Cemetery Records

December 3, 2018November 22, 2018

{Treasure Box} Burial Site of Agnes Mattson

Agnes Mattson (1909-1982) is my husband’s great grandmother. She has an interesting burial story. You can read about Agnes’ many husbands here. You can also read a previous blog post about her grave site here.

Agnes was married to her 7th husband, Pat O’Malley, at the time of her death. Pat was a widow at the time of his marriage to Agnes. The couple had agreed during their marriage on a burial plan. Pat would be buried with is deceased wife. Agnes would be buried with her favorite husband, Donald Frazier.

This past summer the kids and I were driving past Colma, California and decided to make a spur of the moment decision to visit Agnes. Olivet Memorial Park is another very large cemetery. Although we have stopped by before, I could not remember where Agnes was buried. We stopped by the office and received the following maps. The pink area I have highlighted is where Agnes and Don are together.

Agnes Mattson burial site, Section I, Number 178-3, Olivet Memorial Park, Colma, California.

November 29, 2018November 22, 2018

{Treasure Box} Burial Site of William J Dempsey

William J Dempsey (1923-1998) is the brother of my grandmother, Mary Dempsey. His remains were interred at the Riverside National Cemetery.

My grandparents, Mary and Jay Capelli, are interred at the same cemetery. After burying my grandmother last year, we stopped at the kiosks at the administration building. The kiosks are to available to look up and locate the burial site of your family member. These are extremely helpful as this is a very large cemetery. The kiosk will print a map and burial site information for you.

Unfortunately, we were unable to visit Uncle Bill. The columbarium were his ashes are interred was closed to the public as they were doing construction on a new building.

If you are preparing to visit the cemetery (or any military cemetery) the information is also available online at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs website.

Dempsey, Bill Burial Site, Section AH, Row G, Site 23, Riverside National Cemetery, Riverside, California.

November 26, 2018November 22, 2018

{Treasure Box} Burial Site Of My Paternal Grandparents

Last year my grandmother, Mary Dempsey (1921-2017) passed away. She was buried with my grandfather, Celio “Jay” Capelli (1914-2009) at the Riverside National Cemetery. While at the cemetery we stopped at the administration building. Outside of the building, there are kiosks available to look up and locate the burial site of your family member. These are extremely helpful as this is a very large cemetery. The kiosk will print a map and burial site information for you.

If you are preparing to visit the cemetery (or any military cemetery) the information is also available online at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs website.

Website results for Mary and Jay Capelli

Capelli, Jay and Dempsey, Mary burial site, Section 58A, Site 2692, Riverside National Cemetery, Riverside, California. U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Gravesite Locator website, https://gravelocator.cem.va.gov/, accessed 22 November 2018.

December 17, 2015December 13, 2015

When It Starts To Make Sense

At the beginning of the month, I had the opportunity to present with another member of my local genealogy society to a local breakfast club. Our topic was “Getting Started With Researching Your Family.” During the presentation I realized I do not have any of my ancestors added to my watchlist in FamilySearch.

Last week, after adding all direct ancestors and their siblings to my watchlist on FamilySearch, I was taking a look at the family of John F. Flock and Amner Caroline Ramsey. I noticed that I did not have death dates for several of their daughters. The shiny blackhole was calling my name again.

Did I jump in? Of course! I started by reviewing each daughter’s details page. The key was to notice that Laura Flock had marriage information added by another researcher. Using the married name, I was able to locate a gravestone on FindAGrave. I was excited to see Laura’s memorial page had been linked to some of her siblings. I suddenly had married names for several of the other daughters.

Along with many new facts to add to the family tree, there was an obituary added to the memorial page at FindAGrave for Elsie Clara Flock. The obituary stated that Elsie and her husband had moved to Fall River, Kansas about 1910. And it all started to make sense!!

I had always wondered why Effie Flock and Abraham Strickler had moved to Fall River, Kansas. Now I have a clue, Effie and her family moved at the same time as her little sister, Elsie, and Elsie’s family. I am still not sure what enticed the families to move such a distance. Maybe someday that little piece of information will float to the surface.

Effie and her daughters left Fall River only a couple of years later after Abraham passed away. Elsie remained in Fall River, Kansas until her husband passed away in 1938. Elsie then moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado.

I started by adding people to my watchlist to see what facts were getting added/changed to people I am related to. I ended up adding more information because another researcher had done just that. The one marriage fact opened up a whole can of new facts about the family. I have heard people voice concerns about others being able to make changes in FamilySearch. This is just another example of why it is a great idea. Distant cousins have different information then I do, together we can paint the fuller picture of our ancestors.

October 6, 2015

Tombstone Tuesday – Moses McSpadden

In June of this year my Dad and I embarked on a cross county adventure. The purpose of the trip was to deliver a large yellow truck full of items for my Mother to my parent’s house in Virginia. About halfway across country, I was looking at the route we planned to travel and realized we would be passing through Washington County, Virginia. As you pass from Tennessee into Virginia on Interstate 81, you enter Washington County.

About ten miles north of the state line sits Abindgon, Virginia. I have identified several direct line families who settled just outside of town along the Holstein River. These early settler families contain my 6^th great grandparents. Specifically, the family of Moses McSpadden lived across the river from the family of Hugh Berry. One of Hugh’s sons would marry one of Moses’ daughters and the rest was history…

I have previously located the gravestone for Moses McSpadden on FindAGrave.com. Knowing he was buried in the graveyard of the Green Spring Presbyterian Church, I convinced my Dad to take a detour off the interstate to pay our respects.

I am so thankful for AliceP, James Archer, and Belle who all the way back in 2003 posted information of Moses McSpadden’s stone. If I did not have the photo to use as a reference to locate Moses’ gravestone, we probably would have missed it. I also would not have been able to read as much of the engraving as Belle did.

Moses’ gravestone is no longer standing. It appears a tree used to stand nearby and the stone now lies on the soft ground of the decomposing roots. The stone is now barely legible. Here are a couple of photos of the gravestone as it is today.

Moses McSpadden stone is in the middle on the ground.

It was a wonderful afternoon to reach out and touch some history. My Dad, who was skeptical when we arrived, was just as excited as I was when we left the cemetery.

The next day, after a visit to the Historical Society of Washington County Virginia, I learned there was a reason why Moses was buried in the cemetery where we found him. Stay tuned for my next blog post to get the story.

February 24, 2015February 24, 2015

Tombstone Tuesday – Percy Emery Fuller

Percy Fuller is my husband’s great-grandfather. He was born 4 June 1885 most likely in Comstock County, Nebraska. He was married to Loretta Palmatier. They divorced when their third child, my husband’s grandmother, was little. After that I have found Percy in Sterling, Colorado and Hood River, Oregon. Percy passed away in Oregon on January 6, 1965. He is buried in Pine Grove Cemetery, Hood River, Oregon.

FindAGrave.com, digital images (htp://www.findagrave.com), accessed 9 February 2015, photograph by fred, gravestone for Percy E Fuller (1885-1965), FindAGrave memorial #29641419, Pine Grove Cemetery, Hood River, Hood River, Oregon.

December 9, 2014

Tuesday’s Tip – Check Again and Again and Again

I have learned this tip several times in my research history. I was reminded AGAIN this past week. The scene is me sitting in my family room watching TV with my tablet in hand. I was not watching anything in particular and decided to take a look a look at the Ancestry App. In a tangential genealogist (check out this link for a definition) mood, I let myself be sucked in by those green shaky leaves. I have not put a lot of time into accepting or ignoring the suggestions by Ancestry. Most of the time they lead to records I already have documented in my software. All of my dead people have those shaky green leaves screaming at me to give them attention.

A click into the black hole of green leaves lead to a list of people who have suggestions. I immediately zoned in on Emma Dovel. She was the first wife of my g-g-grandfather, Abraham Strickler. She died young and there are not many records available for her. I have been trying for years to find out where Emma died.

The previous information was light at best. Her son’s obituary said that she had passed away in Kansas City as the family was traveling west. I did not have an exact location or date. I only knew that Abraham and David W (without Emma) were living with Emma’s mother in the 1880 census in Page County, Virginia. Since David Walter was born in 1876 that left a 4 year gap in information.

I have searched Find A Grave in the past with no luck for Emma. Guess what the first hint on that shaky green leaf was?! A link to the gravestone photo for Emma Dovel Strickler.

Inscription:

Emma F.

Wife of

Abraham Strickler

Died August 11, 1878

Aged 25 yrs

8 mos & 8 dys

Along with birth and death dates, I now know Emma was in Nemaha County, Nebraska when she passed away. She is buried in the Kite family cemetery. This name is familiar to me as one of the usual suspects in Page County, Virginia. My first hypothesis is that Emma has a sibling who married a Kite and they traveled west together. I will have to do some further research of the other burials in the same cemetery to determine just how Emma and Abraham were related to this group. I also need to check what sources are available for Nemaha County. There may be additional information about Abraham and David Walter there.

So check again, and again, and again for information you cannot locate. You never know when and where you will find what you are looking for.

December 2, 2014

Tombstone Tuesday – John and Barbara (Frick) Gamble

In the military pension papers for John L Gamble, I identified the names of my 4th great grandparents, John Gamble and Barbara Frick. I was able to find their gravestones on Findagrave.com. They are buried together at South Cemetery in Butler, Pennsylvania. A google map of Butler shows the cemetery on South Main Street.

I would like to thank “Me” who has posted over 41,000 memorials to Find A Grave. Another thank you for posting permission to the contributor’s bio to use the photo.

Frick, Barbara Gravestone — Barbara Gamble

Our Mother, Barbara, wife of, John Gamble, born Apr 5, 1819, died, Mar 26, 1890.

FindAGrave.com, digital images (www.findagrave.com), accessed 2 December 2014, photograph by “me”, gravestone for Barbara Gamble (Apr 5 1819 – Mar 26, 1890), Find A Grave memorial # 68540886, South Cemetery, Butler, Pennsylvania.

Our Father, John, Gamble, died, Sept 30, 1901, aged, 85 years.

FindAGrave.com, digital images (www.findagrave.com), accessed 2 December 2014, photograph by “me”, gravestone for John Gamble (Sep. 30, 1901), Find A Grave memorial # 68540887, South Cemetery, Butler, Pennsylvania.

November 4, 2014

Tombstone Tuesday – Pahoa Cemetery Update

Last week, I wrote a blog post about how the lava flow has covered the Pahoa Japanese Cemetery (you can read that here) in Hawaii County, Hawaii. Today, the San Francisco Chronicle ran a story about how one family’s tombstone was spared.

There is a wonderful photo of the Sato family headstone surrounded by black lava. Aiko Sato visited the family plot before the lava arrived thinking it would be her last chance. The family was surprised and grateful for a scientist who photographed the surviving headstone and contacted them. There is a possibility of the headstone being taken by continued lava flows but for now it remains.

Check out the San Francisco Chronicle article here.

October 28, 2014November 4, 2014

Tombstone Tuesday – Hawaii Loses Cemetery To Lava Flow

Yesterday the Kilauea lava flow claimed another victim. The Pahoa Japanese Cemetery was overrun by lava. An article ran yesterday in the West Hawaii Today newspaper about the cemetery. It can be read here. There is a video attached to the news article showing the headstones engulfed by the lava.

Another great article about the cemetery appeared on Hawaii Public Radio at the end of September. Click here to read about the history of the cemetery and see great photos of the cemetery before the lava flow reached it. There are over 250 graves in the cemetery. I was so happy to read that there is a map detailing all of the burials and their locations.

Hopefully, this information will be added to Find A Grave and/or Billion Graves to preserve for future generations who are researching their families.

This lava flows proves once again that you never know when or why genealogical records may disappear. Have the cemeteries in your area been documented on Find A Grave or Billion Graves?