones.  They require as an exact match as possible.  You try matching a stone, in color and style when what you must match is over 70 years old.  Hint: they don’t quarry that kind of stone anymore.

You will find that if you use suppliers other than those recommended by the cemetery your fees and requirements may change.  If they order from a company they deal with continuously, you may or may not pay more.  The cemetery may be more or less cooperative.  They have reasons, to be uncooperative, some of the reasons probably have to do with $$, but, some of the nightmare stories of stones arriving in horrible shape and inscribed horribly, well, you can understand the cemeteries cringing when you state a desire to deal with other than their usual vendors.

Ask about lead time required by the monument supplier.  Ask prices.  Ask for discounts. Yes, at least try, ask for discounts.

You might consider informing the cemetery of exactly how the stones will be inscribed.  With Man’s grandfather we are working on having BOTH of his names inscribed.  The cemetery needs to know this.

I have asked the cemeteries what dates they have recorded.  This was particularly important when I was trying to come up with a birth date for Man’s grandmother.  It took me two days to review and consult and draw up a time line listing of her ages.  She was vain, she “fibbed” about her age on every single document.  And, oh, her death certificate, had her aged 61, but, the death date and the birth dates recorded do NOT figure up to 61.  We had different days, different months and a plethora of different years.  We had to “settle” on one set of dates, as Man was not going to consider a birth stated as “About 1888 to 1893".

Ask for photos of suggestions and of the final product from your vendor.  I am asking for photos of the final product before they are shipped.

Yes, it sounded easy - - in theory - - 




* Images of the headstones are mock ups of the stones/memorials we hope to be ordering in the next week or so.

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Widen the Search: a Genealogy Success Story

Source: South-East Queensland cemeteries photo collection

Many genealogy 'brick walls' can be overcome by

• researching the subject's siblings or other relatives;
• searching outside the geographical area where the subject lived.

A friend of mine is interested in descendants of Walter and Elsie CHATTERTON, who lived in England. A family tree on Ancestry suggests that they had a son, Reginald Walter CHATTERTON, who went to Australia. My friend was not able to contact the owner of that tree. This is how I helped her to find out more about the family.

• FreeBMD:
  
  • Marriage: Reginald W. CHATTERTON and Doris A. MUNNINGS, Dec qtr 1940
  • Birth: David M. CHATTERTON, mother MANNINGS, Mar qtr 1943
  • Birth: Colin M. CHATTERTON, mother MUNNINGS, Sep qtr 1945
  • Birth: Johannes CHATTERTON, mother NUNNINGS, Dec qtr 1946
  • Birth: Maria CHATTERTON, mother MUNNINGS, Jun qtr 1948
  
  I found three of those entries easily, but variation in the spelling of the mother's surname meant that I only found the other two after seeing the names in the shipping record mentioned below.

• A Google search for the surname led me to a reference on http://comunidad.dateas.com. I copied the text into Google Translate, which said, 'According to immigration records, Reginald Walter Chatterton nationality was English, his birthplace being more specifically Hull. Farmer by profession, arrived in Argentina on the boat Highland Chieftain having embarked in London.'
  
  Argentina?! That was unexpected.

• Passenger Lists leaving the UK 1890-1960:   The image of the original passenger list gives these details (and more):
  
  Name: Reginald CHATTERTON
  Date of departure: 29 January 1949
  Port of departure: London
  Passenger destination: Buenos Aires, Argentina
  Age: 33
  Occupation: Farm Worker
  Ship: Highland Chieftain
  The following people with the same last name travelled on this voyage: Colin M., David M., Doris A., Johannes and Maria CHATTERTON.

• Queensland Registrar-General's online death indexes:
  1978/C2007, Reginald Walter CHATTERTON; father: Walter Frederick CHATTERTON; mother: Elsie Gertrude NEWTON

'1978' is the registration year. I could have found the exact death date by repeatedly changing the search's date range to narrow it down to a month and then a specific day; but I found the date by other means.

• Queensland Burials record set in Australia and New Zealand Life Events (BDMs):
  Reginald W. CHATTERTON, 10 Jun 1978 age 62 (Gheerulla cemetery register)

• South-East Queensland cemeteries photo collection:
  A 'homemade' grave marker for Reginald Walter CHATTERTON in Gheerulla cemetery says 'Reginald Walter Chatterton. We love you'.

• Web page for Gheerulla cemetery:
  An entry for 'Doris Amy & Reginald Walter Chatterton' leads to a photo of a different headstone, which says 'Doris Amy Chatterton nee Munnings 19.12.1919 - 23.10.2007. Reginald Walter Chatterton 24.1.1916 - 10.6.1978. Rest in peace.'

• Australian Commonwealth electoral rolls 1903-1980 on Ancestry (some are missing):
  I found multiple entries for the CHATTERTON family. The 1980 Commonwealth roll for the electorate of Bowman lists Colin Michael CHATTERTON, Doris Amy CHATTERTON and Susan CHATTERTON at Edith St, Wellington Point. (So we now have the second given name, not just an initial, for Colin; and Susan is an extra name to research.)

The next step would be to get death certificates for Reginald and Doris CHATTERTON. In Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria, death certificates are very informative. Family historians in the UK will be pleasantly surprised by the list of details shown on our certificates.

Other suggestions:

• Search indexes to Supreme Court wills and intestacies, and the most recent Commonwealth electoral rolls and State electoral rolls, as explained on Queensland Genealogy and Archives Research Tips.


• If there is no will/intestacy file with a copy of the death certificate, look for other Archives files that may include the certificate (see 'Free Certificates in Archives Files').


• If all else fails, buy the certificate from the Queensland Registry of Births Deaths and Marriages.


• Sources listed above, and others including the Ryerson Index to recent newspaper notices, may help to locate living descendants.

I am passionate about using original records in Archives, but as this case study shows, the Internet can certainly speed up the research process.
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You might also like:

• Use FreeBMD postems to find new relatives


• CuriousFox: a gazetteer and message system


• Finding Genealogy Data in an Unexpected Country


• A Genealogy Indexing Addict in Australia