Stone Gardens

Almost 200 Years Later, Irish Given a Proper Burial in Pennsylvania

2012-03-10T03:50:00.001-06:00

5 Irish immigrants re-buried in Pa. cemetery

By Kathy Matheson, Associated Press

Bala Cynwyd, Pa. (AP) — The remains of five Irish laborers who researchers believe were murdered in 1832 while building a Pennsylvania railroad received a dignified re-interment Friday, more than 3,000 miles from their homeland and nearly two centuries after their first anonymous burials.

People lined up to pay their respects before five wooden caskets at West Laurel Hill Cemetery in Bala Cynwyd. The sounds of bagpipes and gunshot salutes filled the air as dozens of mourners paid tribute, including Kevin Conmy, deputy ambassador for the Irish embassy in Washington.

"What this does is it just reminds us that the story of Irish in America has many strands," Conmy said. "You do get a sense that justice has been done to these people."

The immigrants were among 57 hired to help build a stretch of the Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad known as Duffy's Cut. They lived in a shantytown by the rails in current-day Malvern, about 20 miles west of Philadelphia.

Historian Bill Watson and his twin brother Frank Watson, also a historian, led a team that set out nearly a decade ago to find out what happened to the workers from Donegal, Tyrone and Derry. They believe many died of cholera and were dumped in a mass grave at Duffy's Cut.

But they also theorized — based on mortality statistics, newspaper accounts and internal railroad company documents — that some were killed. Railroad officials never notified the workers' relatives of their deaths, and they later burned the shantytown.

.....

To find more on this story, go to:

http://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/5-irish-immigrants-re-1378444.html

New Take on Burials at Sea - National Geographic

2012-03-09T02:54:00.001-06:00

For more on Neptune Reef, check out the February 2011 issue of National Geographic.

Another Vacant Chair in Illinois!

2012-03-09T01:29:00.000-06:00

Calvary Cemetery; Springfield, IL

Cemetery Crime Thursday - Florida National Cemetery

2012-03-08T09:26:00.000-06:00

Florida National Cemetery Vandals Target Graves of Jewish Vets

Published Wednesday, March 7, 2012

BUSHNELL — At first, the vandalism looked like an act of appalling but random disrespect.

Early Saturday morning, a worker at Florida National Cemetery near Bushnell discovered grave markers in Section 327 that had been uprooted or knocked over. The next day, crews found 10 more disturbed stones in nearby Section 324, where renovations are currently under way. Both sections are on the southwestern side of the sprawling, 527-acre cemetery.

Then cemetery staffers saw the pattern: Etched in the top of all 13 markers was the Star of David, indicating the deceased were of the Jewish faith.

"We knew we had a problem" beyond random vandalism, said cemetery director Kurt Rotar.

Rotar contacted the Veterans Administration police on Sunday and the Sumter County Sheriff's Office on Monday. Both agencies are investigating the incident as a hate crime because the markers indicate a clear target, said Lt. Bobby Caruthers, spokesman for the Sheriff's Office.

Hate crimes are characterized by the perpetrator targeting a victim because of race, ethnicity, religion, disability or sexual orientation. Florida's hate crime law mandates increased penalties for convictions of crimes where there is evidence of prejudice.

In this case, for example, the likely charge would be injuring or removing a tomb or monument, a third-degree felony, Caruthers said. The hate crime designation increases the charge to a second-degree felony, punishable by up to 15 years in prison and a maximum fine of $10,000.

Since the crime occurred in a national cemetery, the case could also be prosecuted in federal court, Caruthers said.

The headstones marked the graves of Jewish veterans of World War II and conflicts in Vietnam and Korea, and their spouses, buried in the last six years or so, Rotar said. Most were from the greater Tampa or Orlando areas.

Rotar called the families of the deceased to notify them.

"We reassured them that the stones were not damaged and the grave sites themselves had not been compromised in any way," he said. "If you walk out there now, you couldn't tell which stones had been pushed over."

It's the first act of vandalism in the cemetery's 24-year history, Rotar said.

The cemetery is bordered by the Withlacoochee State Forest to the west and south and the Sumter Correctional Institution to the north. A camera is at the cemetery's entrance, but there are plenty of places to gain access to the grounds, Rotar said.

© 2012 • Tampa Bay Times

Homemade Headstones

2012-03-07T01:34:00.000-06:00

Blanca Esther Acuna

Sunrise: Apr. 27, 1964
Sunset: Mar. 19, 2007

Burial: Bagdad Cemetery
Leander, Williamson County, Texas

ACUNA, 42, minister of Taylor, formerly of Austin, died March 19. Survived by husband Concepcion. Services noon Thursday, All Faiths Funeral Service, north location. Burial Bagdad Cemetery, near Leander.
Austin American-Statesman March 28, 2007

Find A Grave Memorial# 66487704

Texas Tuesday!

2012-03-06T01:08:00.001-06:00

Silent Sunday

2012-03-04T01:16:00.000-06:00

Those Dang British Badgers!

2012-03-01T01:01:00.000-06:00

Grave-robbing Badgers Dig Up British Cemetery

HuffPost Weird News
David Moye
Updated: 02/28/2012 11:14 pm

There is a grave problem at a British cemetery: Badgers are robbing the graves.

The rascally creatures have tunnelled under coffins and even excavated bones and human remains at Radnor Street Cemetery in Swindon, a city in the southwestern part of England about 181 miles from London.

The graveyard has been around since 1881 and holds 33,000 deceased Brits. It's been only recently, however, that the badgers have become a problem, according to the BBC.

It seems the tenacious badgers have burrowed under numerous graves and bringing bones to the surface, a distressing situation for the relatives of those interred there.

Mark Sutton, of the Friends of Radnor Street Cemetery, told the Swindon Advertiser that he thinks badgers are "lovely," but wishes they didn't like the cemetery so much.

“In some places they have burrowed right under the graves, toppling some headstones and more disturbingly, depositing human bones on the surface," he told the paper. “Two or three years ago I received a phone call from a distressed person to say vandals had struck. I visited the cemetery to see the grass completely torn up. I have never seen it so bad. It wasn’t vandals but the very cute badgers.”

However, a spokesperson for the Swindon Town Council says nothing can be done to remove the grave-disturbing critters because the cemetery was designated a nature reserve in 2005, making it illegal to badger the badgers.

"Licenses to move badgers are only granted in exceptional circumstances," the source told the BBC. "There have been occasions over the years where human remains have been found above the ground in the cemetery and we have reverently re-interred these as close to their original graves as possible."

That's a lot of work for volunteers like Rev. Simon Shouler, who has been forced to carry out regular patrols to pick up stray bones, store them and re-inter them all in a new grave, according to the Telegraph.

Because the setts -- or dens -- are under or in the grave, he says that he is not allowed to bury the bones in their rightful place.

"I have been told to carry out a monthly bone patrol, collect them all up and re-inter them in a new grave," he told the Telegraph. ”It is ridiculous. If I decided to dig up a grave to build an extension for the church or something, there would be hell to pay, yet here we have people who are having their bones scattered at the whim of someone sitting in an office miles away.

Although locals like Rev. Shouler have a bone to pick with the grave-robbing badgers, help could be on the way by this summer.

The Swindon Town Council is looking into building one-way doors at the opening of the setts that would allow the badgers to exit, but not go back inside.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/28/grave-robbing-badgers-dig-up-british-cemetery_n_1308190.html

Homemade Headstones

2012-02-29T02:26:00.000-06:00

Tucker Cemetery

Austin, Texas

Charles A. Tracy
1886-1962

Jesse E. Teague
Birth: Aug. 25, 1887
Death: Apr. 12, 1963

Martha Susan Teague Tracy
Birth: Dec. 22, 1855
Death: Mar. 22, 1928

Orlando Tracy
Birth: Feb. 22, 1842
Death: Mar. 20, 1930

Bobby Claude Rhymes
Birth: Jul. 14, 1947
Death: Aug. 10, 1947

Marian Elaine Fry
Birth: Dec. 28, 1965
Death: Dec. 30, 1965

Texas Tuesday

2012-02-28T01:07:00.001-06:00

Unique Etchings - Pecans

2012-02-27T01:10:00.001-06:00

The etchings at the top of this stone look like pecans??

The Texas State Tree: Pecan

(Photo courtesy Dohmann
Pecan Farms, Alvin, Texas)

The pecan is a large tree native to North America. It bears sweet edible nuts, deep brown in color, that range from 1 to 2 inches in length.

Texas is the largest producer of native pecans, and is second only to Georgia in the production of hybrid (orchard grown) varieties. The pecan became the Texas state tree by act of the Texas Legislature in 1919. Governor James Hogg favored the tree so much that he requested that one be planted at his gravesite.

The meats of the pecan are prized in Texas cuisine as well. Pecan pie made with pecans and corn syrup is a customary holiday dessert and is as much a tradition as a Christmas Tree in the living room. Many also make a habit of shelling the nuts and eating them out of hand.

http://www.lsjunction.com/tree.htm

Silent Sunday

2012-02-26T13:05:00.000-06:00

Cemetery Crime Thursday - North Carolina

2012-02-23T15:20:00.000-06:00

Burial vaults stolen from Lincolnton cemetery

By Meghan Cooke
macooke@charlotteobserver.com

www.findagrave.com

Posted: Thursday, Feb. 23, 2012

The Lincoln County Sheriff's Office released this surveillance image the suspects' pickup in this week's theft from Forest Lawn Cemetery on East N.C. 150.

Authorities are searching for thieves who have stolen more than 50 burial vaults from a Lincolnton cemetery since December.

The most recent theft was discovered Wednesday when someone found 10 vaults missing from Forest Lawn Cemetery on East N.C. 150, according to the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office. The 10 vaults are valued at $10,000, authorities said.

But the Sheriff's Office said more than 50 vaults - worth about $30,000 - have been stolen from the cemetery in four separate thefts over a three-month span. The earlier thefts were reported on Dec. 16., Dec. 26 and Feb. 16.

Vaults are containers in which caskets that hold remains are placed during burials. But the stolen vaults had not been used and did not contain remains, the Sheriff's Office said. The vaults were being stored on the property.

Lt. Tim Johnson said investigators aren't sure why someone would steal the vaults but said it's possible the thieves may plan to resell them. The suspects in each of four thefts may be the same people, Johnson said.

This week's theft was caught on surveillance video in the cemetery. The footage shows two men in the area where the vaults are stored around 9:45 p.m. Tuesday, and then a dark-colored pickup truck is seen pulling away with the vaults loaded on back.

Authorities said the pickup appears to be a Chevrolet or GMC with an extended cab.

Anyone with information about the thefts is asked to call Johnson at 704-736-8864, the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office at 704-732-9050 or Crime Stoppers at 704-736-8909.

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/02/23/3038876/burial-vaults-stolen-from-lincolnton.html#storylink=cpy

But Who Was Typhoid Mary??

2012-02-22T06:54:00.000-06:00

I've always heard the term "Typhoid Mary" but didn't know what it meant. I found this article recently from a 1909 Washington Post article -- Interesting!

Homemade Headstones

2012-02-21T06:04:00.001-06:00

Evergreen Cemetery

Austin, Texas

Daisy M. Fowler Dickerson

Birth: March 8, 1919
Death: February 22, 1995
Burial: February 25, 1995
Plot: DB2-164-2
Find A Grave Memorial# 80112251

Wilford J. Howard Birth: July 24, 1933
Death: September 4, 1969
Burial: September 6, 1969
Plot: DB2-164-1
Find A Grave Memorial# 80112250

Happy Presidents Day!

2012-02-20T12:58:00.000-06:00

Just a few of the Presidential gravesites I've visited! Go ahead, call me strange!

Jersey Girl Laid to Rest - Rest in Peace Whitney

2012-02-19T15:39:00.000-06:00

Whitney Houston is laid to rest in private ceremony at NJ cemetery where her father is buried

1991 Super Bowl

By Associated Press, Updated: Sunday, February 19, 3:05 PM

WESTFIELD, N.J. — Whitney Houston was laid to rest Sunday at a brief private ceremony in New Jersey, the end of a weekend that saw the pop star’s family and friends gather at a star-studded funeral to mourn her loss while celebrating her career.

Fans and onlookers gathered in several places along the route the motorcade took from the Newark funeral home to the cemetery about 20 miles away in Westfield [Fairview Cemetery], where Houston was buried next to her father, who died in 2003.

The 48-year-old singer died Feb. 11 in California, hours before she was to attend a pre-Grammy Awards party. No cause of death has been determined.

On Saturday, she was mourned at an invitation-only funeral at the church in Newark where she sang in the choir as a child. She was remembered by the biggest names in the music: Stevie Wonder and Alicia Keys sang, and industry mogul Clive Davis was among those who spoke, as was Kevin Costner, Houston’s co-star in “The Bodyguard.”

The funeral was closed to fans, who were not allowed within blocks of the church. Still, many came to Newark to take part in what ways they could, some from as far as Miami and Washington, D.C.

Fans gathered again near the funeral home Sunday morning, and some even slowly ran alongside the hearse as it began the journey to Houston’s gravesite. Several yelled out “We love you, Whitney” as the hearse, which had a black and white headshot of the star in a window, slowly drove away.

Fairview Cemetery; Westfield, NJ

Genealogy Finds on eBay!

2012-02-18T01:54:00.002-06:00

Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church; Highlands, NJ

You never know what you might find on eBay - here is an old postcard showing the Church where my father, as a boy, worshipped with his family!

Magnus Holman - My Brick Wall

2012-02-17T01:35:00.002-06:00

My Geat-Geat-Gandfather

MAGNUS HOLMAN

Born: 30 Jun 1844; Hoganas, Sweden
Married: Ellen Callaghan; 17 Oct 1871; New York, New York
Died: 15 Nov 1904; New York, New York

U.S. Naturalization Records Indexes, 1794-1995
(www.ancestry.com)

Name: Magnus Holman
Issue Date: 22 Oct 1879
State: New York
Locality, Court: Southern District of New York, District and Circuit Court

(*I'm not sure why "former nationality" is listed as Norwegian instead of Swedish?)

I want to find out more about Magnus: birth record, his parents & siblings, ship manifest record, a marriage record, an obituary - but I'm exhausting my resources and don't know where else to look. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Cemetery Crime Thursday - Louisiana

2012-02-16T01:44:00.001-06:00

3 Arrested for Cemetery Vandalism

By Staff reports

Associated Press

Posted Feb 14, 2012 @ 10:32 AM

BASTROP — JENNINGS, La. (AP) — Jefferson Davis Parish authorities have arrested three teenagers in connection with vandalism at three cemeteries.

Jennings Police Chief Todd D'Albor said Sebastian Abshire, 19, Joselyn Mire, 18, and a 17-year-old were arrested Monday and booked with desecration of graves.

D'Albor told the American Press (http://bit.ly/qjfACs ) the three allegedly used red, white and blue paint to write profanity and other graffiti on more than a dozen graves and headstones at Cavalry and Greenwood cemeteries off La. Highway 97.

They also broke windows and spray-painted graffiti at the mausoleum at Greenwood Cemetery, police said.

About 15 headstones were knocked over and vases and other mementos broken at Doucet Cemetery off Grand Marais Road near Hathaway, Sheriff Ricky Edwards said.

Deputy Police Chief Danny Semmes said the vandalism, which happened Friday night or Saturday morning, caused thousands of dollars in damage. Police were notified Saturday by a relative of one of those whose grave was damaged, he said.

"At this point we have at least 10 complaints of vandalism and are encouraging people to contact police if they find out they have damages," Semmes said. "They need to let us know so in the event that the suspect or suspects have to make restitution to the victims."

Police reportedly found footprints on some of the graves and on the mausoleum glass, and officers canvassed the area, asking residents if they saw or heard anything.

District Attorney Michael Cassidy said people found guilty of desecrating a grave can be sentenced to six months in jail or up to two years in prison, depending on the amount of damage they cause.

http://www.bastropenterprise.com/newsnow/x1676722250/3-arrested-for-cemetery-vandalism

Copyright 2012 Bastrop Daily Enterprise.

For Those in the Austin Area - Genealogy After Dark

2012-02-15T20:39:00.002-06:00

Pennsylvania Sinkhole Threatens Cemetery

2012-02-15T03:47:00.001-06:00

WMTW.com

Pennsylvania Sinkhole Threatens Graves At Historic Cemetery

By Phil Gast CNN

POSTED: 5:09 pm EST December 29, 2011

UPDATED: 9:58 pm EST December 29, 2011

(CNN) -- Lehigh County Coroner Scott Grim's office normally responds to calls of motor vehicle accidents, homicides or other incidents that require determination of a cause of death. Thursday brought something totally unexpected.

A large sinkhole spread into a historic cemetery in Allentown, Pennsylvania, prompting officials to get a court order to allow exhumations of graves if Grim deems such action necessary.

About 60 graves in Union and West End Cemetery are threatened and were roped off, Grim told CNN.
Many of the burials were in the 1880s, with at least one as far back as 1858.

"If we go back there tomorrow and see a shift or collapse in soil or ground, or if any sites are in jeopardy, than we are going to have to make that decision to excavate," the coroner said.

A dozen homes on nearby 10th Street were vacated and 25 people evacuated because of the sinkhole, said Allentown Fire Chief Robert C. Scheirer. The sinkhole was likely caused by a water main break.

A judge gave officials a conditional go-ahead to do the exhumations.

"It's a very sensitive issue. You are dealing with a cemetery," Grim told CNN. "You are laid to rest and now it is being disturbed."

Several headstones have tilted and there were some breaks in the cemetery ground. Most of the graves are from the late 1800s to early 1900s, officials said.

"We can see depressions where the ground has fallen as much as two feet," said Everette Carr, president of the Union and West End Cemetery Association, which maintains the 157-year old nonprofit burial ground.

"It's a very volatile situation," Carr said. "The ground is unstable. There is no question it is moving."

There also could be unmarked graves, said Carr.

Because of their age, some of the graves may have few remains in place, he added.

The cemetery holds about 20,000 graves, including 714 Civil War veterans, whose graves are located across the cemetery. Among them is a Medal of Honor winner, Ignatz Gresser.

Carr did not know if any of the threatened graves included soldiers. Grim, whose office photographed the 60 markers, said he saw some belonging to soldiers.

Cemetery volunteers previously did a survey, but there are no detailed historical records of the dead beyond those whose graves have headstones. And some of those are difficult to read, Carr said.

The coroner said he was in touch Thursday with a forensic archaeologist and anthropologist to learn more about burial practices of the period.

"During that era, people were buried in a wooden casket or some were buried in a brick-type casket," Grim said.

None of the graves appeared to be open.

The calamity also was affecting the living.

At least two residential structures nearby suffered serious damage from the sinkhole.

"Once we get the street secured, we will get into these homes and determine whether any have to be razed," Scheirer said.

The fire chief estimated the sinkhole to be about 50 feet long and 30 feet wide. "They are pumping concrete into it right now," he said.

Copyright CNN 2011

Homemade Headstones

2012-02-14T06:00:00.001-06:00

Austin, Texas

Symbolism Monday

2012-02-13T02:32:00.001-06:00

San Marcos Cemetery; San Marcos, Texas

Symbols from left to right:

Compass, Square & G -
The "G" in the Masonic symbol represents God, deity, and/or geometry.

Cross and Crown -
Is thought to represent suffering (the cross) followed by eternal reward (the crown). The Knights Templar version of this symbol is sometimes set within a Maltese cross. Or you will find it near other Masonic symbols.

Unknown

Daughters of the American Revolution

Plymouth 1620 Descendants

http://watch.pair.com/symbol.html
http://cemeteries.wordpress.com/2006/09/01/cross-and-crown/

Silent Sunday - Arlington National Cemetery

2012-02-12T01:06:00.000-06:00

Check out the Clayton Library Progams in Houston this month!

2012-02-10T03:07:00.002-06:00

February news and programming

Clayton Library Orientation
Saturday, February 18, 2012 10:30-11:45AM
Learn about the vast resources and how to efficiently utilize genealogical research materials housed at the Clayton Library Center for Genealogical Research. No reservations needed, meet at the Information Desk in the library. Adults/Teens.

African American Heritage database
Saturday, February 18, 2012 2:00-3:00PM
Please join Sue Kaufman, Clayton manager, for a presentation of the African American Heritage database. This groundbreaking digital resource is exclusively devoted to African American family history research. The collection was created in partnership with leading African American genealogists to develop a comprehensive mix of resources, records, and tools specifically pertaining to African Americans. Reservations required, please call 832-393-2600. Adults/Teens.

Researching Free Persons of Color in Louisiana
Saturday, February 25, 2012 10:30-11:30PM
Learn how to do genealogical research on free persons of color in Louisiana from the early French period to the years before the Civil War. The presentation will include case studies and discuss valuable resources. Learn the definition of “free person of color,” along with a brief discussion on the culture of pre-American Louisiana and some of the other labels used to describe free persons of color. Reservations required, please call 832-393-2600. Adults/Teens.

Lineage Help –
Most Wednesday nights, 5:30-7:30PM
Looking to join the United Daughters of the Confederacy, Daughters of the American Revolution, or Daughters of the Republic of Texas? Come to Clayton Library on Wednesday nights from 5:30 to 7:30. Members of the Oran M. Roberts Chapter UDC #440 are here to help you discuss your lineage application research. This is available MOST Wednesday nights, but call 832-393-2600 to confirm the team will be here. Sign up when you get to the library. Adults/Teens.

For more information, visit the Clayton Library webpage: http://www.houstonlibrary.org/clayton.

Baby Lee

2012-02-09T14:02:00.000-06:00

Harry (or Hardy?) Jones Lee "2 years & 1 day"

Oakwood Cemetery Austin, Texas

Captain John J. Grumbles - Texas State Cemetery

2012-02-08T01:37:00.000-06:00

Full Name: John J. Grumbles

Location: Section: Republic Hill, Section 1 (C1)
Row: V, Number:12

Reason for Eligibility: Captain, Texas Rangers

Birth Date: circa 1804

Died: February 20, 1858

In Memory of
Captain John J. Grumbles
born in South Carolina Circa 1804
Came to the Republic of Texas from
Alabama, with his wife Caroline in 1837
Settled in Travis County in 1840
Owned land at Barton Springs
from 1845 to 1855
Operated a ferry and a grist mill
on the Colorado River
near the mouth of Shoal Creek
An early Texas Ranger
Organized the Grumble's Company
Mounted Volunteers in 1846 to 1847
and again in 1849 to 1850
Killed in San Saba February 25, 1858

Homemade Headstones

2012-02-07T17:56:00.000-06:00

Uhland - Live Oak Cemetery

Hays County, Texas

Symbolic Monday

2012-02-06T01:42:00.001-06:00

A ship usually symbolizes a seafaring life, and sometimes it could mean a death at sea.

Abraham Pearce

Died: October 14, 1854
Buried: Rumson Burying Ground, Monmouth County, New Jersey

Silent Sunday!

2012-02-05T02:48:00.000-06:00

A Mother & her Two Daughters

2012-02-04T01:38:00.001-06:00

The Graves of my Great-Grandmother - Lucy Kebart Dempsky and my Aunts Lucy & Marcy.

DEMPSKY

MOTHER - Lucy Kebart Dempsky
Died - Sept. 12, 1962

DAUGHTER - Lucy Dempsky Meyers
Died - Feb. 16, 2002

DAUGHTER - Marcella Dempsky Koistinen
Jan. 1, 1909 - May 5, 1993

St. Bernard's Cemetery

Tariffville, Connecticut

Donald Trump's Cemetery?!?!

2012-02-02T23:02:00.000-06:00

Trump offers golden graves for silver-spoon set

By Samantha Henry, Associated Press
Thursday, February 2, 2012
(02-02) 06:21 PST Newark, N.J. (AP) --

They say you can't take it with you when you die, but that's not necessarily true for the wealthiest Americans — like Donald Trump.

He announced this week he is considering building a 1.5-acre cemetery next to his high-end golf course in Bedminster, where members pay a lifetime fee of as much as $300,000. If they want to stay beyond that, they most likely will pay a membership fee that includes burial.

It may be among the pricier final resting places, but if it gets state and local approval, it'd be a bargain compared with some of the country's other swank cemeteries.

Putting one's name on the most permanent of marquees can reach several million dollars at the most exclusive cemeteries — a far cry from the median $6,560 for a funeral in 2009, the most recent yearly figure from the National Funeral Directors Association.

At Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Mass., a National Historic Landmark renowned for its landscaping, the choicest piece of pond-front property costs upward of half a million dollars, said Sean O'Regan, vice president of cemetery services and operations.

"While you're not purchasing real estate — you're purchasing burial rights — it's definitely location, location, location," O'Regan said.

The Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, which was designated last year as a National Historic Landmark, is popular among the wealthy and famous. Burial arrangements can range from $600 for cremated remains to $3.5 million for an historic private mausoleum more than 100 years old, Woodlawn President John Toale said.

The Frank E. Campbell funeral home in New York's Manhattan is the go-to place for celebrity funerals. In its 115 years of business, the home has arranged final rites for the titans of New York industry, famous sports figures, politicians and countless celebrities, Vice President Dominic Carella said.

"We fulfill any request, from private jets, to horse-drawn carriages," Carella said, adding that no request surprises him — from arranging Dixie Land bands to a funeral procession with the rarest of collectible Ferraris. "We've had funerals from $20,000 or $30,000, to a couple hundred thousand dollars."

Wealthy clients who wish to go quietly know the company's fee includes keeping personal details from the media and providing undercover security guards to keep the paparazzi at bay, Carella said.

For a public funeral, as when tens of thousands of mourners attended viewings in Miami and New York for Latin music legend Celia Cruz, the company can organize the crowds, control the information flow, and take care of special requests from the family.

And as in life, those accustomed to keeping commoners at arm's length can do so in death.

"I have families that come in to me and say, `I want a family plot, but I don't want anyone next to me,' so they'll buy the six plots around them," Carella said.

He recently sold 12 grave plots to a man in East Hampton, N.Y., who wished to be buried in the center of the property and surrounded by landscaping.

Large family plots and mausoleums have gone the way of many a celebrity marriage. While wealthy and famous figures of the past customarily would be surrounded in death by family members, a modern-day mogul may be torn over which relatives or ex-relatives will share the burial plot.

"It's the changing dynamics of the family. Going back 20 years, if someone came in and said they had five children, they'd buy a grave for 15," Carella said.

Campbell used to build 12 to 15 mausoleums a year but now erects only one or two.

"People are moving. There are mixed marriages, interfaith couples. The number of people buried together is fewer," Carella said. "A lot has to do with the changing dynamics of what's going on in society."

Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, N.Y., is another East Coast "destination" resting place. Carella recently arranged a funeral there. He said the plot cost $450,000 and the mausoleum nearly $1 million.

Forest Lawn, which has cemeteries in and around Los Angeles, is one of the most well-known burial spots for Hollywood celebrities. Elizabeth Taylor and Michael Jackson are buried there.

Spokesman Ben Sussman said prices start as low as $2,000. He declined to say how much the "distinguished properties" retail for. The spots include a private garden and sarcophagus or statuary.

But lavish burials or A-list cemeteries aren't the only way to go out with a bang.

For about $4,000, California-based Angels Flight will custom-design 210 fireworks containing the deceased's ashes, which can be fired off in a beach-front display, set to music. For an extra $1,000, the company will take a funeral party out on a yacht for an ocean fireworks display. And for those with a large enough piece of property, Angels Flight can stage the display in their private yard.

With cremation on the rise, some companies will custom-design an urn or transform ashes into a diamond ring, incorporate them into an oil painting or bury them in an eco-friendly underwater reef.

And for stars of the small screen, like Trump, there's a company that makes video tombstones that play a montage of photographs set to music.
__

Associated Press writer David Porter contributed to this report.
__

Follow Samantha Henry at www.twitter.com/SamanthaHenry.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2012/02/01/national/a232246S60.DTL

First Eagle Scout West of the Mississippi

2012-02-02T02:50:00.003-06:00

William Elmo Merrem

Birth: May 22, 1897
Shiner, Lavaca County, Texas

Death: June 29, 1982
Houston, Harris County, Texas

Burial:
San Marcos Cemetery, Hays County, Texas

First Eagle Scout West of the Mississippi River. He was awarded the rank of Eagle Scout July 3, 1913, in Shiner, Texas. A member of Troop No. 1, he achieved the rank just 3 years, 145 days after the Boy Scouts had come to America.

German Black Wrought Iron Cross

2012-02-01T20:18:00.000-06:00

Joe Brunk Cemetery

2012-02-01T06:26:00.000-06:00

David Marshall
Birth: Nov. 6, 1843
Death: Nov. 7, 1918

Burial:
Joe Brunk Cemetery
Springfield, Sangamon County, Illinois

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=marshall&GSiman=1&GScid=104918&GRid=20712849&

Honor our Veterans! What's Wrong with our Military Cemeteries?

2012-01-28T01:00:00.001-06:00

Headstones misplaced at military cemeteries

Christian Davenport, Washington Post

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

(01-25) 14:09 PST WASHINGTON -- The Department of Veterans Affairs has found scores of misplaced headstones and at least eight cases of people buried in the wrong places at several military cemeteries across the country.

The review by the VA's National Cemetery Administration follows the revelation of widespread burial problems at Arlington National Cemetery, which touched off congressional inquiries and a criminal investigation.

After the scandal at Arlington, which included mismarked and unmarked graves and people buried in the wrong spots, some veterans groups and members of Congress had called for the cemetery, which is run by the Army, to be transferred to the VA.

Although many of the errors at Arlington were caused by an antiquated paper-record system, VA officials said the problems at seven of its national cemeteries were largely the result of sloppy work during renovations. Headstones and markers were temporarily removed from the ground and reinserted in the wrong places.

Staff members at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery in San Antonio were testing the accuracy of a new cemetery map in July, for instance, and realized that 47 markers were one space over from where they were supposed to be.

The problem, they discovered, arose from a 2004 project to regrade the soil and realign the markers, which tend to shift as the ground moves. The markers were lifted and put back one plot away from the correct grave site.

The error resulted in four people being buried in the wrong places. To save space at sought-after national cemeteries, family members are typically buried in the same plot. Because the headstones were in the wrong spots, some people were not buried with their loved ones.

A similar problem was discovered in November at Houston National Cemetery. In 2002, after a similar renovation, 14 grave markers were put in the wrong places. No one noticed the error at the time. A person was then buried in what officials thought was a family member's grave site; it was actually one plot over.

VA officials first publicly acknowledged the problems after The Washington Post asked about the cemetery audits. In an interview Monday, Glenn Powers, the National Cemetery Administration's deputy undersecretary for field operations, said the VA is working to put all headstones in the right places and attempting to contact affected families to explain and apologize. But because the affected graves cover a long period - from decades ago to recent years - it might be impossible to locate all the next of kin, he said.

"We strive to operate the best cemetery system in the world, and if something like this happens, there is no excuse," Powers said. "The amount of times this happens is rare. But there is no margin of error; there shouldn't be any kind of error. . . . We need to learn and make sure it doesn't happen again."

In addition to the cemeteries in Texas, he said, problems have been discovered at national burial grounds in Ohio, New Mexico, New Jersey, Maryland and Pennsylvania. The cemetery administration is waiting on reports from Golden Gate and San Francisco National Cemeteries.

The audit, which was ordered in October, included only sections of cemeteries that had undergone renovations in the past decade. In all, the VA checked 1.3 million grave sites in 85 of its 131 cemeteries. It also checked graves at Camp Chase Confederate Cemetery in Columbus, Ohio.

Powers said that once the initial survey is complete, he will order a more comprehensive review of every section of every cemetery. He said he could not rule out further problems.

"We can't be certain until we check them," he said.

At Dayton National Cemetery in Ohio, officials found that 14 grave markers had been returned to the wrong spots after renovations in 2003 and 2004. They also discovered that in 1984, two veterans were buried in unmarked graves occupied by people who had died in 1894 and 1907.

At Santa Fe National Cemetery in New Mexico, 12 headstones and markers were put in the wrong spots after work in 2003 and 2009. One family member was buried in the wrong place.

At Beverly National Cemetery in New Jersey, Loudon Park National Cemetery in Baltimore and Philadelphia National Cemetery, officials discovered that a total of 28 headstones had been misplaced. At Beverly, officials also found an unmarked grave.

The four people buried in the wrong spots at Fort Sam Houston have been relocated to the correct grave sites, according to the National Cemetery Association.

The four re-interments at the other cemeteries have yet to happen.

Cemetery officials said many of the errors were caused by contractors. They said administrative penalties are possible, but no one has been disciplined so far. Officials said future contracts for projects that involve markers being moved would require the headstone to be kept at the grave site.

"It is very disappointing that after we finally turned a corner at Arlington National Cemetery, veterans' families are today being informed that their loved ones have not been laid to rest where originally thought at VA cemeteries around the country," Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., chairman of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs, said in a statement to The Post. Miller is scheduled to receive a report on the problems Tuesday.

"Ensuring our veterans are buried with dignity and respect is one of the most important things we as a nation do to honor the men and women who have sacrificed on our behalf. I am committed to rectifying this problem as quickly as possible to give the families affected peace and assurance, and I will work with the VA to make sure this is done immediately."
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/01/25/MN0R1MTHT1.DTL

Mt. Olivet Cemetery, Washington, D.C.

2012-01-26T00:57:00.000-06:00

John Carroll statue at Georgetown University, Washington, DC

Mt. Olivet Cemetery

Mount Olivet Cemetery is the oldest and largest Archdiocesan Catholic Cemetery in the Metropolitan Washington area. Since 1858 when the gates first opened, Mount Olivet has served the needs of the Catholic families and is still serving these needs.

Among the notable Americans who rest in Mount Olivet are James Hoban, Irish born Architect, who designed the White House. Daniel Carroll of Duddington, patriot, landowner and Washington's first bank president, who sacrificed much of his property to the Government to provide the site of the Capital and other Federal buildings; Captain Thomas Carberry, the sixth Mayor of Washington. Mount Olivet is also the resting place of two tragic Civil War figures, Mary Eugenia Surratt and Confederate Army Captain Henry Wirz.

In 1858 original parishes in Washington obtained permission from the Archbishop of Baltimore to prepare and open a Catholic Cemetery in Washington. The pastors of these churches, St. Matthews, St. Patrick's, St. Peter's and St. Dominic's administered the affairs of the Cemetery until it accepted the Archbishop of Washington as an Archdiocesan Cemetery in 1952. The first interment was made on October 12, 1858, Andrew Mills, a parishioner of St. Patrick's.

On its hundredth anniversay, Mount Olivet Cemetery consisted of 85 acres of well-tended grounds, holding the graves of over 106,000 persons.

Mount Olivet Cemetery's location on Bladensburg Road has historical significance. Its acres originally were part of the Fenwick Farm tract that once belonged to the brother-in-law of Archbishop John Carroll. Forty acres of Fenwick Farm were purchased by the pastors of the six oldest churches in Washington in 1857 from Edward Fenwick to establish Mount Olivet.

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=cr&CRid=104441&CScn=mt.+olivet&CScntry=4&CSst=9&

Oak Ridge Cemetery - Chair #2

2012-01-23T01:27:00.000-06:00

Patrick Dowling

Birth: May 24, 1856

Death: August. 22, 1896

Dowling was a saloon-keeper & cigar-maker in Springfield, Illinois. His ornately carved monument is a chair beneath which is the caption "Thou Shalt Be Missed Because Thy Seat Will Be Empty." The carving is one of most interesting of over 800 carved by Mr. Edward Levanius of Springfield, who was one of the last of the fine old hand stone-cutters of a bygone day.

Burial:

Oak Ridge Cemetery

Springfield, Sangamon County, Illinois

Plot: Block 8, 120

Maintained by: Find A Grave

Record added: Jan 29, 2001

Find A Grave Memorial# 19949

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Dowling&GSiman=1&GScid=107259&GRid=19949&

David Brunk Cemetery - Chair #1

2012-01-16T16:17:00.000-06:00

David Brunk Cemetery
Ball Township, Sangamon County, Illinois
Established 1855

What an amazing gravestone! Look at all the symbolism! Besides the chair itself, I see lilies, stars, a scroll, drapery, ferns, an urn, and tassels. During my short trip to Illinois, I saw many stones, shaped liked chairs. These are something I have not found in Texas (yet!).

I've been looking for information about these chairs and I'm coming up with nothing. Some have a tree branch/wood log look to them but I'm pretty sure they are not associated with the Woodmen of the World. I did read about "mourning chairs" and "devil's chairs", however I don't think the chairs I saw in Illinois fall into that category either!

Happy Anniversary Mom & Dad!!

2012-01-02T01:02:00.000-06:00

Patricia Ruth Cooke
and
John Joseph Demsky

Holy Cross Catholic Church
Rumson, New Jersey
January 2, 1960

Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T01:02:00.001-06:00

”˜˜”*°•.¸☆ ★ ☆¸.•°*”˜˜”*°•.¸☆★☆¸.•°*”˜˜”*°•.¸☆ ☆ Wishing Everyone a Happy, Healthy, Safe & Prosperous New Year ☆ .•°*”˜˜”*°•.¸☆ May 2012 be Your Best Year Ever! ☆•°*”˜˜”*°•.¸☆ ☆¸.•°*”˜˜”*°•.☆

Terezin National Cemetery - Czech Republic

2011-12-30T23:18:00.000-06:00

It has been four years to the day, I visited Terezin. This place will always remain a tragic symbol of the atrocities committed here during World War II. What a very sad place.

The National Cemetery was created artificially after liberation in 1945. The stimulus for its creation came from among former prisoners and the heirs of those who died, at whose request physical remains were exhumed from six mass graves in the ramparts of the Small Fortress which had been in use from March 1st to May 7th 1945. Among those who were exhumed were prisoners from the death march that in May 1945 arrived at the Small Fortress.

On September 16th 1945, in the presence of former prisoners, the descendants of some of the deceased, honourable leaders of political and public life in post-war Czechoslovakia and members of the general public, a ceremonial funeral was held for 601 exhumed victims (among those attending were the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jan Masaryk, and JUDr. Milada Horáková, who spoke for the women prisoners).

From the end of the War, Terezín became a site of reverence for the Czechoslovak people. A memorial service was held at the National Cemetery to mark the first anniversary of liberation, on May 5th 1946. The programme included the burial of victims exhumed from shared graves in Lovosice, from mass graves found in the forced labour camp at Litoměřice, and from the communal cemetery in Terezín.

The ashes of 52 prisoners executed in the Small Fortress on May 2nd 1945 were also added to the National Cemetery. Furthermore, the urns containing the ashes of victims of the typhus epidemic were brought here from the Terezín Crematorium, as were ashes from large pits nearby – in the main, the remains of the dead from the Terezín Ghetto.

As late as 1958, building work close to the Richard former underground factories exposed a grave containing human ashes; it was found that these were the mortal remains of a Jewish prisoner from the Terezín Ghetto. They were immediately reinterred in the National Cemetery.

The National Cemetery presently contains 2,386 individual graves (both urns and inhumations). Thousands more of the dead of the Small Fortress, Terezín Ghetto and Litoměřice forced labour camp, as well as of those who came to Terezín at the end of the War in the death march and death transports, are interred in the mass graves marked by five pylons. In all, the remains of some 10,000 victims lie within the National Cemetery.

To the Dead

A grave among graves, who can tell it apart,
time has long swept away the dead faces.
Testimonies, so evil and terrible to the heart,
we took with us to these dark rotting places.

Only the night and the howl of the wind
will sit on the graves' corners,
only a patch of grass, a bitter weed
before May bears some flowers...

Jaroslav Seifert

http://www.pamatnik-terezin.cz/en?lang=en

Baby Louis Hilgartner

2011-12-29T22:47:00.002-06:00

Henry Louis Hilgartner

Birth: Oct. 17, 1897
Death: Oct. 21, 1897

Burial:
Oakwood Cemetery
Austin, Travis County, Texas

Plot: Sec 2, Lot 771

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=hilgartner&GSiman=1&GScid=5704&GRid=65514869&

An All-American Family

2011-12-19T01:10:00.003-06:00

c 1924; Sea Bright, New Jersey

The Martin & Lillian O'Donnell Cooke Family

c1935; Rumson, New Jersey

Silent Sunday!

2011-12-18T01:33:00.001-06:00

Fredericksburg Catholic Cemetery

2011-12-17T00:12:00.000-06:00

Friday's Father: My Great-Grandfather Peter Dempsky

2011-12-16T03:05:00.003-06:00

On a recent research trip to Scranton, Pennsylvania, I was lucky to find microfilm for two newspapers (Scranton Times and Scranton Republican) dating back before 1917.

I had the death date of Peter but nothing else. Scanning the microfilm for the day he died as well as the days immediately after, I was thrilled to find the five articles below.

From reading these articles, I found out how Peter died, in what hospital he died, what coal mine he worked, the church he attended, the cemetery where he is buried, and the family's current address at the time!

Hopefully now, I should be able to mail off for his death certificate and find more new information on it.

Newspapers are a great tool in genealogy!

April 19, 1917; Scranton Times

April 20, 1917; Scranton Republican

April 20, 1917; Scranton Times

April 21, 1917; Scranton Republican

April 23, 1917; Scranton Times

Wreaths Across America!

2011-12-12T01:07:00.001-06:00

Sen. Olympia Snowe R-Maine lays a holiday wreaths over the grave of Lieutenant Edmund Sixtus Muskie at Arlington National Cemetery in Washington Saturday Dec. 10, 2011, during Wreaths Across America Day. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Volunteers lay 90K wreaths at Arlington cemetery

The Sacramento Bee/Associated Press
Published Saturday, Dec. 10, 2011

ARLINGTON, Va. -- Volunteers have laid tens of thousands of holiday wreaths at tombstones at Arlington National Cemetery.

Maine Gov. Paul LePage joined thousands of volunteers Saturday in placing the wreaths. A convoy of more than 20 trucks left Maine last Sunday, bound for the cemetery across from the nation's capital.

The tradition began 20 years ago with little fanfare. Morrill Worcester, owner of Worcester Wreath Co. in Harrington, Maine, and others laid 5,000 wreaths on headstones that first year to give thanks to the nation's veterans.

Since then, it has grown into an organization called Wreaths Across America with ceremonies across the country.

Organizers said 15,000 people joined the effort at Arlington. The wreaths will be on view until Jan. 28.

http://www.sacbee.com/2011/12/10/4113597/volunteers-lay-100k-wreaths-at.html

Silent Sunday

2011-12-11T01:54:00.001-06:00

World War I Soldier Killed in France

2011-12-10T01:36:00.002-06:00

San Marcos Cemetery; San Marcos, Texas

Jack Arnold

A.E.F. 141st INF.

36th Division

Killed in France

Oct. 8, 1918

Age 21 Years

Unusual Friday!

2011-12-09T22:40:00.001-06:00

Yet Another Look at the Texas Drought & Its Effect on Cemeteries

2011-12-09T10:34:00.000-06:00

Depleted Texas lakes expose ghost towns, graves

By ANGELA K. BROWN and MICHAEL GRACZYK | AP

BLUFFTON, Texas (AP) — Johnny C. Parks died two days before his first birthday more than a century ago. His grave slipped from sight along with the rest of the tiny town of Bluffton when Lake Buchanan was filled 55 years later.

Now, the cracked marble tombstone engraved with the date Oct. 15, 1882, which is normally covered by 20 to 30 feet of water, has been eerily exposed as a yearlong drought shrinks one of Texas' largest lakes.

Across the state, receding lakes have revealed a prehistoric skull, ancient tools, fossils and a small cemetery that appears to contain the graves of freed slaves. Some of the discoveries have attracted interest from local historians, and looters also have scavenged for pieces of history. More than two dozen looters have been arrested at one site.

"In an odd way, this drought has provided an opportunity to view and document, where appropriate, some of these finds and understand what they consist of," said Pat Mercado-Allinger, the Texas Historical Commission's archeological division director. "Most people in Texas probably didn't realize what was under these lakes."

Texas finished its driest 12 months ever with an average of 8.5 inches of rain through September, nearly 13 inches below normal. Water levels in the region's lakes, most of which were manmade, have dropped by more than a dozen feet in many cases.

Silent Sunday

2011-12-04T00:53:00.001-06:00

Surname Saturday - Wilson

2011-12-02T23:42:00.000-06:00

Bert Wilson Sr.

Bert Thomas Wilson Sr.

-B: 14 Nov 1871; Lebanon, Russell, Virginia
-D: 15 May 1936; Lebanon, Russell, Virginia

His Parents: John Patton Wilson (1844-1942) & Sarah Jane Smith (1847-1919)

Nancy Wagoner Wilson

Nancy Elizabeth Wagoner
-B: 28 Sep 1877; Copper Creek, Russell, Virginia
-D: 15 Jan 1957; Lebanon, Russell, Virginia
-M: 21 Dec 1895; Copper Creek, Russell, Virginia

Her Parents: John Chrisman Wagoner (1853-1935) & Elizabeth Tamatress Dove (1859-1930)

CHILDREN of BERT & NANCY WILSON:

|--Sara Preston Wilson
|----B: 3 Oct 1896; Lebanon, Russell, Virginia
|----D: 10 Oct 1967; Lebanon, Russell, Virginia
& Emory Vance Easterly
|----B: 23 Aug 1891; Russell County, Virginia
|----D: 20 Jan 1979; Lebanon, Russell, Virginia
|----M: 24 Jun 1915; Blountville, Tennessee

Eula Wilson

|--Eula Burns Wilson
|----B: 29 Jul 1898; Lebanon, Russell, Virginia
|----D: 29 Jan 1991; Cedar Bluff, Tazewell, Virginia
& John Clyde White Sr.
|----B: 26 Apr 1901; Russell County, Virginia
|----D: 12 Jul 1990; Abingdon, Washington, Virginia
|----M: 24 Oct 1923; Russell County, Virginia

Mildred Wilson

Claude Wilson

|--Claude Swanson Wilson Sr.
|----B: 10 Aug 1905; Lebanon, Russell, Virginia
|----D: 9 Oct 1965; Lebanon, Russell, Virginia
& Anna Bell Crockett
|----B: Sep 1898; Wythe County, Virginia
|----D: 1947; Washington or Russell County, Virginia
|----M: 22 Feb 1939; Meadowview, Washington, Virginia
& Alma Lee Jackson
|----B: 5 Oct 1926; Lebanon, Russell, Virginia
|----M: 9 Dec 1950; Hot Springs, Garland, Arkansas

|--Douglas Smith Wilson

Doug Wilson

Richard Wilson

George & Virginia Wilson

Free Access to Ancestry's WWII Military Records until Dec 7

2011-12-02T10:04:00.000-06:00

Unusual Friday!

2011-12-02T00:51:00.000-06:00

Glenwood Cemetery

Houston, Texas

A Mystery to Solve

2011-12-01T01:39:00.000-06:00

While searching for family names today at GenealogyBank, I came across this article.

It tells about the five-year-old unnamed daughter of Bert Wilson who died after accidentally falling into a kettle of boiling water. How sad!

This little girl would have been my husband's paternal aunt. We have never heard one thing about this daughter.

Unfortunately, she must have been born after the 1910 U.S. Census; no listing there. Need to check the Russell County, Virginia Death Lists next.

It would have been nice if the newspaper (Richmond [VA] Times Dispatch) published the girl's first name.

A new mystery to solve!

Richmond Times Dispatch; March 19, 1916

Evergreen Cemetery - Galveston, Texas

2011-11-30T09:53:00.000-06:00

The Tramonte Family

Tramonte, Christine
b. Feb. 12, 1895 d. Oct. 6, 1980

Tramonte, Dina
b. Nov. 11, 1890 d. Dec. 13, 1953

Tramonte, Dorothy
b. Jan. 1, 1893 d. Jul. 6, 1963

Tramonte, Francis Messina
b. Feb. 4, 1866 d. Nov. 24, 1949

Tramonte, Frank
b. Nov. 22, 1894 d. Apr. 24, 1942

Tramonte, Jasper
b. Nov. 21, 1886 d. Aug. 5, 1967

Tramonte, Mary T.
b. Nov. 6, 1900 d. Jun. 28, 1987

Tramonte, Sam Jasper
b. May 17, 1913 d. Jan. 20, 1960

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gsr&GSln=Tramonte&GSiman=1&GScid=160050&

Texas Tuesday - Thomas Christian

2011-11-29T10:40:00.003-06:00

Inscription:

Christian

Thomas Jonathan Jackson, Jr.

November 19, 1915 - San Francisco, California

August 12, 1944 - Arras, France

Husband of Marjorie Lou Wilson

And Father Of Lou Ellen Wilson Loving

Back of headstone:

Great Grandson Of Confederate General Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson

1939 Graduate United States Military Academy, West Point, New York

Colonel In The United States Army Air Corps

Commanding Officer Of The 361st Fighter Group

Recipient Of The Silver Star, Distinguished Flying Cross With One Oak Leaf Cluster, Purple Heart

Colonel Christian's Plane Was Shot Down Over Arras, France.

His Body Was Never Recovered.

Full Name: Thomas Jonathan Jackson Christian

Location: Section: Monument Hill, Section 2 (H2)

Row: A Number: 21

Reason for Eligibility: Approved, Texas State Cemetery Committee

Birth Date: November 19, 1915

Died: August 12, 1944

Buried: Cenotaph

Thomas Jonathan Jackson Christian, Jr., Colonel in the United States Army Air Force and great grandson of Confederate General Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson, was born on November 19, 1915, in San Francisco, California to Thomas Jonathan Jackson Christian, Sr. and Bertha Marguerite Cook.

Christian attended the University of Chicago before entering the United States Military Academy at West Point on July 1, 1935. On June 12, 1939, he graduated 45th in a class of 456 and chose to enter the Field Artillery branch of the U. S. Army, his father's branch of service, where he was appointed a Second Lieutenant. Soon after making his branch decision, Christian changed his mind and joined the Army Air Corps.

From 1939 to 1941, Christian was a student in Texas at the Air Corps Primary Flying School at Love Field in Dallas, the Air Corps Training Center at Randolph Field and the Air Corps Advanced Flying School at Kelly Field, both in San Antonio.

After receiving training as a pilot, Christian was assigned to the Philippines, where, after the attacks on Pearl Harbor, he was reassigned to Bataan, Mindanao, Australia, and Guadalcanal. While there, he flew B-17s and was shot down and declared missing in action somewhere in the South Pacific. He was able to return to the base after living with natives in the jungle.

With the 1st Air Group, Christian landed on Guadalcanal on August 15, 1942. While there, he flew more than 60 hours in combat missions and was awarded the Silver Star for gallantry.

After being granted leave, Christian returned to the United States, where on January 2, 1943, he married Marjorie Lou Ashcroft, whom he met while in Dallas. Their permanent residence was Sulphur Springs.

While in the U. S., he formed and trained the 361st Fighter Group. They were sent to England in November 1943. In Europe, Christian flew more than 70 combat missions and was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross with Oak Leaf Clusters, the Air Medal with three Oak Leaf Clusters and the Purple Heart. In March 1944 he was promoted to full Colonel.

While overseas, Christian became a father. His daughter, Lou Ellen, was born in January 1944, in Dallas. Having never met his daughter, Christian was killed in action on August 12, 1944, while flying a P-51 Mustang, which was named Lou IV, in honor of his daughter. Colonel Christian was shot down over Arras, France and his body was never recovered.

http://www.cemetery.state.tx.us/pub/user_form.asp?step=2&pers_id=9210&last_name=Christian&first_name=Thomas

Symbolism Monday - Oakwood

2011-11-28T13:14:00.000-06:00

FLT in Chain Links

A symbol of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, a fraternal organization. Stands for Friendship, Love, and Truth.

http://www.graveaddiction.com/symbol.html

Glenwood Cemetery - Houston, Texas

2011-11-25T22:33:00.000-06:00

I drove today from Austin to Galveston and couldn't help but stop at Glenwood Cemetery. What a beautiful cemetery! Here are just a few of the wonderful finds I saw today --

Memories of Thanksgivings Past!

2011-11-24T02:03:00.000-06:00

During my childhood, I spent many wonderful Thanksgivings at my grandparents' house in Rumson, New Jersey. How I loved to go to their house - I have so many happy memories! My aunts, uncle, and cousins would be there too...we would all put on our "good clothes", eat a lot of yummy food, watch football, and have a fun day together as a family.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!

Texas Tuesday!

2011-11-22T01:47:00.003-06:00

Robert Douglas "Bob" Bullock (10 Jul 1929 – 18 Jun 1999), was a Democratic politician from Texas, whose career spanned four decades. His service culminated in his term as Lieutenant Governor of Texas from 15 Jan 1991–19 Jan 1999, during the terms of Governors Ann Richards and George W. Bush.

Bullock was renowned for his blunt and sometimes politically incorrect speaking style, but also for his trademark closing line "God bless Texas."

Born in Hillsboro, Bullock attended Hill College, a junior college. He received his bachelor's degree from Texas Tech University in Lubbock in 1955 and held a law degree from Baylor University in Waco. His political papers are housed in the Baylor Collection of Political Materials. Bullock also served in the U.S. Air Force during the Korean War.

Bullock's adult life was marred by alcoholism and divorce; he had a total of five marriages, although some of them were repeats. He stopped drinking in 1981 and remained active with Alcoholics Anonymous for the remainder of his life. He died on June 18, 1999, from congestive heart failure complicated by cancer, at his home in Austin.

A lover of Texas history, he was instrumental in the establishment of the Texas State History Museum, in Austin. Opened 2 years after Bullock's death, it was named in his honor. The second-floor lobby of the museum features a seven-foot-tall bronze statue of Bullock holding a giant gavel, next to a gallery of items and a video from his career in politics.

Bullock’s most public and lasting monument was the revitalization, after years of neglect, of the Texas State Cemetery where he was laid to rest on June 20, 1999.

http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fbuaf

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

The Saddest Section of Any Cemetery - Babyland

2011-11-21T01:50:00.001-06:00

Symbolism Monday - Books & Bibles

2011-11-21T00:45:00.000-06:00

The BIBLE is said to commemorate religious faith.

An OPEN BOOK is usually symbolic of the Bible and faith.

Silent Sunday

2011-11-20T00:34:00.000-06:00

German Headstones & Maiden Names

2011-11-19T01:03:00.001-06:00

Immanuel Lutheran Cemetery

Pflugerville, Texas

Sometimes it is rather difficult to find the maiden names of women. At a local cemetery, I found several German graves with the maiden names listed. What a great find for a genealogist who has looked everywhere (birth records, death records, obituaries, census records, etc.) and has had no luck with finding those elusive last names!

Interesting Stone of the Week!

2011-11-18T02:03:00.000-06:00

In Memory of

DANIEL W. HOTCHKISS

Only Son of W.S. Hotchkiss and 1st Wife Hannah Puckett

Born December 14, 1844

Member of the Texas Calvary CSA

Killed December 1863 by Assassins in Mexico

Near Piedras Negras. Buried Where Fell

With Uncle E.T. Puckett in Graves Now Lost.

Cemetery Crime - Columbiana County, Ohio

2011-11-17T01:59:00.002-06:00

Vandals Target 2 Columbiana County Cemeteries

Last Update: 11/14 7:52 pm

Police in Columbiana County are looking for the public's help to find whoever vandalized a pair of cemeteries late last week.

The vandalism occurred on Friday, which was Veterans Day. Neighbors and police believe the incidents started sometime after 9 p.m., where someone damaged the two graveyards located just a mile or so from each other.

Neighbors said they called police after hearing noises at Oakdale Cemetery sometime after 9 p.m. Friday.

"It sounded like gunshots because it was repeated a couple times and then it stopped. A brief minute passed. I stood and listened and then it started up again," Bud Turner said.

Police were back at the Oakdale and Mount Calvary cemeteries Monday afternoon, looking over multiple sets of tire tracks and other damage. Although both are actually in Salem Township, Oakdale is owned and maintained by the village of Leetonia.

Although police did respond that night, the damage at Oakdale wasn't discovered until Saturday morning: Numerous tire tracks and some posts knocked over.

Authorities discovered much of the damage over the weekend and are wondering why someone would ever think to do something like this.

"I mean, it's just not right, especially on Veterans Day. My husband's a veteran, my son's still in the Army. You just don't do that. You don't do it to veterans and you don't do it in a cemetery," said Sue Simpson, Oakdale Cemetery clerk.

Although no headstones were knocked over at either location, tire tracks can be clearly seen rolling right over a pair of grave markers at Mount Calvary, as well as other damage. And workers said vandals, possibly the same ones, drove through the grounds a week earlier causing damage then as well.

"It's very difficult, especially when your victim can't speak out for themselves and defend themselves. And then again, the families that are having a difficult time grieving themselves now have to cope wth this matter. It's just not fair to the families," said Dan Valentine, Salem Township Police constable.

At this point, police are looking for information from the public to catch whoever is responsible and said they've even reached out to the Greater Youngstown Crime Stoppers organization to see if a reward can be offered.

In the meantime, anyone with information is asked to contact either the Salem Township Police at (330) 427-0808, or Leetonia Police at (330) 427-6731.

"If it's kids involved in this, they'll talk about it. There's some bragging rights involved with this and I'm hoping that somebody will be able to realize that this was unnecessary and report that," Valentine said.

The Latest on "Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness" - a Genealogy Gem!

2011-11-16T13:09:00.000-06:00

RIP Bridget Schneider - Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness
By Kimberly Powell, About.com Guide
November 12, 2011

Random Acts of Genealogical Kindess (RAOGK), begun in March 1999 by Bridgett and Doc Schneider from Nebraska, is one of the best genealogical grassroots organizations out there, connecting over 4,000 volunteers in 40+ countries with genealogists who need someone "local" to help retrieve a record from the courthouse, look up a newspaper obituary, or take a photo of their ancestor's tombstone. The news that RAOGK was temporarily shutting down last month due to computer issues and the health of one of its administrators had kind words and offers of help pouring in from throughout the genealogical community.

Sadly, the genealogical community learned today just how dire that health issue was. Bridgett Schneider passed away this morning. The world has lost a very kind and generous woman. Bridgett's husband Doc has assured the RAOGK volunteers that RAOGK will be back online in the future - a promise he has made to Bridgett. For now, some people are helping individuals through the RAOGK Facebook page. Bridgett has brightened the lives of countless people and will be dearly missed.

Fold3 - Free Access to WW2 Collection until Nov 20th!

2011-11-15T17:20:00.001-06:00

Texas Tuesday

2011-11-15T10:57:00.000-06:00

Friendship Cemetery - Hot Springs, Arkansas

2011-11-14T10:33:00.000-06:00

Silent Sunday

2011-11-13T01:31:00.000-06:00

Cemetery Crime Thursday

2011-11-10T09:59:00.000-06:00

chicagotribune.com
W. Ind. panel: Companies damaging pioneer cemetery
Associated Press

9:10 AM CST, November 8, 2011

Covington, IN

The head of a western Indiana panel that's working to restore old cemeteries says crews working for three companies are damaging a pioneer cemetery that lies partially beneath U.S. 41.

Fountain County Cemetery Commission chairman Jasper Fogleman told the county commissioners Monday that digging by the crews has "desecrated" 17 graves at the Burch-Covalt Cemetery and that tire tracks and digging have come within inches of the affected caskets.

The Commercial-News of Danville, Ill., reports (http://bit.ly/vUedRk ) Fogleman declined to name the companies.

Commissioner Terry Ellingwood questioned whether the companies knew about the cemetery's location.

The site was designated a cemetery in 1858. Fogleman said records show that the gravestones were pushed from the cemetery in 1926 and that 47 of the graves are now beneath U.S. 41.

------

Information from: Commercial-News, http://www.dancomnews.com

Wednesday's Wedding

2011-11-09T01:01:00.001-06:00

WEDDING DAY!!

Francis Finnerty & Mary Cooke
Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church
Hoboken, New Jersey
November 4, 1950

BRIDE: Mary Regina Cooke
Birth: May 19, 1925; Jersey City, NJ
Parents: Joseph F. & Sarah Drennan Cooke

GROOM: Francis John Finnerty, Jr.
Birth: April 27, 1923; Hoboken, NJ
Death: April 19, 2008; Monmouth, NJ
Parents: Francis J. & Elizabeth Davis Finnerty

Tombstone Tuesday!

2011-11-08T09:15:00.002-06:00

I love this simple grave marker!

James Edward Abernathy

Birth: Oct. 10, 1951
Death: Dec. 6, 2004

James Edward "Jim" "Jimbo" Abernathy, son of Lawrence Anton Abernathy and Evelyn Jane (Urban) Abernathy, was born in Gregg County, Texas and grew up in the Houston, Harris County, Texas area. He died in Pflugerville, Travis County, Texas and was buried in Capital Parks Cemetery, Pflugerville, Travis County, Texas.

His siblings were:
Sisters, Linda Diane (Abernathy) Shaub and Susan Elaine (Abernathy) Murphy; Brothers, Clyde Russell Abernathy and Roy Glenn Abernathy.

Jim graduated in 1970 from Ross S. Sterling High School in Baytown, Harris County, Texas.
While working at Gulf Oil Company and attending the University of Houston at night, Jim earned his B.A. degree in 1978. In 1981, Jim married Laurie A. Moore in Harris County, Texas and they lived in Houston, Harris County, Texas, where Jim worked for Chevron Pipeline. After his retirement, they moved to Pflugerville, Travis County, Texas to be near some of his siblings. Jim was an active member of his church and participated in all his children's activities, including many sporting events and the Boy Scouts. Jim loved baseball and played it poorly. He is missed by his teammates on the "Riverdogs" in the Local Senior League.

Jim was preceded in death by: Father, Lawrence Anton Abernathy; Mother, Evelyn Jane (Urban) Abernathy.

Jim was survived by: Wife, Laurie A. (Moore) Abernathy. Daughter, Erin Abernathy. Son, Bill Abernathy. Son, Craig Abernathy. Sister, Linda Diane (Abernathy) Shaub and husband, Patrick R. Shaub of Marble Falls, Burnet County, Texas. Sister, Susan Elaine (Abernathy) Murphy and husband, Michael J. Murphy of Pflugerville, Travis County, Texas. Brother, Clyde Russell Abernathy and wife, Judith G. (Hanna) Abernathy of Pasadena, Harris County, Texas. Brother, Roy Glenn Abernathy and wife, Cynthia J. (Pollan) Abernathy of Round Rock, Williamson County, Texas. Many nieces and nephews.

James Edward "Jim" "Jimbo" Abernathy's obituary appeared in the December 8, 2004 edition of the Austin American-Statesman, Austin, Texas.

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=abernathy&GSfn=james&GSbyrel=all&GSdyrel=all&GSst=46&GScntry=4&GSob=n&GRid=18468808&df=all&

Squirrels Love Cemeteries Too!

2011-11-07T14:16:00.001-06:00

San Marcos Cemetery

San Marcos, Texas

October 2011

Silent Sunday

2011-11-06T02:41:00.001-06:00

Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia, PA

Humorous Friday!

2011-11-03T01:16:00.001-05:00

All Souls Day

2011-11-02T12:11:00.000-05:00

William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825-1905) - The Day of the Dead (1859).

From Wikipedia --

All Souls' Day commemorates the faithful departed.

In Western Christianity, this day is observed principally in the Catholic Church, although some churches of the Anglican Communion and the Old Catholic Churches also celebrate it.

The Eastern Orthodox churches observe several All Souls' Days during the year.

The Roman Catholic celebration is associated with the doctrine that the souls of the faithful who at death have not been cleansed from the temporal punishment due to venial sins and from attachment to mortal sins cannot immediately attain the beatific vision in heaven, and that they may be helped to do so by prayer and by the sacrifice of the Mass (see Purgatory). In other words, when they died, they had not yet attained full sanctification and moral perfection, a requirement for entrance into Heaven. This sanctification is carried out posthumously in Purgatory.

The official name of the celebration in the Roman Rite liturgy of the Roman Catholic Church is "The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed". Another popular name in English is Feast of All Souls.

In some other languages the celebration, not necessarily on the same date, is known as Day of the Dead (Día de los Muertos or de los Difuntos in Spanish-speaking countries; halottak napja in Hungary; Yom el Maouta in Lebanon, Israel and Syria).

Texas Tuesday!

2011-11-01T09:20:00.000-05:00

Great article to end October!

2011-11-01T02:25:00.007-05:00

Learning to live in a graveyard

Michael T. Dolan
Monday, Oct. 31, 2011

I grew up in a cemetery.

Along with the house I grew up in, the cemetery just four doors down is home to the fondest memories of my childhood, adolescence, and angst-ridden early adulthood. In an odd way, it was a second home.

Known to my friends and me simply as "the Cem," Arlington Cemetery in Drexel Hill was our neighborhood park and teenage hideout.

When I was a young boy, the cemetery was a place to explore life and what lay beyond it. Peering through the stained-glass windows of huge stone mausoleums, straining to read the names and dates, I remember wondering if I would want to be put in one when I died. The thought frightened yet intrigued me, making the existence of ghosts seem feasible.

But the cemetery wasn't all headstones and haunting. Its deserted, hilly roads were a perfect course for high-speed bike rides and newly constructed go-carts. Years later, for the same reasons, it was a great place to learn how to drive. On summer nights, it provided a shortcut to Dairy Queen and a grape Mr. Misty float. And its stone wall was a fine spot for watching fire engines and tanks pass by in the Memorial Day parade.

Just beyond that wall, and directly down the street from my house, lay the cemetery's most prized piece of land. A grassy field, bordered on one side by a line of spruce trees, had remained untouched by the dead, making it an excellent football field. The spruce trees marked one sideline, a cedar marked the other, and giant yews and arborvitaes provided a natural backdrop for the end zones.

For years, that field was our home. Just about every afternoon, we battled it out on the cemetery gridiron: teams divvied up, plays designed on palms, and a Wilson Duke football in tow. There was beauty in the simplicity of the ritual. Amid tackles, touchdowns, and the occasional torn shirt, friendships were formed.

While casually tossing a football back and forth or sitting on the curb with a Big Gulp, we talked. It was the sort of talk that is universal to the young American male - simply stated, minimal. In the silence, though, and in the profanity-laden barbs, truth dwelled. It was the truth of growing up, trying to fit in, and figuring out the opposite sex. Friends who struggle with these things alongside each other in adolescence become lifelong friends. Most drift apart, and a fortunate few never do, but in either case, the friendship is eternal.

We also dealt with adolescence by drinking. This, too, the cemetery witnessed. The trees bordering the football field provided a bunker from which we could spot any patrolling police car long before its occupants saw us. When the headlights came our way, we simply ducked behind the nearest tombstone, bush, or tree. The cops didn't have a chance.

When we reached bar age, I fought to hang on to the cemetery as our watering hole of choice, but without much luck. There was a life to be lived outside the cemetery walls, and we couldn't hide behind them forever.

Today, however, I feel a need to revisit the cemetery. With lives ever connected to the busyness of life, we never take time to reflect on the business of life - that is, to just be. Ironically, the cemetery is one of the few places where we can live in the moment. It's too sacred for checking Facebook or sending the next meeting request, so it puts life (and our phones) in the proper perspective.

Today, with two of those childhood friends having passed on to another cemetery, and my father resting in the ground a few feet from that football field, I long for the Cem.

October's spirits fill the air, calling us to revisit the cemeteries of our lives, so that we may remember what it is like to live.

Yeah, I grew up in a cemetery. I suppose I still am.

-------
http://www.philly.com/philly/opinion/132897018.html
Michael T. Dolan is a writer from West Chester. His website is http://www.conversari.com/.

Symbolism Monday - Sphinx

2011-10-31T01:35:00.001-05:00

Kimberly Powell, About.com
Meanings of Common Tombstone Symbols & Icons

The Sphinx, featuring the head and torso of a human grafted to the body of a lion, guards the tomb.

This popular neo-Egyptian design is sometimes found in modern cemeteries. The male Egyptian sphinx is modeled after the Great Sphinx at Giza. The female, often appearing barebreasted, is the Greek Sphinx.

Richmond Then and Now
A Photo History of Richmond, Virginia

A Sphinx symbolizes one who is mysterious and hard to understand.

In Greek mythology, the sphinx was a creature with the head and breast of a woman, the body of a lion, and the wings of an eagle.

A daughter of Typhon and Echidna, she sat outside Thebes and asked all passersby a riddle: "Which creature in the morning goes on four feet, at noon on two, and in the evening upon three?" She strangled anyone who couldn't answer. Oedipus solved the riddle: man, crawls on all fours as a baby then walks on two feet as an adult, and walks with a cane in old age. The Sphinx then threw herself from her high rock and died.

Silent Sunday

2011-10-30T02:27:00.002-05:00

Surname Saturday - Keene

2011-10-29T01:53:00.002-05:00

I don't know much about the Keene Family, only what I remember from my Grandmother's stories. With the help of Family Search and Ancestry, I've been able to fill in a few more of the blanks. My big question is why did my 2x great-grandfather, Charles Herbert Keene, immigrate to America in the early 1880s? If I can prove, in further detail, what I'm finding at Family Search, I may be able to stretch the Keene family line back several more generations!

1900 Federal Census shows Charles, wife Madeline and their three sons:
Charles, James & Thomas. They were living at 79 Bank Street,
in New York, New York. (Double-click for better image.)

Charles Herbert Keene
Parents: Charles Keene; 1830-1910; Coventry, England
& Sarah Beck; 1834-1873; Coventry, England
-B: Sep 1857; Coventry, Warwickshire, England
-D: New York
& Margaret Madeline Bannon
Parents: James Bannon; 1840- ; Northern Ireland
& Eliza Bannon; 1840- ; Northern Ireland
-B: Feb 1860; Belfast, Northern Ireland
-D: New York
-M: abt 1881; New York

My great-grandfather, James A. Keene; 1940s

James Basilio Dirienzo

2011-10-28T03:50:00.001-05:00

James Basilio Dirienzo
May 12, 1960
February 27, 2009

"It Doesn't Matter
Who My Father Was,
It Matters Who I
Remember He Was."
- Anne Sexton


James B. Dirienzo
AUSTIN, TEXAS \| James B. Dirienzo, 48, passed away unexpectedly of natural causes in Austin, Texas February 24, 2009. He was born in Derby, Connecticut, May 12, 1960. He attended St. Rose of Lima parochial school in Newtown, Connecticut, and graduated from Immaculate High School in Danbury, Connecticut. He attended the Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina, and received a bachelor's degree in Security Engineering from Kennedy Western University. Jim had been employed by the U. S. Justice Department's Federal Bureau of Prisons for the past 19 years and at the time of his death was the prison safety officer at the Federal Correctional Institution in Bastrop, Texas. Jim began his career at the Federal Correctional Institution in Danbury, Connecticut, was assistant safety officer at the Federal Penitentiary in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, and then was promoted and transferred to Bastrop, Texas. During his career he received many awards from the Bureau of Prisons, and was instrumental in bringing a unique recycling program to the Bastrop facility. Jim is survived by his children, James O. Dirienzo and Kaitlyn Dirienzo, both of Round Rock, Texas; his parents, Charles and Marianna Dirienzo of Surfside Beach; a brother, Charles Dirienzo Jr., of Winston-Salem, North Carolina; and a sister, Anna Henry of Trumbull, Connecticut. He is also survived by a niece, Laura Henry of Newfield, New York, a nephew, Joseph Henry of Trumbull, Connecticut; as well as two uncles; and several cousins. A mass of Christian burial was held 10 a.m. March 5, 2009 in St. Elizabeth Church in Pflugerville, Texas, with internment following at Cook Waldon Capital Parks in Pflugerville, Texas, at which the FCI Bastrop Honor Guard rendered full honors with a 21 gun salute and the bugle playing taps. His parents, brother, and sister were in attendance along with his children, friends and many co-workers from the Bastrop facility. www.findagrave.com

Forgotten Irish Famine Burial Site - Kilkenny

2011-10-27T21:41:00.000-05:00

Witnesses to a Catastrophe - Kilkenny, Ireland
Dick Ahlstrom, Science EditorThe Irish Times - Thursday, October 20, 2011
A forgotten Famine burial site inside the grounds of a former workhouse in Kilkenny has yielded the remains of nearly 1,000 people, and a wealth of knowledge about how they lived and how they died.
AN GORTA MÓR, the Great Hunger, was a time of terrible human drama as Ireland’s poor struggled to survive the ravages of famine and disease. The chance discovery of a Famine-period burial ground in Kilkenny city now helps to tell their story, how they lived and how they died during a dark period of Ireland’s history.
Some one million people died and were buried as conditions and finance allowed, with the poorest ending up in burial grounds used by a network of Victorian workhouses.
It was on the grounds of just such a workhouse in Kilkenny that the remains of almost 1,000 victims were found in 2005 as work got under way on a new shopping centre.

An aerial view of the site in Kilkenny during excavation. Photograph: Margaret Gowen

For more on this story, go to: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/sciencetoday/2011/1020/1224306123786.html

Current Economy vs. Funerals

2011-10-27T01:06:00.000-05:00

Families forgoing funerals, putting cemeteries in bind

They’re choosing cremations over burials to cut costs

Steve Pardo
The Detroit News
www.detnews.com
October 25, 2011

After a decade of hospitalizations from diabetes and heart disease, Debra Franzel had a frank talk with her niece, Deanna Franzel. A Medicaid patient, she wanted cremation and no fanfare over her passing.

"We had discussed very openly what her wishes were," said Deanna Franzel, 30, of Caro. "She said, 'I don't want anybody to pay for a funeral. No funeral, no showing, no viewing.' "

When Debra Franzel, 53, died in April, the Cremation Society of Michigan picked up her body and took it to a crematorium.

The cost, Deanna Franzel said, was around $250.

If her aunt hadn't been ill for so long or had more money, her choice about her funeral arrangements might have been different, Deanna Franzel said.

"She did it because she didn't want to be a burden to anybody," Franzel said. "People don't want to burden a family with headstones and funeral costs. There are also spiritual and cultural diversities.

People have to do what's comfortable for them."

Driven in part by tight finances, more families are choosing cremation over traditional funerals, forcing operators to rethink how they do business. Falling burial rates and rising cremations are putting the pinch on cemeteries.

Blame the high cost of dying.

A full funeral and burial can top $10,000. A no-frills cremation can be less than $1,000. It's a vicious cycle for cemeteries as the economy remains sluggish and stigmas against cremation ease.

Some cemeteries have raised prices more than 15 percent this summer alone, said Phil Douma, executive director of the Michigan Funeral Directors Association.

"There's no question in the minds of funeral directors that these escalating burial fees certainly play a factor in the rising cremation rates," Douma said. "It's a major, major issue with the cemetery industry, both private and municipal. Opening and closing the graves are an integral part of the business plan, and it's really affecting the industry."

Canton Township, for example, had to hike rates at its three cemeteries last year from $300 a burial to $1,200.

"We tried to keep costs down but we did the analysis," said township engineer Tom Casari. The township only handles about seven services a year but has to do the same cemetery maintenance it did when burial rates were higher.

In 1990, nearly 80 percent of people who died in Michigan were buried. In 2010, about 50 percent received a burial. The cremation rate during that period more than doubled, from 17 percent to more than 40 percent.

"The cemeteries that are municipal owned don't have the extra funds any more to do the maintenance, and they depend on the burial fees," said Tony Benhart, manager of the Crystal Springs Cemetery in Benton Harbor. The fee for a cremation ceremony can be a quarter of that for a burial, he said.

Michigan has about 4,200 cemeteries, including about 125 privately owned burial grounds, according to the state cemetery commission.

Almost 600 are owned by religious organizations. Another 350 are abandoned or obliterated, and there are five Native American and five national cemeteries in the state. The rest are owned by municipalities.

Michigan is in the upper middle of the pack of states when it comes to cremation rates; 19 have higher rates than Michigan. Nevada is the highest at 65 percent and Alabama is the lowest at fewer than 10 percent.

Patrick Lynch of Lynch and Sons Funeral Directors in Clawson said cost is a factor in the growing popularity of cremation. But a bigger factor is the way we perceive the concept of "home," Lynch said.

"People are not as grounded to a place as they were a generation ago," said Lynch, who is president of the National Funeral Directors Association. "Today, people move around like it's nothing. Someone doesn't necessarily call Detroit home just because they're born there. Because of that, people are disinclined to buy cemetery property."

Cremation, he said, allows people to be as mobile in death as they were in life.

Another option that's gaining market share is a "green" funeral. Green funerals eschew embalming fluid and non-biodegradable caskets and can be cheaper than a traditional funeral, said Adam Martin, owner of Martin Funeral Cremation & Tribute Services, which has locations in Genesee and Tuscola counties.

A green funeral costs about $1,000 to $1,500 less than a traditional one, Martin said.

"It's just something that we want to let people know is available and out there," he said. "We like to focus on what the family wants to do. It's just sort of looking outside the box to help people."

At Glen Eden Memorial Park, a religious cemetery in Livonia, officials have shifted services over the years to better serve those who choose cremation.

"I would say in the last 20 years, we have certainly kept our ear to our customers' needs and what they wanted," said Tom Habitz, general manager of Glen Eden. "We can do a couple of different things. We can bury the ashes in an existing grave. We can take up to four cremations in one grave or three cremations and one traditional bury." The Livonia cemetery handles about 550 burials and about 200 cremations a year. Like other cemeteries in Michigan, Glen Eden faces rising costs for gas, insurance and equipment.

"One thing that a lot of people have difficulty with in the general public is they don't understand the final aspect of the cemetery," Habitz said. "We have a one-time fee but we have to maintain that grave or that mausoleum forever."

spardo@detnews.com

© Copyright 2011 The Detroit News. All rights reserved.

Historic Wednesday - Barbara Jordan

2011-10-26T01:49:00.000-05:00

PATRIOT

BARBARA JORDAN

1936 - 1996

Eloquent Champion

Ethics and Justice

The People

Salute You

Barbara Jordan was an American politician who was both a product, and a leader, of the Civil Rights movement. She was the first African-American elected to the Texas Senate after reconstruction and the first Southern black woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. She received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, among numerous other honors. On her death she became the first African-American woman to be interred in the Texas State Cemetery. The main terminal of Austin-Bergstrom Airport is named for her.

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

Murder, Mayhem & Misadventure - Oakwood's Halloween Walking Tours

2011-10-25T16:12:00.000-05:00

Baby Pedro

2011-10-25T03:12:00.001-05:00

PEDRO CRUZ SOTO
Dec. 21, 1939
July 19, 1940

Oakwood Cemetery Annex
Austin, Texas

Symbolic Monday

2011-10-24T13:27:00.001-05:00

Oakland Cemetery, Little Rock, Arkansas

Angel - An agent of God, often pointing towards heaven; guardian of the dead, symbolizing spirituality.

Portrait - Usually a portrait of the deceased.

Torch - Inverted or extinguished - death.

Trumpet - Victory and Resurrection.

http://www.graveaddiction.com/symbol.html

Silent Sunday!

2011-10-23T00:22:00.001-05:00

Surname Saturday - Cooke

2011-10-22T01:13:00.000-05:00

Patrick Cooke
-b. 17 Mar 1834; Galmoy, Kilkenny, Ireland
-d. 23 Sep 1927; Hoboken, Hudson, New Jersey
& Maria "Mary" Gorman
-b. 1839; Ireland
-d. 24 Jul 1889; Hoboken, Hudson, New Jersey
--m. 11 May 1862; Hoboken, Hudson, New Jersey

|--Stephen Francis Cooke
|----b. 22 May 1863; Hoboken, Hudson, New Jersey
|----d. 12 Aug 1948; Rumson, Monmouth, New Jersey
& Honoran "Annie" Dwyer
|----b. 29 Jun 1865; Hoboken, Hudson County, New Jersey
|----d. 21 Feb 1939; Hoboken, Hudson County, New Jersey
|----m. 18 Apr 1887; Hoboken, Hudson County, New Jersey

|--John J. Cooke
|----b. 28 Dec 1866; Hoboken, Hudson, New Jersey
|----d. Oct 1925
& Catherine "Kate" Phelan
|----b. Dec 1867; New York
|----d. Apr 1934; New Jersey
|----m. 20 Feb 1887; Hoboken, Hudson, New Jersey

|--Richard Cooke
|----b. 5 Apr 1869; Hoboken, Hudson, New Jersey
|----d. June 1872; Hoboken, Hudson, New Jersey

|--Hugh P. Cooke
|----b. Nov 1870; Hoboken, Hudson, New Jersey
|----d. 14 Jun 1900; Hoboken, Hudson, New Jersey
& Julia Sullivan
|----b. 16 Sep 1873; New Jersey
|----d. 22 Oct 1960; Jersey City, Hudson, New Jersey
|----m. 8 Feb 1893; Hoboken, Hudson, New Jersey

|--Martin W. Cooke Sr.
|----b. 5 Feb 1872; Hoboken, Hudson, New Jersey
|----d. 30 Jul 1944; Hoboken, Hudson, New Jersey
& Louise Mary Von Bernewitz
|----b. Apr 1876; Hoboken, Hudson, New Jersey
|----d. Nov 1919; Hoboken, Hudson, New Jersey
|----m. 5 Jul 1898; New Jersey
& Helen Shugrue
|----b. 25 Jan 1892; Hoboken, Hudson, New Jersey
|----d. 26 Apr 1967; Hoboken, Hudson, New Jersey
|----m. 14 Oct 1925; New Jersey

|--Julia Mary Cooke
|----b. 9 Jul 1876; Hoboken, Hudson, New Jersey
|----d. 8 Jul 1959; Hoboken, Hudson, New Jersey

|--Mary Cooke
|----b. Nov 1876; Hoboken, Hudson, New Jersey
|----d. Nov 1876; Hoboken, Hudson, New Jersey

|--Richard Cooke
|----b. 21 Mar 1878; Hoboken, Hudson, New Jersey
|----b. 30 Jul 1878; Hoboken, Hudson, New Jersey

Unusual Friday!

2011-10-21T01:01:00.001-05:00

Texas Drought's Effect on Cemeteries

2011-10-20T01:36:00.001-05:00

More graves in slave cemetery revealed by Texas drought

Posted: Oct 13, 2011 12:39 PM EDT Updated: Oct 13, 2011 12:39 PM EDT

CORSICANA (WFAA) — More graves have been found in the receding waters of Richland-Chambers Reservoir.

Archeologists have now recovered the remains of 20 people who were buried on the half-acre site.

The remains are believed to be part of a 19th century cemetery for slaves. The discovery has caught the interest of Eleanor Washington, whose ancestors were slaves who once worked and lived on the property.

"For them to find bones and think they're part of a slave cemetery, to me that means a great deal," Washington said.

The Tarrant Regional Water District operates the lake, which was completed in 1987. The agency is working with the Texas Historical Commission to protect the remains.

But some feel the government is moving too slowly to adequately protect the remains.

"We are not happy with the way Tarrant County has handled the situation," Carolyn Montgomery Taylor said. Her family once owned the land that the cemetery sits on.

She believes the agencies are dragging their feet to avoid paying to move the remains.

"Everyone buried down there has a releative somewhere, and they need to do something about it instead of pretending they don't know about it," Taylor said.

The water district first became aware of remains in 2009, when a skull and some bones were discovered.

Rising waters at the site prevented them from doing anything at the time.

This summer's severe drought dropped the lake by five feet, and once again revealed the location.

The water district denies putting off a decision and in a statement to News 8, a spokesman said: "It is our goal to get them moved to an appropriate resting place as quickly as we can."

Residents like Eleanor Washington hope that decision will come soon, before the lake's waters rise again, and a possible piece of her family's history again disappears.

Wednesday's Wedding - William Clayton & Regina Cooke

2011-10-19T01:45:00.027-05:00

This week my Aunt & Uncle Celebrate their
52nd Wedding Anniversary.

Bride: Regina Mary Cooke
Parents: Stephen & Ruth McGrath Cooke

Groom: William Coley Clayton
Parents: George & Florence Sagurton Clayton

Wedding: 17 October 1959
Holy Cross Church
Rumson, New Jersey

What Kind of Birds are These??

2011-10-18T09:56:00.000-05:00

I've seen these green birds, under the same tree, the past several times I went to the Oakwood Cemetery Annex in Austin. They make alot of noise with those beaks!