South School Cemetery, Catlin, New York

Entrance to Cemetery

Yesterday, I went to a small remote cemetery on a photo request from Find A Grave. It was called South School Cemetery, also known as Martin's Hill Cemetery. It was kind of off the beaten path although you could see it from the road. I enlisted my family to go with me as I didn't want to be out there by myself, and my 9 year-old son agreed to be my "assistant." He likes to help me on these little tasks because he feels like a detective and it is more action than looking at records. I had looked up any interments already listed for this cemetery and since there were only three, I decided to look for all of them even though there was only one actual photo request.

Before going out, I looked up the cemetery on Tri-Counties Genealogy & History by Joyce M. Tice (this is becoming one of my favorite online databases) and attempted to search for the name on the photo request. I didn't find it, but thought I would make the trip anyway since it is a small cemetery.

Grave markers going every which way

When we got there, I gave my son a paper with all three names and told him to give it a shot on finding them. He, as I suspected he would, started walking quickly through the rows glancing at the headstones. This is a pretty old cemetery, so a lot of the stones are hard to read or illegible without some extra efforts. It is kind of a sad looking cemetery with sunken, broken, and missing grave markers. Some of them don't appear to have any names or I was unable to read them because they were face down. There were also sunken areas that appeared to have someone buried there without any kind of marker at all.

Large tombstones that had fallen over

I really don't like to mess with the markers other than removing debris or leaves, so I started taking pictures of the ones that I could. It was around noon so the lighting was okay, but so many of them were tilted downwards that I just couldn't get a good shot of them. It made me a bit sad walking through there as it just seemed so forgotten. When I go to a cemetery like this, I like to record as many of them as I can to put on Find A Grave for some future descendant to hopefully find.

I was unable to locate the name on the photo request as I had suspected would happen. I did, however, find the other two names already listed on Find A Grave and took photos of those. My son was unable to find them on his first go round. This was not surprising because he wasn't looking very carefully. I had seen them, photographed them and moved on. I sent him back around with some hints on looking for both the first and last names. He was so excited when he finally did find them... right at the front entrance. He had walked right past them! After an hour, my husband and kids had reached their limit of "cemetery time." As always, I was grateful that they humored me long enough to tag along so I wouldn't have to go alone.

There was one grave marker that was interesting though. It had fallen over and the grass around it was already starting to grow over it. It was the grave marker of a baby that was only 3 months old. These markers always make me a little extra sad. Someone had thoughtfully placed a baby blanket and pacifier on the grave and it seemed fairly recently since as they looked relatively new. It was nice to see that someone else had been out there to visit and that little baby was still being remembered.

Fallen over grave stone with offerings

Wordless Wednesday - The Capek Sisters

Antonia & Rosie Capek, ca 1907

This is Antonia Capek and Rosie Capek. Shortly after this photo they lost their father (1908) due to sickness. Antonia later died in 1913 from sickness at the age of 8.

I love my new iPhone

So my husband and I recently bought new cell phones and we decided on getting the iPhone 3GS (because it is $100 cheaper than the new iPhone 4). I really wanted it because of the apps, especially the ones that could be used for genealogy. 

The first app I added (after Facebook) was the Ancestry.com Tree to Go. You can take pictures from your phone and add them directly to the tree. The photos that you've already added to your tree via the internet come out very clear on the phone as well. It shows events and research notes as well. My main use for this will be for reference if I'm out and about and the opportunity to do some research presents itself. It's also good for research trips so that I don't have to lug around my laptop. The downside is that you are not able to review your sources, such as census records. Ancestry.com does not have regular iPhone app either so that you can do searches on your phone. You can always go through the internet browser (Safari) though. I don't see myself doing a whole lot of research on it because it is a small screen. It is more for convenience sake and it's pretty neat since the app is free.

The other genealogy specific app I installed was the Families by TelGen Limited. It is specifically set up for a family tree from the Legacy Genealogy Software. I had to download a sync program to my computer, but once I did that it was very quickly added to my phone. My entire family tree at my fingertips! The photos looked great, but the most exciting thing was that all my sources, including images, were available! I was able to look directly at the birth certificates and other records added to my tree right on my cell phone! You can edit and make changes to the tree on your phone, including adding media, and it will sync back with the tree on your PC. Love it! This one was not free. It was $14.99 + tax, but it was worth every penny!

Two other apps I added that can be used for genealogy purposes were Evernote and an app called CamScanner. Both of these are free so that is a bonus. The CamScanner has a full version that you can buy, but right now I have only started using the "light" version. It basically turns your phone into a scanner. You take a picture of something (i.e. a document or a photo). It scans the image and you can either email it to yourself or upload it to Dropbox.com, Google Docs, or even Evernote. It has a couple of other options to upload to as well and the full version may have more. This is perfect for those family members who won't let you leave with photos. It would also be great for scanning documents in a library. I tested it on a photocopy I took of a book in a library. It came out great! 

I'm all set with all these tools to make researching easier... now I just need some extra time to do some research! Where's the app for that?

Wordless Wednesday

Arlene Rienerth, ca 1970's

This is a photo of my grandmother, Arlene. She passed away before I was born and I love this photo because it gives me a glimpse into her sense of humor.

Advent Calendar - The Christmas Tree

Oh, the Christmas tree... what a great place to start since setting up the tree and decorating it is what officially begins the Christmas season!

When I was growing up, we always had a real tree, though I don't remember how I felt about  the experience of having a real tree. I don't remember picking one out that we thought was perfect, driving it home, smelling the pine (a scent that I don't care for), and happily decorating it with ornaments. What I remember most about having a real tree were the pine needles... they pricked me as I was decorating, walking by, or if I just looked at the tree wrong. The tree shed its needles like a dog sheds fur. They were all over the floor, the furniture, me. It seemed to have a never ending supply of needles to drop on the floor.

I was responsible for cleaning them, which could explain my very fixed memory. I'm sure I didn't have to do so when I was younger, but I don't remember those times. I vacuumed after the tree was set up. I vacuumed every couple of days when the tree shed more needles... and then again... and then again... whenever a newly wrapped present was added... whenever the tree was watered...

After Christmas came the epitome of pine needles... when the tree was dried up and pretty much dead. It seemed as though the tree was attempting to get rid of every last needle before we could get rid of it! And there I was... vacuuming away.

Needless to say, as an adult, I do not buy real trees. It is all fake for me! I'm so happy pulling it out of its box and putting it up and I'm happy breaking it down and putting it back in its box after New Years. I am forgiving  when the wire branches sometimes poke me and when I still have to vacuum up relatively few "pine needles"!! I'm just grateful to have a non-shedding, scentless, never drying up and turning yellow tree. The cons of a fake tree are nothing compared to the magnitude of a childhood memory.

My beautiful well-loved fake Christmas tree in all its glory!

~ Just one little memory of Christmas trees... it had a bumpy start, but I love happy endings! ;)