The Quest

Today was a beautiful day in Albany. The sun was radiant, the few clouds withheld rain, and a swift breeze cooled the air... a perfect day for a walk through Albany Rural Cemetery. Many times, I have tried to photograph entire sections of the cemetery. Today, however, I wandered through taking photos of Celtic crosses and checking here and there for headstones that haven't been added to Find-a-Grave. There are many of both. One memorial in particular caught my eye today... a unique carving of stones, draped with roses and calla lilies, topped with a cross and anchor. It belonged to a young woman named Hettie Ten Eyck. The Ten Eyck name always catches my eye because that was the surname of the woman who worked in the communication office at FUMC Grapevine before me. That, in combination with the stunning headstone and the fact that she died on my birth date (87 years earlier), made me curious about Hettie and the life she led. I thought the anchor was interesting and won...

When I go to a cemetery to take photographs, I'm always drawn to the headstones of the people who seem forgotten. In Albany Rural Cemetery , there are many, many forgotten ones. I have taken pictures of quite a few headstones there that have not yet been added to Find-a-Grave (most of the cemetery is well-documented there). It makes me wonder if they have any family out there, anyone looking for a record of their life. It's sobering to think that one day all that may be left of your life is a solitary headstone in a single plot with no family around you. I spent a fair bit of time on Saturday uploading pictures, adding new entries, and trying to find out if the person in question was forgotten, or had family to remember them. When I see a person's headstone with no inscription and no fanfare, it makes me wonder if they were impoverished or if they had no one to give care to the creation of a headstone that reflected their life. Take this one, for example: It's a...

I think it's highly inconsiderate to post a picture on Find-A-Grave when someone else has already claimed it and not tell them that you did. So today I go out in the rain to get a picture of a headstone that was requested in Bear Creek Cemetery. I claimed it the day the request was posted. Today is three days later. You are asked to take pictures within two weeks of the day you claim them. When I get to the cemetery (which, by the way, was NOT on my way to anywhere today), I pull up the Find-A-Grave site on my phone to verify the name and vital stats of the person I'm looking for. And what to my wondering eyes did appear... but two photos of said person's grave! Thanks, Todd Peters (contributor #47844210). If you had taken a moment to just shoot me a message saying you'd already taken care of it, I could have saved myself a rainy trip! OR even post the pictures through the "fulfill" link on the request. Common courtesy: a thing of the past. Rant over.

In the course of researching the Edgren family, I had reason to visit the Oak Woods (or Oakwoods) Cemetery in south Chicago. This huge 186-acre historic cemetery is quite overwhelming. However, their office staff were exceptionally helpful in locating the Edgren graves in question. Unfortunately, they didn't have record of the grave of most interest to me. They are limited to two look-ups, which I can understand. I am sure the demand is great considering the number of burials in this cemetery. At any rate, we found some of the ones we were looking for. But what I found more interesting was the old Jewish section of the cemetery. I was shocked at the condition of this section. The Oak Woods Cemetery is quite distinguished, representing the turn of the century tradition of designing cemeteries as parks. It is landscaped and well-kept. Except for the old Jewish section. This section is overgrown. Many headstones are overturned and crumbling. It appears as if the he...

It seems somehow appropriate to visit a cemetery the weekend before All Saints Day (and therefore Halloween). I didn't see any ghosts, but I was saddened by the number of field stones in the Parker Memorial Cemetery . Saddened because those graves, although marked, will never be known by name. I find field stones interesting because they give us a glimpse of the materials that were available to our ancestors. But they are also beyond frustrating... because each one marks a grave that is unidentifiable. You can tell that many of them once bore inscriptions, but now they are worn away to nothing. Sad. At least one of them was still in good condition and readable. I imagine it was placed much later than the others.

While visiting my sister this week in Chicago, I decided to take a walk through the neighborhood to Union Ridge Cemetery. Union Ridge is one of the highest points in Cook County and is a part of Norwood Park. Originally organized in 1872 from adjacent townships (Jefferson, Leyden and Niles) as a village, and named after Henry Ward Beecher's novel Norwood , or Village Life in New England (1868), Norwood Park was annexed to the City of Chicago in 1893. Click here to read more about Norwood Park . Union Ridge Cemetery is a beautiful place... well-shaded, and mostly well-kept. Quite a few of the headstones have begun to sink into the ground, obscuring the lower parts of the inscriptions. The cemetery is mostly surrounded by residential areas, which you would think would make it a peaceful place. And it was for the most part... except for the one lady who was outside in her backyard screaming the f-word at God-knows-who. There were several large monuments, and a good number of m...

When Ken died, I thought I'd shy away from my fascination with cemeteries and family history. In the moment, it seemed morbid. But I felt compelled to go visit Floyd's resting place (Ken's dad) yesterday during lunch. People may think I'm morbid for walking cemeteries in my spare moments, but Bear Creek Cemetery is one of the more peaceful places I know to go. All the people there are at peace... there's greenery and shade and flowers and reminders of lives lived well. I can't explain why I feel soothed there, but somehow I do. The questions and uncertainty of "real life" seem insignificant there, where lives are finished and strife is over. Sure, there's a melancholy there. But sometimes melancholy is just the balm I need to heal.

The other day I was looking at some church records from Bear Creek Baptist Church (which doesn't exist anymore) and came across a "Brother Gideon" who visited from Lonesome Dove Baptist Church. The entry wasn't dated, but most of the others were around the 1850-1880 range, so I'm assuming this visit was during that time period. Anyway... this precipitated a search for Lonesome Dove Baptist Church, which is still in existence and has a cemetery associated with it. So today's lunch trek took me across the city limit into Southlake for a visit to Lonesome Dove. As I've mentioned before, as I drive around this area I see signs all around me of the lifestyle that used to be here... before wealth and prosperity began to push the old out to make way for the new (and sometimes ridiculous). Driving down Dove Road is a prime example. You cross areas that are still heavy with underbrush, where it seems the Texas wilderness wants to reclaim its lost territory. In ot...

On this Memorial Day weekend, I decided to use my Saturday to visit my ancestors in the "boonies." We have many family members buried in Cooke, Montague, Clay and other neighboring counties. I had planned to visit four cemeteries, but we (the dogs and I) were quite tired by the time we finished at the second one, so I decided to just do one more and call it a day. Marysville We started out north toward Gainesville around 10:30 AM. First stop was to be Marysville, TX. According to a website I found, the Daughters of the Confederacy had a ceremony out there at the beginning of May, so I figured their driving directions were probably more concise than the vague descriptions I had found elsewhere. Turns out I should have stuck with consulting Google Maps. I turned north off of Hwy 82 west of Gainesville onto FM2739. That part was fine. The instructions then said to "follow CR 417 on into town." Um, yeah. That makes it sound like "town" is not too far on CR ...