UpFront with NGS: cemeteries

Showing posts with label cemeteries. Show all posts

16 January 2017

The National Burial Database of Enslaved Americans in Development

The National Burial Database of Enslaved Americans in Development

You can help! The National Burial Database of Enslaved Americans is in the initial stages of development and is seeking information on burials or burial ground locations of enslaved Americans to be included in a future database. If you have information about such, please submit here.

The project started as The Burial Database Project of Enslaved African Americans (formerly based at Fordham University) and is now the National Burial Database of Enslaved Americans - a work of the Periwinkle Initiative.

The Periwinkle Initiative is a public humanities and education initiative dedicated to preserving cultural heritage associated with enslaved Americans. The Initiative’s core project is the National Burial Database of Enslaved Americans – which will be the first and only national repository to document individual burials and burial grounds of enslaved Americans.

The Periwinkle Initiative derives its name from the periwinkle flower that certain scholars believe was the most common wildflower brought to gravesites of enslaved Americans.

You can read about the project and its status via Memory & Landmarks – Report of the Burial Database Project of Enslaved Americans.

What slave burials or cemeteries did you submit to the project?

What online or published compilations of slave burials are you aware of?

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31 October 2015

FREE Cemetery Record Access from NEHGS (30 Oct - 7 Nov 2015)

News from NEGHS ...

October 30, 2015, Boston, Massachusetts — “Your ancestors have been dying for you to uncover them. NEHGS has opened the cemetery gates so you can start digging!”

Just in time for the Halloween celebrations and to add some fun to ancestral research this holiday, AmericanAncestors.org and New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS) have made their complete collection of American cemetery databases accessible for FREE to guest users on their data-rich website.

The collection of more than 100 databases comprising more than one million records is accessible FREE from Friday, October 30, through midnight on Saturday, November 7. The collection includes cemetery transcriptions from New England and other states and was compiled from many different sources to create a unique group of cemetery offerings.

Registration at AmericanAncestors.org is required as a FREE Guest Member to gain access to these valuable resources. Guest User accounts allow web visitors to use a limited suite of databases on AmericanAncestors.org and to access web content such as making purchases from the NEHGS online store. Unlimited access to more than one billion online records on the website and to other benefits is through membership at NEHGS.

Family historians may start digging for their ancestors in these historic American cemeteries at: http://www.americanancestors.org/free-cemetery-databases.

The cemetery databases included in this special offering and FREE Access event are:

American Jewish Historical Society – New England Archives:
Jewish Cemeteries in Massachusetts
Boston, MA: Old Cemeteries of Boston
Brooklyn, NY: Cemetery Inscriptions, 1686-1882
Cemetery Transcriptions from the NEHGS Manuscript Collections
Charleston, SC: Inscriptions in Old Jewish Cemeteries, 1762-1903
Dedham, MA: Church and Cemetery Records 1638-1845
Gloucester, MA: Burials in Gloucester Cemeteries
New York: Long Island Cemetery Inscriptions, 1652-1910
North Andover, MA: Burials in Ridgewood Cemetery, 1848-1950
Northampton, MA: West Farms Cemetery
Rhode Island Historical Cemeteries Database Index
Sharon, MA: Sharon Memorial Park Cemetery
Sterling, MA: Leg Cemetery Records
Westbrook, CT: Cemetery Inscriptions
Western Massachusetts: Jewish Cemeteries of Western Massachusetts

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NGS does not imply endorsement of any outside advertiser or other vendors appearing in this blog. Any opinions expressed by guest authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the view of NGS.

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Unless indicated otherwise or clearly an NGS Public Relations piece, Upfront with NGS posts are written by Diane L Richard, editor, Upfront with NGS.

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05 February 2015

Sometimes We Learn About Graves as They are Being Moved (aka Reinterred)...

Keeping with yesterday's post and the theme of cemeteries ....

Let’s talk about reinterment and the records that go with that ...

This came about because our local newspaper (well, one version of it) included this legal notice last week (emphasis mine).

LEGAL NOTICE
In the matter of the intention for the removal and reinterment of three marked graves and an unknown number of unmarked graves located in a wooded area off 8312 Ragan Road in Apex. The marked graves are identified as: William Ragan (1797-1848), Sarah Ragan (1797-1880), and Luzena Ragan (1833-1844). The property is identified as Wake County Property Identification Number PIN 0721049139. Anyone having information about these graves or the next of kin please contact Deborah Joy at 919-215-6469.

Deborah Joy Legacy Research Associates
125 West Woodridge Dr.
Durham, NC 27707
SWWN: January 7, 14, 21, 28, 2015

The legal obligation to publish such a notice before moving any graves is found here (along with other statutes in place to protect cemeteries in NC).

And, I wondered where else this information might be available – before these graves get moved.

I found that there is a Ragan Family Tree on Ancestry.com which happens to be authored by Legacy Research – the same company posting the above notice. The original tombstone information was published in the RossTubbsHyattRychwalski and more tree.

With some Googling, I found that the above notice came about because the Apex Town Council agreed to a re-zoning of the land where the graves are currently located and before the purchaser can implement their plan, the graves need to be relocated. Here are select articles related to this. An interesting element was that only 2 of the notices that I found explicitly mention that there is a cemetery/graves present on the land.

o Petition to Amend the Official Zoning District Map

There is cemetery on site. We are aware of site and will have surveyed.

o Consent 02 - Town of Apex

Dec 2, 2014 - Motion to approve Statement of the Apex Town Council for Rezoning ...for the property located at 0, 8312 Ragan Road and 2505, 2428, 2504, ...

o [PDF] Public Hearing 02 - Town of Apex

The site also includes a cemetery ...

Nov 18, 2014 - Richardson Forest) 133.1 acres located at 0, 8312 Ragan Road and 2505, 2428, 2504, 2510 Richardson Road from. Wake County R80-W and ...

o [PDF] 2014.04.15 - Town of Apex

Apr 15, 2014 ... located at 0, 8312 Ragan Road and 2505, 2428, 2504, 2510 ...

o [PDF] 2014.12.02 - Town of Apex

Dec 2, 2014 - Statement of the Apex Town Council for Rezoning Case #14CZ05, ...petitioners for the property located at 0, 8312 Ragan Road and 2505, ...

o [PDF] 14CZ05 S - Town of Apex

Feb 24, 2014 - 8312 Ragan Road. PIN". 0721049139. Print address of property to be rezoned. PIN 11. 3. Print owner name(s). Print address of property to be ...

o [PDF] 2014.11.05 - Town of Apex

Nov 5, 2014 ... known as Richardson Forest) 133.1 acres located at 0, 8312 Ragan Road.

o [PDF]Apex Town Council Meeting - Town of Apex

Apr 15, 2014 ... #14CZ05, 133.1 acres located at 0, 8312 Ragan Road ...

I was then curious to know if these graves, since obviously a small family cemetery, are listed in Find a grave, Interment.net, BillionGraves or CemeteryCensus. They are NOT! If you are reading this and contribute to these efforts, please verify my findings and maybe you would then be so kind as to add these tombstones – you can see images via Ancestry.com – just search the names/dates provided in the legal notice.

At least Ancestry.com has someone who has listed these family members ...

Given that it is not unusual for all of the above cemetery projects to include overlapping information on cemeteries, it was a bit disconcerting to find that this family, so far, has not yet been registered with any of them.

It makes me wonder how many other small family cemeteries are hidden in plain sight!?!? Their existence is known and they have yet to be documented until the land is bought by a developer and a legal notice has to be published.

That said, if this is your family, this legal notice helped open the door to learning more about your ancestors!

Have modern legal notices about graves or what was family land, etc., been useful to your research?

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NGS does not imply endorsement of any outside advertiser or other vendors appearing in this blog. Any opinions expressed by guest authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the view of NGS.

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Think your friends, colleagues, or fellow genealogy researchers would find this blog post interesting? If so, please let them know that anyone can read past UpFront with NGS posts or subscribe!

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Suggestions for topics for future UpFront with NGS posts are always welcome. Please send any suggested topics to UpfrontNGS@mosaicrpm.com

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Unless indicated otherwise or clearly an NGS Public Relations piece, Upfront with NGS posts are written by Diane L Richard, editor, Upfront with NGS.

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04 February 2015

Cemeteries -- Should they be Quiet Places of Respect or Vibrant Places Used by the Living or What?!??!

I ask the question of the headline because I just read Double life of cemeteries show they can play more than one role.

For me, Fitz’s letter touches on a shifting attitude toward cemeteries in general, a new role that allows behavior beyond quiet mourning. The joggers that startle her appear not just in Raleigh Memorial Park on Glenwood Avenue, where her son is buried, but especially in Oakwood Cemetery near downtown, where recreation-minded visitors are welcomed...

The change doesn’t always sit well with mourners ... the general manager at Raleigh Memorial Park, told me the cemetery gets sporadic complaints like the letter from Fitz. But while he understands their concerns, the cemetery is considered a park – there for the living along with the dead.

These local cemetery parks, though they welcome 2-legged visitors do bar dogs and ask visitors to keep their distance from any funerals in progress. And, more often the families of those buried in these cemeteries

“... actually like seeing the joggers, walkers, Segway folks on our grounds. I think because it means the cemetery is for the living, and it is reassuring that the cemetery is more than just a place of sadness.”

It’s almost like cemeteries are becoming, again, what many in a way were designed for originally, as parks, often a green oasis in an urban setting.

Our cemeteries now have often become places of just mourning and little to do with the living. In the past, I know that my and my husband’s families both used to picnic in the cemeteries where the families are buried. This was a way for all the generations to be “together” for a bit; for the family to share tales of those no longer able to be present. A great opportunity to laugh and play and enjoy the company of the “spirit” of the deceased -- sharing fond memories, telling silly tales, savoring the reverence of lessons learned, laughing at remembered personality quirks, and much more.

Nowadays, our cemeteries are often quiet and intimidating or uncomfortable to many. Oakwood cemetery, mentioned in this article, is a beautiful cemetery. I like that theatrical performances, ghost walks, and other activities take place in it regularly. It actually has an events calendar on its website!

These non-burial events do not take away from the quiet mourning or the cemeteries main purpose and they enrich our community. We learn about the lives of those buried here which keeps them in the “present” for all of us. For me, a vibrant cemetery is just an extension of what we do as genealogists and family historians when we strive to learn the stories of individuals and then share them with descendants or others. We try to keep them alive in our hearts and lore ...

The article ends by stating ...

In short, I wouldn’t want somebody performing skateboard tricks over my eternal patch of ground, scuffing up whatever marker posterity sees fit to leave. But I’d love to host a picnic.

What do you think? Should cemeteries become more park-like and take advantage of their often beautiful features (flowers, shrubs, trees, walkways, etc), art (yes, many tombstones are works of art) and vistas (hilltop panoramic views, water features, and more)?

Editor’s Note: Related articles ...

+ Our First Public Parks: The Forgotten History of Cemeteries

+ Turning Cemeteries for the Dead into Parks for the Living

+ Green-Wood Attempts to Revive Cemeteries as Parks
+ Melbourne General Cemetery tours bring life to the graveyard

Editor’s Note: Related Upfront with NGS posts ...

+ (August 2014), Please, Please, Please treat cemeteries and tombstones with respect!

+ (December 2013), Coffee cafes in cemeteries -- popular in Europe! Might we see the same in the US?

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NGS does not imply endorsement of any outside advertiser or other vendors appearing in this blog. Any opinions expressed by guest authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the view of NGS.

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Think your friends, colleagues, or fellow genealogy researchers would find this blog post interesting? If so, please let them know that anyone can read past UpFront with NGS posts or subscribe!

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Suggestions for topics for future UpFront with NGS posts are always welcome. Please send any suggested topics to UpfrontNGS@mosaicrpm.com

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Unless indicated otherwise or clearly an NGS Public Relations piece, Upfront with NGS posts are written by Diane L Richard, editor, Upfront with NGS.

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23 January 2015

The Seeming Indication of Their Death is Premature -- Tombstones may not just list the deceased!

Source for blank image: http://aremid.deviantart.com/art/The-Blank-Tombstone-119712435

Edited by DLR

I am happy to report that my father and his wife are alive!

You may wonder why I feel the need to do this. Well – they are both listed in Find-a-Grave!

Find-a-Grave, BillionGraves, CemeteryCensus, Interment.net are wonderful resources for our research. We can learn a lot about the burial, death and maybe family members of the deceased.

Now, sometimes – a person is listed in Find-a-Grave for a particular cemetery and yet they are actually not buried there. A surviving spouse may have remarried and is now buried with the first spouse (or vice versa). A person may have died elsewhere and is now buried with other family members in a completely different location. Maybe the person died and is buried in the cemetery and no-one ever updated the tombstone.

There are also other reasons why we have to be careful in how we interpret the information we found on these websites – information based on a death certificate or an obituary (which might be in error on where the burial took place), people get reburied elsewhere, graves get moved, etc. All of these factors can impact the accuracy of the information provided.

In the case of my father and his wife, it just so happens that in preparing for what is eventual for all of us, they went ahead and purchased a cemetery plot, had a tombstone engraved with their names and birth dates and have arrangements in place for when they die for the stone to be updated.

Their current listing has their death date as “unknown.” This is true. It’s just not unknown in the sense that we don’t know when they died, it’s unknown in the sense that they are not yet deceased!

Just a reminder to always keep looking for records and information even when we think we might have an answer – we might not have the full story.

Did I also mention that the cemetery is not in the community where they have lived for over 20 years? It’s located where they met and grew up ... and, that’s a story for another day.

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NGS does not imply endorsement of any outside advertiser or other vendors appearing in this blog. Any opinions expressed by guest authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the view of NGS.

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Think your friends, colleagues, or fellow genealogy researchers would find this blog post interesting? If so, please let them know that anyone can read past UpFront with NGS posts or subscribe!

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Suggestions for topics for future UpFront with NGS posts are always welcome. Please send any suggested topics to UpfrontNGS@mosaicrpm.com

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Unless indicated otherwise or clearly an NGS Public Relations piece, Upfront with NGS posts are written by Diane L Richard, editor, Upfront with NGS.

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24 November 2014

You Can Help! Institutional Cemeteries Website Seeking Assistance -- Let's Do What We Can to Remember These Often Forgotten Individuals

Steven Seim has created a website, Institutional Cemeteries.org, ...

He is requesting your help! Per a blurb on Facebook ...

I’m looking for some help with a project I’ve been working on.

I’m trying to catalog all cemeteries established for residents of asylums, poor farms, orphanages, prisons, etc. – in other words, cemeteries for the unclaimed. Most of the people laid to rest in these cemeteries were forgotten in their own lifetimes, and often the cemeteries themselves are abandoned or neglected.

Please check out my website: http://institutionalcemeteries.org/ and check in particular the cemetery listings near you. Red icons mean that I still need GPS coordinates for the cemetery, and yellow icons mean that the listing of burials on Findagrave is not complete.

If you have more information about one of these cemeteries, or one that I’ve missed, I’d love to hear from you. Together we can preserve a record of these forgotten burial sites.

Many many families had family members who ended up in an institution, for one reason or another, and many ended up dying in one. Many are buried in unmarked graves ... long forgotten.

To use this resource, click on the appropriate region -- Midwest, Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, South, Southwest or Northwest -- to see that regional map. Click on any icon and you will see a bubble that comes up. The bubble will include a link to the appropriate find-a-grave page and also to an informational page with AKA names, a statement about the completeness of the find-a-grave information, location, and other details.

This is a neat project and an important one.

Some related resources:

+ Tips on Researching Institutionalized Ancestors (Upfront with NGS)

+ Poorhouses & Poverty, Orphans, Prisons, Prisoners & Outlaws, Hospitals, Asylums & Sanitariums (Cyndi’s List)

+ Ancestors in lunatic asylums (WDYTYA –

version & many of these suggests are relevant elsewhere)

+ Asylums, State Hospitals, and Private Institutions, Researching Your Ancestors in the Poor Farm (Genealogy Today)

+ Genealogical Prison Records (Blacksheep Ancestors)

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NGS does not imply endorsement of any outside advertiser or other vendors appearing in this blog. Any opinions expressed by guest authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the view of NGS.

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Think your friends, colleagues, or fellow genealogy researchers would find this blog post interesting? If so, please let them know that anyone can read past UpFront with NGS posts or subscribe!

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Suggestions for topics for future UpFront with NGS posts are always welcome. Please send any suggested topics to UpfrontNGS@mosaicrpm.com

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Unless indicated otherwise or clearly an NGS Public Relations piece, Upfront with NGS posts are written by Diane L Richard, editor, Upfront with NGS.

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25 September 2014

Find A Grave’s Community Day on October 18th

Keeping with yesterday’s theme about cemeteries, Find A Grave is having a community day on the 18^th of October.

Cemeteries are an important part of our family history. Your work to fulfill outstanding photo requests and building memorials helps people around the world who cannot visit these cemeteries in person. We know a lot of this is done on an individual basis and we thought it would be great to try and get you together as a group in your local community to meet one another while you do what you love to do.

While we started with a few locations in the USA, we hope to inspire meetups all around the world and expect this list to grow quite large over the coming weeks. These events are all volunteer run and are easy to set up. We hope you will be inspired to host an event in your local town and add it to the list below.

All the instructions on how to create a meetup event or participate in one are provided here.

The website page dedicate to this effort is here.

Might you or a local society host an event where you live?

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NGS does not imply endorsement of any outside advertiser or other vendors appearing in this blog. Any opinions expressed by guest authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the view of NGS.

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Think your friends, colleagues, or fellow genealogy researchers would find this blog post interesting? If so, please let them know that anyone can read past UpFront with NGS posts or subscribe!

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Suggestions for topics for future UpFront with NGS posts are always welcome. Please send any suggested topics to UpfrontNGS@mosaicrpm.com

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Unless indicated otherwise or clearly an NGS Public Relations piece, Upfront with NGS posts are written by Diane L Richard, editor, Upfront with NGS.

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24 September 2014

Finding unmarked graves -- Radar & Dogs -- invaluable tools!

Finding graves where there are no tombstones, monuments, or any type of marker presents a challenge.

With many loved ones and ancestors not always buried where we can easily find them, technology and other techniques are being increasingly deployed to help us located where ancestors maybe buried.

We previously wrote about Using Radar To Do Cemetery Mapping and Find Unmarked Graves -- Fascinating! which explored using Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR).

A video was posted two days ago on the website of my local newspaper, Cadaver dogs find unmarked graves in historic Wilmington church cemetery which talks about using such dogs to “... search a historic Wilmington, NC, graveyard for unmarked graves. Although ground penetrating radar had been used, the dogs can search areas the technology could not reach. The dogs were helping the NC DOT find graves as a road widening project near the church/ graveyard frontage commenced.”

Of course, I then had to look and see what the precedent was for this and I came across Cherokee Tribune - Sixes UMC uses dogs to identify unmarked graves which talks about “A local church has enlisted some expert help in locating dozens of unmarked graves in its historic cemetery dating back to the 1830s.” An article from the summer about the same church, Unmarked graves found in old church grounds.

Here’s an article from Wyoming, Dogs help find unmarked graves at Douglas Cemetery.

Has a local-to-you graveyard or church or public cemetery used GPR or cadaver dogs to help identify the location of unmarked or undocumented graves?

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NGS does not imply endorsement of any outside advertiser or other vendors appearing in this blog. Any opinions expressed by guest authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the view of NGS.

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Think your friends, colleagues, or fellow genealogy researchers would find this blog post interesting? If so, please let them know that anyone can read past UpFront with NGS posts or subscribe!

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Suggestions for topics for future UpFront with NGS posts are always welcome. Please send any suggested topics to UpfrontNGS@mosaicrpm.com

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Unless indicated otherwise or clearly an NGS Public Relations piece, Upfront with NGS posts are written by Diane L Richard, editor, Upfront with NGS.

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14 August 2014

Please, Please, Please treat cemeteries and tombstones with respect!

A resource for Gravestone Preservation

Unfortunately, the news tells us the tale of a person wanting to do good and instead doing incredible harm. This is a common tale. We are all ignorant of much! It’s important, especially when there is a chance of harm, to do our homework, and then proceed with care and respect.

Michael J Leclerc’s blog post Danger in the Graveyard talks about the original tragic story involving a Tennessee cemetery and then discusses all the techniques NOT to be used on tombstones to make them more legible! Basically, anything beyond water (or under the guidance of an expert on Graveyard preservation) is a NO NO!

The Indiana Department of Natural Resources has a useful Cemetery Preservation page with links to some helpful resources. It starts out by saying “There are no state laws that describe the techniques for preservation of cemeteries and gravestones, but there are best practices and standards to meet to assure that you are preserving the site in a way that will not eventually lead to damage.” This is true for many states.

Another element of this story is that this individual did NOT have the permission of the church to which the cemetery belonged to with regards to taking photos. The Legal Genealogist (Judy G Russell) has a great post Cemetery photos: permission required? where she discusses this topic in great depth. Also, do read all the comments posted, there is a lot of neat dialog and information to be found. I found that NC has many statutes that protect cemeteries as summarized on this North Carolina Office of State Archaeology page The North Caroline Cemetery Survey and Protective Legislation. You might find similar statutes in your own state.

The perpetrators intent was to upload the images to Find a Grave. Judy has another post Grave terms of use where she talks in detail about Find A Grave and BillionGraves, as two examples of crowdsourcing for tombstones and other death information.

We cannot know it all! There is no question about that! A great benefit of the “web” is that we can educate ourselves before we take on any project. Sometimes that education is that what we want to accomplish is something we are NOT qualified to do or for which we don’t have the tools. Rather than put a tombstone, building, landmark, etc., at risk – just STOP. As we enjoy and cherish historical objects and sites, we want future generations to be able to share in the same experience.

It’s not like you would dive into doing electrical work without some training or under the supervision of an experienced professional. Why would you think you know how to properly handle a historic tombstone?

Please do continue to have a passion for documenting tombstones for posterity. We know that the elements and time will and have already taken a toll and that our efforts will help future generations see images and content from tombstones which may no longer exist. And, let’s try to not to hasten the deterioration of these edifices honoring our ancestors in our enthusiasm. Let’s do our homework on what is the proper and respectful care that the contents of cemeteries and graveyards deserve.

Editor’s Note: Upfront with NGS posts on related topics:

· Cemeteries + Photos -- When Do You Need Permission!

· How to read the unreadable Gravestone Headstone Tombstone Grave Marker Cemetery Stone, guest post by Anthony Bengston

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NGS does not imply endorsement of any outside advertiser or other vendors appearing in this blog. Any opinions expressed by guest authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the view of NGS.

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Think your friends, colleagues, or fellow genealogy researchers would find this blog post interesting? If so, please let them know that anyone can read past UpFront with NGS posts or subscribe!

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Suggestions for topics for future UpFront with NGS posts are always welcome. Please send any suggested topics to UpfrontNGS@mosaicrpm.com

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Unless indicated otherwise or clearly an NGS Public Relations piece, Upfront with NGS posts are written by Diane L Richard, editor, Upfront with NGS.

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