Tombstone(less) Tuesday - Adam Fleeman

Adam Fleeman, Abt. 1820 - 25 Nov 1889

He is to the left of the tombstones in the foreground, as he has no tombstone.

Tombstone Tuesday - Oude Kerk, Amsterdam

The Oude Kerk (Old Church) is located in Amsterdam's red light district.  The entire floor is made up of gravestones, most containing only a carving of a religious symbol, no name.  The most famous tombstone belongs to Saskia van Uylenburgh, the wife of Rembrandt.  As you can see from the above sign, I was unable to see this due to the renovation work currently being done.  Their website has a fantastic page of the graves in flash, with pictures, inscriptions and who is buried there.  It is available in English.

Tombstone Tuesday - Miniatur Wunderland

One of the coolest places I have been in Hamburg is Miniatur Wunderland.  They even have a cemetery, complete with a funeral and a crypt with caskets and ghosts.  

Tombstone Tuesday - Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach

The crypt where Carl Phillip Emanuel Bach (son of J.S. Bach) at St. Michael's in Hamburg, Germany.  At one point, he was the music director of the church.  When we visited they were setting up for a party atop all the graves.  Below see the bar, situated on top of other peoples crypts.  Maybe a party for genealogists?

Tombstone Tuesday - Jewish Museum, Berlin, Germany

According to the plaque next to these tombstones, these were originally in a Jewish cemetery in Spandau.  The oldest stone there is from 1244.  In the middle ages, during a time of Jewish persecution, the stones were taken and used to build the Spandau Citadel.  This was discovered in the 1950s and the stones were salvaged.  These are the oldest remains of Jewish civilization in the Berlin area.

Tombstone Tuesday - Augusta Tross Eichhorn

Augusta Tross Eichhorn, 1877 - 1939

Tombstone(less) Tuesday - Marie Strassheim Tross and Louise J. Tross

My great-great-great grandmother Marie Strassheim Tross (1841 - 1921) in Buffalo Cemetery, Buffalo, Erie, NY.  The tombstone belongs to to her granddaughter Louise J. Tross (1913 - 1937)

Volunteerism in the Genealogical World

Up until I went back to school in August, my favorite way to volunteer in the genealogy world was through Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness.  I began by going to cemeteries to take photographs of tombstones (or grave sites if there wasn't a headstone) for people.  This became a "date" day, once or twice a month, for my fiancé and I, where we would drive around Onondaga county and see who could find the most tombstones, walking up and down the rows in the cemeteries (see why he's a keeper?!?).  Eventually it progressed to my doing searches at the library, mostly for city directories and obituaries, and at the courthouse, where I never had much luck unfortunately.

I also volunteer for FamilySearch Indexing, mainly for the 1892 New York census.  I did not do nearly as many names as I had hoped, but I like knowing I was part of the group that got this project finished.  Just today I received an email from the president of the Western New York genealogy society, to which I belong, asking if I would be willing to to help transcribe or proof read the 1865 New York census, which they are putting online.  I jumped at the chance to be part of this project, as state census' are a tremendously helpful, but often overlooked, resource.  I am also excited to become an active member of the society, despite living too far away to make meetings.

I have received three main things from volunteering in the genealogy world.  First, I learnt about new resources and practiced finding them.  Prior to volunteering with RAOGK, I had no idea how useful city directories were.  This has helped in my research tremendously.  Second, I have gotten a lot of practice in deciphering handwriting.  Although I am still much better at seeing a name I am looking for in a document compared to transcribing unfamiliar handwriting, I will learn this skill and I will learn it much faster than if I just practiced with my ancestors handwriting.  Third, I have discovered a possible career.  I realized how much I love genealogy, not just researching my family, but other families as well.  This has lead me to get my masters degree in library science with the goal of working in a genealogy and local history library.  Eventually, I would like to become a certified genealogist and help people with their search that way, but it will be a few years before I get to that level.

I highly recommend volunteering in whatever capacity you are able.  It helps improve your research skills, introduces you to new people and record groups and builds up good genealogy karma, which will hopefully lead to more genealogy happy dances!

Tombstone Tuesday - Katherine Weiss Eichhorn Gorndt

Tombstone Tuesday - Joseph and Sophia Gresz

Joseph J. and Sophia Gresz buried at Forest Lawn cemetery in Buffalo, Erie Co., New York. They are my great-great-great-grandparents. This is the nicest stone I've found so far for my family. I am amazed it is in such great shape considering its age. If only Sophia had made sure her maiden name was on it...

Tombstone Tuesday - Beethoven

Beethoven's tombstone at Vienna (Austria) Cemetery. Even in the middle of January, visitors keep it decorated with flowers. Photo taken by Amanda January 2009.

Tombstone Tuesday

William Fred Eichhorn

1874 - 1931

Mason

Acacia Park and Resthaven Cemetery, Tonawanda, Niagara, New York

New York Gravestones

Lamb's Tree, Two has a fantastic link today: http://newyorkgravestones.org/.  They are trying to get all the tomb stones for New York state.  Part of the Gravestones Photo Project (GPP), there are also sites available for Massachusetts, Oregon and Utah.

According to their site: "The mission of this project is to capture digital images of gravestones of our ancestors. As decades pass-- many stones are becoming harder, if not impossible, to read the inscriptions they originally contained. 

By archiving the images, we can help save these important records and also assist researchers using this valuable resource."

I do not see any of my ancestors yet, so time to start editing my photos to their specifications and adding them.  The specifications alone are worth visiting the site: http://www.sampubco.com/gpp/crop.htm.

I only wish that all the tombstone project sites would get together to form a comprehensive site, instead of having to check and add to all the known sites.

(No) Tombstone Tuesday - Adam Fleeman

My 4th great grandfather, Adam Fleeman, does not have a stone.  The top photo is around his final resting place and the grass above is where he is located.  Died 25 Nov 1889. Buried in Forest Lawn Cemetery, Buffalo, NY.

Tombstone Tuesday - Barbara Fleeman Fink

Located in Forest Lawn Cemetery, Buffalo, NY.  Barbara is my great-great-great grandmother.

Tomb Sweeping Day

On The Peripatetic Graveyard Rabbit 's blog today is a post about Tomb Sweeping Day in China.  In China this is called Qing Ming and has been celebrated since ancient times.  It is a solar holiday, which is usually celebrated April 4, 5, or 6.

On this day, the Chinese honor their ancestors, clean their grave cites and leave items such as food and drink.

It is mentioned in much literature, including the Vietnamese epic poem The Tale of Kieu, as follows:

Swift swallows and spring days were shuttling by
of ninety radiant ones three score had fled.
Young grass spread all its green to heaven's rim;
some blossoms marked pear branches with white dots.
Now came the Feast of Light in the third month
with graveyard rites and junkets on the green.
As merry pilgrims flocked from near and far,
the sisters and their brother went for a stroll.

I plan on celebrating Monday.  I will visit some ancestors graves and clean them up after the long winter.  I hope you have the opportunity to do so as well.

Sources:

http://www.c-c-c.org/chineseculture/festival/qingming/qingming.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qingming_Festival

Tombstone Tuesday - Caroline Izzo Casell

Caroline (Izzo) Casell, located in Buffalo Cemetery, Cheektowaga, NY.  Her husband, Marco, is located next to her.  He does not have a stone.

Tombstone Tuesday - Lillian Eichhorn Casell

This is my the tombstone of great-grandmother Lillian L. Eichhorn Casell, located in Acacia Park and Resthaven Cemetery, North Tonawanda, Niagara, New York.  She was born the 22 Dec 1908, died 19 Dec 1938 and was buried on what would have been her 30th birthday.

Tombstone Tuesday

This is the tombstone of my great-aunt Elizabeth.  Growing up I always heard the story of her from my maternal grandmother, particularly since my mother's middle name is Elizabeth after her, which is also where I (in part) got my middle name (also Elizabeth, but only partly because of my mother.  Mine is also after my paternal grandmother who's middle name is Elizabeth as well).

My great-grandparents, William Herbert Whitehead and Vera Julia Gress had their first child, Elizabeth, who died at only 9 days old.  Their doctors went on to tell them they would never have any more children, but they went on to have 5 more daughters.  It saddened me that my grandmother and her sisters had never been to Elizabeth's grave, so one of my first forays into family history was to find it for them.  Through a church record we learnt that she was buried at Buffalo Cemetery (Cheektowaga, Erie, New York) and with their help my grandmother and Aunt Judy saw the tombstone of their eldest sister for the first time in November of 1999.

Tombstone Tuesday

Following the jumpstart your genealogy blog week #3. Participate in weekly blog themes: Tombstone Tuesday, Wordless Wednesday, etc. Many genealogy bloggers post photos of grave stones on Tombstone Tuesday or a photo worth 1,000 silent words on Wordless Wednesday. Participate in these informal events or invent your own.

This is the tombstone of my great-grandparents, Albert Emil Nuwer and Edna Agnes Roll, located at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church Cemetery, Alden, Erie County, New York.

The only great-grandparent I remember was my grandpa Nuwer.  I recall cleaning out his farmhouse after his death and being unable to go to his funeral as I was so young (I had just turned 8).