One Lovely Blog Award

Imagine my surprise when I checked my comments this week and found a note from Lisa Wallen Logsdon of the blog http://oldstonesundeciphered.blogspot.com/ informing me that she had chosen A Grave Interest to receive the “One Lovely Blog” award.  Lisa, thank you for thinking of my blog! (And congrats on being one of Family Tree Magazine’s 40 Best Genealogy Blogs for 2011!)

But there are some rules that go with this award –  They are:

1. Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who granted the award and their blog link.

2. Pass the award on to 15 other blogs that you've newly discovered.

3. Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

It appears the ‘One Lovely Blog’ award started sometime in 2007 or early 2008, (details are sketchy, I still haven’t found out who originated it.)  But as someone who has spent years in the marketing and public relations area, it’s brilliant!   What a wonderful way to let fellow bloggers know that they’re being noticed in the industry and considered to be doing a good job.  And what a great way to promote not only 15 blogs, but also your own blog!  And this award goes across the blogosphere.  It’s been awarded in all types of categories, wine, food, shopping, genealogy, the list goes on and on.  So, without further ado, here are my 14 newly discovered genealogy, and 1 wine ; ) blogs – and I’m going to take it one step further by posting a link to each site as well.

1) British & Irish Genealogy         http://bi-gen.blogspot.com/

2) Cemetery Divas         http://cemeterydivas.blogspot.com/

3) Cemetery Explorers         http://cemeterydivas.blogspot.com/

4) Family History Research http://familyhistorytips.wordpress.com/

5) Gravestoned         http://gravestoned.blogspot.com/

6) Identifinders’ Blog         http://identifinders.wordpress.com

7) In the Dark of the Moon http://darkofthemoon.wordpress.com/

8) Journeys Past Blog         http://journeyspast.blogspot.com/

9) Southern Graves         http://blog.southerngraves.net/

10) Stonegardens Explorer         http://stonegardens-explorer.blogspot.com/

11) The Graveyard Detective         http://graveyarddetective.blogspot.com/

12) The Graveyard Rabbit         http://www.thegraveyardrabbit.com/ 

13) The Scottish Emigration Blog http://scottishemigration.blogspot.com/

14) Tombstone Territory          http://tombstoneterritory.blogspot.com/

15) Wine Tripping          http://winetripping.wordpress.com/

Congratulations to all of the award-winning bloggers!  And please award this to fifteen other bloggers not on this list.

Now let’s get out there and BLOG!! : )

 ~ Joy

Grave Superstitions

Today is the ‘Ides of March’ and that seems the perfect time to cover grave superstitions.  A soothsayer, who knew what he was talking about, gave the warning “Beware the Ides of March” to Julius Caesar. Caesar was stabbed 23 times on March 15^th, 44 B.C. by 60 senators – including his best friend, Marcus Julius Brutus, (“Et tu Brute?” –Thank you William Shakespeare.)

My grandmother, Ethyl France Dellinger & Florrie.

Superstitions are actually beliefs we hold without any true or rational basis, beliefs that may be exaggerated or simply false. Superstitions exist for all aspects of life – love, luck, weddings, pregnancy, money, theatre, weather, and, of course, death.  They are passed on from person to person, generation to generation. Call them old wives tales, folklore or prophecy, superstitions foretell or fore sway future events. Growing up in Indiana, I learned my fair share of ‘tall tales.’  My grandmother, Ethyl Dellinger, passed on many family superstitions to me.  Some that I remember that had to do with death include:

Never county the number of cars in a funeral procession. 

(I was a notorious counter.)

Never point at a funeral procession, its bad luck.

Never take flowers from a grave.

If you spill salt, immediately throw some over your left shoulder to keep the Devil at bay.

An owl hooting outside of your window for three nights in a row foretells a death – yours of someone close to you.

Here are some other death superstitions you may have heard.

Death superstitions involving nature:

Flowers will grow on the grave of someone who lived a good line.  Only weeds grow on the grave of someone who was evil.

If a bird flies into your window, there has been a death.

If you see an owl during the day, there will be a death close to you.

An owl hooting outside of your window for three nights in a row foretells a death, yours of someone close to you.

If lightening strikes near the house when someone is dying, the devil has come for their soul.

If it rains in an open grave, it’s bad luck for the family.

If there is a thunderstorm during a funeral, the deceased has gone to hell.

If there is thunder following a burial then the deceased has reached heaven.

Physical death superstitions:

Hold your breath when passing a graveyard so evil can’t enter. 

Another version is:  If you don’t hold your breath when passing a cemetery, you will not be buried.

If you have an involuntary shiver, someone has just walked over your grave.

If you cast a headless shadow then you will die in the next year.

If you lie down in a coffin you are taunting death to come and take you.

Never whistle in a graveyard, you are summoning the Devil.

Never wear anything new to a funeral.  (Shoes seem to have particular significance.)

Coins should be placed on the eyes of the deceased to pay the ferryman, Charon, to row the departed across the underworld river Styx.

Death superstitions in your home:

Howling dogs in the night signify that someone ill in the house will die soon.

If a picture suddenly falls off of the wall, someone you know has died.

You should stop all clocks in the house where someone dies or it will bring bad luck.

Open a window in the room when someone dies so that they can move on.

Cover all mirrors after a death – so that the soul doesn’t get trapped in them.

A casket must be carried out with the deceased’s feet first.

Death and the number 3:

If you hear three knocks and no one is there, someone close to you has died.

If only 3 candles are lit in a room, the person closest to the shortest candle will be the first to die.

Death comes in threes.

Death superstitions about the graveyard:

A metal cross on a grave will hold the spirit there.

A body should be placed in the grave with its head to the west and feet to the east so that when it rises up it will face the sun.

Never remove anything from a gravesite.

It is bad luck to walk on graves.

 

It is bad luck to trip when you’re in a cemetery.

Being buried on the north side of the church is considered unlucky because of the lack of sun.   That area is usually reserved for criminals and suicides.

It is bad luck to go into a cemetery at night, or to be there at the stroke of midnight.

And I just have to mention – Grave Superstitions is my 13^th blog post for A Grave Interest.  (Wish me luck while I search for that rabbit’s foot…… ; )

~ Joy

Exploring Funeral Home Record, Obits and Memorial Cards

Funeral home record example
from Rootsweb/Ancestry.com

Funeral home records, also known as mortuary records, are yet another overlooked resource for the genealogy researcher.  These records contain the same basic information about the deceased as the death certificate, but with more detailed family information, a copy of the obituary, possible insurance data, and financial records involving the costs relating to the funeral and burial.   Mortuary records can also assist you in locating the cemetery and the burial records held there.

Funeral home records began to be kept during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.  Before that the church was the repository for death records.  Funerals, wakes or remembrance events would have taken place at the home of the deceased or the village church.  Cities are more likely to have funeral home records for the late 1800’s, as rural residents continued the practice of burying their own without formal assistance until a few decades into the 20^th century.

American Blue Book
of Funeral Directors

Mortuary records are considered to be private records.  These records belong to the funeral home and do not have to be made available to the public.  If you have a copy of the death certificate, it should list the name of the funeral home that handled the arrangements.  If you do not know the name, the American Blue Book of Funeral Directors may be helpful.  If you are planning to research funeral home records at the mortuary, start by contacting the funeral home to make sure the records are still in that location. 

 

Schedule an appointment at the funeral home and let them know whose records you would like to review, dates of deaths and any other information they may need to locate the files.  If a funeral home is no longer in business, check with other mortuaries in the area to see if the records were transferred.  If not, visit the local or county genealogical or historical libraries and societies to see if the records have been moved there or if someone knows what became of them.  Many times when a funeral home closed, the director took the records home for safe keeping.

My maternal grandfather's obituary

My paternal great-grandfather's obit

When we explored death certificates and death records on Tuesday, I failed to mention that the funeral director is the person responsible for getting this certificate filled out and filed.  He or she is the person who will talk with the informant of the deceased in order to gather the required data for the certificate.  The funeral director is also the person who writes and places the obituaries with the media.  Parts of an obit may include a listing of surviving relatives consisting of the spouse, children by name and their spouses, grandchildren and their spouses and great-grandchildren, along with siblings. Those who have already passed may also be mentioned. The deceased’s age, address, occupation, religious affiliation, military service, memberships, education, accomplishments and hobbies may also be written up in an obit.  Those residents with more community prominence will usually have obits that contain more information.  Details regarding the funeral service, where it is being held and the burial location are also included in an obit.

Memorial card for
Harry 'Hap" Fleming

Information inside Hap's memorial card

Another genealogical resource associated with mortuary records is memorial cards.  Also known as prayer cards, funeral cards and holy cards, they contain information about the funeral service and burial, including the deceased’s name, birth and death dates, location of services, clergy, pallbearers, music, location of burial and usually a poem or prayer.  Memorial cards are given out at visitations, wakes and funerals.  They may also be sent after the fact to those who did not attend.   Be sure to check family bibles, photo albums and scrapbooks for them.

Next Tuesday is the Ides of March and we’ll take a look at some of the superstitions that surround death.  Please let me know of any superstitions you were taught or remember.

~ Joy 

Death Records and Mortality Schedules

Death records are created at the time of death with information provided by a family member or someone who has in-depth knowledge about the deceased.  This person is referred to as the informant.  Death records are viewed by genealogists as part of a trio of vital records, made up of birth, marriage and death certificates.  They are known as primary sources.

It is interesting that the death record, or certificate, usually has the most information concerning the deceased and is the most recent record available about their life.  Death certificates are considered the best records to use when starting your research due to all of the information provided. The death certificate can also point you toward other searches.

Data listed on a death record includes the full name of the deceased, date of death, and place of death.  This is what makes this a source of primary information. But be aware, even this information can be incorrect.  Notice my grandfather’s death certificate lists him as being buried on December 22, 1000. 

Other information on a death certificate can include age, time of death, cause of death, last residence, occupation, military service, date of birth, place of birth, marital status, name of physician or medial examiner, funeral home, and burial location, along with the name of the informant and relationship to the deceased.  Parent’s names and birthplaces, spouse’s name, if still alive, and possibly children.  A death record can help you verify what you know to be true, but this information should be treated as a secondary source until substantiated.  Remember, the accuracy of most of this information is based on the replies of the informant.

As an example regarding this, my grandfather, Robert Dellinger’s death certificate lists his occupation as a truck driver.  The only truck Grandpa ever drove was a Ford of various models.  However, he and my grandma did run a poultry processing business on their farm.  (I still cannot stand the smell of wet feathers!)  Why Grandpa’s daughter listed his occupation as truck driver, I don’t know.  If you find errors on the death certificate, be skeptical of other information until you can verify it for yourself.

While death records are a great source of information, most states didn’t require them to be kept until the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.  New England states have much better death records because their churches have been registering this information for over three hundred years.

Vital records, which include death records, marriage and birth records, may be obtained at the local, county or state level.  Usually the local or county offices can accommodate a request faster that the state.  When requesting a death certificate be sure to specify that you would like a full death certificate.  This can include much more detailed information than the shorter version.  Also be prepared to show ID and verify your relationship to the deceased.

The WPA’s (Works Program Administration) Federal Writers’ Project gathered vital records from the 1930’s through 1943.  They were published as the List of Vital Statistical Records and cover information on births, marriages and deaths in forty states.  Most genealogical libraries usually have a copy.

Mortality schedules are an often forgotten source of genealogical information.  These schedules list the deaths of state residents who died during the twelve months prior to the census being taken. A census taker in 1850 would ask who had died the previous year – from June 1, 1849 to May 31, 1850 - in that household and then list them in the 1850 mortality schedule.  The mortality schedules were recorded for the federal censuses of 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880, 1890 and 1900. 

Dates used for the schedules include:

June 1, 1849 – May 31, 1850

June 1, 1859 - May 31, 1860

June 1, 1869 – May 31, 1870

June 1, 1879 – May 31, 1880

June 1, 1884 – May 31, 1885

June 1, 1889 – May 31, 1890

June 1, 1899 – May 31, 1900

Unfortunately, the mortality schedules for 1890 and 1900 have been destroyed. State mortality schedules were taken in 1855, 1865, 1875 and 1885.  Not all states were included in these schedules and not all deaths during these time periods were reported.

Mortality schedules will have information on the deceased including their name, sex, age, color (white, black, mulatto,) month that death occurred in, place of birth, marital status, occupation or trade, parents birthplaces (added in 1870,) cause of death, number of days they were ill, and place where disease was contracted (added in 1880.)

Diseases were usually identified by their symptoms.  The problem with this method is that several diseases may have the same or similar symptoms.  To get a better understanding of some of the medical terms used in the mortality schedules, the Michigan Family History Network Blog has a wonderful listing term and their definitions.  http://www.mifamilyhistory.org/blog/post/2009/04/24/Some-Medical-Terms-Used-in-Death-Records.aspx

Here are two examples of what the transcribed schedules can look like.

1850 Pike County, Illinois mortality schedulehttp://genealogytrails.com/ill/pike/1850mort.html

1850 Mortality schedule Knox County, Indiana.

http://genealogytrails.com/ind/knox/1850M.html

If you would like to view mortality schedules online, here are a few links to consider:

http://www.mortalityschedules.com/

https://wiki.familysearch.org/en/United_States_Census_Mortality_Schedules

http://www.mortality-schedules.com/search.htm

Friday we will wrap up our look at the records of death with an examination of funeral home records.

~ Joy

A Sexton Speaks - An Interview with Dan Wilson, Vincennes City Cemeteries

(Again, apologies for the delay in this post. I have been trying to get an audio interview on this blog for over 36 hours and I still cannot get Blogger to upload it.  This was a fun interview to do and I wish you could hear it.  I will post it when this situation is remedied.  Meanwhile, I have transcribed the interview below. If you have suggestions or ideas concerning Blogger and audio/video, please let me know!)

You’ve probably heard the terms cemetery sexton and sexton’s records.  But just what is a sexton?  And what kind of records would he or she keep? 

A sexton is actually the caretaker of a cemetery. The person who is in charge of making sure that all of the upkeep and maintenance gets done on a regular basis, along with maintaining the safety, security, and appearance of the cemetery.  And that includes overseeing all of the work that goes into preparing a grave for a burial, maintaining equipment, and preserving headstones, memorials, and mausoleums. Quite a job!  And even more so, when it involves the upkeep of a large cemetery or a combination of several cemeteries.

Sexton’s records refer to the cemetery deeds and plat books that the sexton or caretaker maintains.  These books offer the genealogist information about who purchased the plot, who owned the deed, along with any sales, transfers or inheritances involving a plot.  The Sexton is also in charge of the burial register that contains general information about the deceased including age, address, date of death, date of burial, plot number and section.    The Sexton can answer the 5 W’s for you, just like a reporter.  Who is buried here, when were they buried, where is the grave located, why is it located where it is and what were the burial details?

But there is more to being a cemetery sexton than just recording names and date, or overseeing maintenance and upkeep.  There is an understanding and appreciation for the job and the realization of how it will affect people for generations to come. 

Vincennes (Knox County) Indiana

I spoke with Dan Wilson, the superintendent, or Sexton, of the oldest public cemeteries in Indiana. Composed of Green Lawn Cemetery started in the 1780’s, Fairview Cemetery, which began in 1899 and Memorial Park Cemetery started in 1930 – all are a part of the Vincennes City Cemeteries located in Vincennes, Indiana.  Dan has been superintendent here for over ten years, but he’s been involved with cemeteries for almost 30 years.

While Dan can inform you about the general who-what-when-where and why of these cemeteries, he has taken his job one step further.  He makes it a point to know something about those interred here.  He loves the histories, the stories, not just of the cemeteries, but also of those under his care.

[ Transcript of Interview with Dan Wilson]

Dan Wilson:

I started collecting information about the families and the people who are buried there.  A lot about how they died and how they lived, so it’s kind of fascinating.  Not only do we have burial information on thousand of people, we have what they did for a living, their relatives, we have all kinds of information, cool stories. That’s the history part of the stuff I like.

I love information and I hate to see information die with the people.  So when someone comes out here and visits a grave, I can say, you know, 50 years after someone’s passed away, it’s kind of cool to be able to tell them a story about the person, some little something they did not know.

The funeral home is real nice. They give me these books to go through all their records and I pull information out about the people who are buried here.  And about their relatives…nothing like the kind of casket or vault or how much money they made, that’s not my interest.  My interest is, like even their street addresses, relatives, jobs, veteran’s status.  Something that a family is just going to love to know.

You do this kind of record keeping and the numbers and the statistics and where it happened, that always sticks in your mind.  Numbers tell stories.

Joy Neighbors:

You are the people putting this information together….

Dan Wilson:

Uh-huh..yes.

Joy Neighbors:

And all because you really have an interest in history?

Dan Wilson:

In history. And also, my guys who take care of the cemetery.  We only have two full time guys, and part time, but the full time guys love it because there’s not……….they go over a grave, they know something about the person.  You know, it’s like that guy owned that, or he did this.  And I’ll give you an example, there’s a lady buried down there by Raben Tires, interesting I think, a part of history.  She was a stripper.  And she was a stripper at Jack Ruby’s club in New Orleans.  And she was found dead in New Orleans like in 1968.  And, I won’t go into who she was, but to me that’s interesting.  That’s cool history.  I mean, you know, you actually have someone here who was involved with Jack Ruby, the guy that shot Oswald.  To me, that’s fascinating.

I’ll tell you another one that I like.  There was a husband and wife, and the lady died in, like, Oklahoma. And the guy bought her a coffin with a glass lid and he put her in the back of a pick up truck and was taking her around to different areas and was showing her for, like a nickel a peek, back in the twenties, right?  Well, Gardner Mausoleum has like three mausoleum crypts in the basement that you can slide a casket in, you can seal the door.  And the guy went to Gardner and wanted to know if he could see that this was a good Christian woman and that she deserved better? The guy was out of money.  He said 'Can you keep her here a little bit until I come back?'  I’ll get the money and I’ll bury her.  Well the Gardners’ are nice people and they said sure.  Well she stayed up in the mausoleum for like, ten years. They tried to research the guy and finally found him.  He was in a prison for the criminally insane in Washington D.C.  And when I was going through the records from Gardner’s, there’s a letter that was there from J. Edgar Hoover saying that’s where this guy was. So Gardners tracked him down and he wrote them a letter back saying she was a wonderful woman.  She deserved a lot.  Please give her a nice Christian burial. So they buried her out here.

It’s fascinating to me, the people who get killed on the railroad tracks. Not crossings, but fall asleep on the railroad tracks. It’s like, that had to be uncomfortable.  Why would you ever think of falling asleep on those rocks?

Joy Neighbors:

Who do we have buried here that’s semi-famous to famous?

Dan Wilson:

Red Skelton’s father, buried right over here, which is an interesting story.  They never met.  I think Red’s mother was pregnant with him, but he died before he was born.  And see, he never knew him.  His name was actually…It’s not Skelton.  His tombstone will say Skelton, but that’s not what it is.  It’s Joseph Ehart.

Joy Neighbors:

What are some of the superstitions connected…?

Dan Wilson:

Superstitions?  Are we talking ghosts and stuff?

Joy Neighbors:

Any realm of it.

Dan Wilson:

Green Lawn Cemetery

Whenever I started here, we were over in the Green Lawn Cemetery, which was the old part. 

And I would go over with a recorder, like that one, just like that one and I would record what I would see on stones.  And I would sit and write this information down so I’d physically have something to bring back and put in the computer.  Not just scraps of paper but notes cause I’m not very smart, I gotta have notes.  And there were times I was in the cemetery and I would hear a voice say my name in my ear and it would happen so fast you would think did you really hear it? 

The other day one of the superintendents’ grandsons came here, and this superintendent just passed on last year, named Jack Anderson.  It was really weird; the grandson sat there and said that his grandpa used to have the same thing happen to him.  He would be over there and he would have people whisper in his ear just the same.  And that just gave me goose bumps because the same thing I’ve experienced another superintendent before me, twenty years before, had experienced the same thing. 

In the thirty years I’ve been doing this work, the cool things are the relatives who get visited in hospitals by dead relatives right before they die.  All the time.  I mean, all the time.  And you can contribute that to drugs or an altered state of mind, or what ever you want.  But when you hear the same stories over and over, that’s a little too coincidental.

I honestly think death is just as natural as the geese, when they used to fly south, or the birds.  It’s just…it’s scary to us because we don’t know.

I’ll tell you something that fascinates me, the unknown people.  The people that no one knew who they were. There’s like 40 or 50 people here who are unknown.  And you just wonder who they were.  There’s like seven or eight of them that we got stone for and most them are children, so we got stones for these kids.  One stone I think is cool, it says ‘unknown stranger” and has a big question mark.

But we’re proud of our records.  I’ve been working on them straight, almost every day, here and at home.  I just like to keep the stories, any thing people know about their relatives.   And every day, when someone dies now, we enter them in every time, like the obituary in the paper, it’s in there every time. The whole obit.   Believe it or not, that’s one of the reasons I do what I do.  I think we owe those people their history.

If you are trying to locate records for a cemetery that does not have a sexton, start by contacting the office of Country or Town Clerk.   Also check with local funeral homes.  They know where many small cemeteries are.

Next Tuesday, we’ll explore death and mortality records.  Enjoy your weekend!

~ Joy

Update

Apologizes for the Friday post not being up yet.  I am having problems getting Blogger to accept audio or video, but we're working on it.  Any one have ideas?

Church and Religious Records

Church and religious records are considered to be some of the oldest, most detailed but “forgotten” genealogy records that exist. While not considered a primary source of information, church records can prove to be an excellent source for names, dates, relationships, and other crucial information.

If a parish had a burial ground, they should have maintained burial records and plot maps.  These records can include not only the name and dates for the deceased, but also burial information on other family members located in the same cemetery.

Each religion had its own types of papers and records deemed important to that faith.  The most prominent church records to search for include baptism, christening, confirmation, marriage and banns, along with funeral and burial. Most of these records are kept in bound church record books. But be sure to check for any and all religious records available.  These could also include membership lists, meeting minutes, 

lists of communicants, church bulletins, church photos, newsletters, newspapers and missals.  Also search for tombstone inscriptions, pew rentals, bar and bat mitzvah records, published congregational histories, biographies of clergy or prominent church members, church correspondence and clergy papers.  Churches also kept records on families that moved with transfer of membership records.

Many frontier churches have vanished, but there is still hope in locating their records. Start by searching for the original church.  If it no longer exists, check for other churches in the area of the same denomination to see if the records were transferred there.  If not, search for a central repository, a main church archive, or possibly a church-affiliated university or library.  State repositories or national holdings may also hold the records you seek.

If you are not sure of an ancestor’s religion, an obit or tombstone symbol could lead you to the correct faith.  It is also worth noting that in the 1930’s and early 40’s, the Federal Writers’ Project of the WPA – Works Projects Administration – put together inventories of religious archives across the country.  These compilations were then published and could include information such as the name of the church, denomination, location, district, association, clergy, even if the church bell still worked.  Although over 80 years old, these can still be a great source for local and state religious information of the time.

Religious records do have their problems since many were written by hand and then transcribed and typed up years, even centuries later.  But they can also contain the only informational glimpse we may get into our forbearers past.  In America, frontier families moved in groups.  If a settlement only had one church or religious meeting house, your ancestors probably attended, regardless of the faith practiced.  One advantage to the early church records is that the people who moved together also spoke the same language.  This means that there is less of a chance that a name was misspelled or an event was misinterpreted.

There are numerous sites on the Internet to search for church and religious records.  Here are just a few to get started:

https://www.familysearch.org/

http://www.CyndisList.com/religion.htm

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/usgenweb/churches/

Friday, I'll have an interview with Dan Wilson, superintendent of the oldest public cemetery in Indiana!

~ Joy