Kent....you always start the most interesting Threads and I thank you for that. db...very interesting what you posted. Glad to know that you are doing all of that work on your family. harley...most everyone in our family my age and younger want to be cremated. I can remember going to family "Decorations" during certain times of the year. Everyone would bring a dish, shovels, rakes, etc. The graves were cleaned off, items planted and stones polished. We would eat and talk and run around. We have six family cemeteries in northern Alabama. I have done a complete family tree including, scanning pictures, death and birth certificates, all information on each individual, etc. I have books on all sides of the family and they are awesome. I did not write them but they have really helped. One goes back to how many slaves, etc. I just love this stuff but most everyone in the family lives all over the world so the graves are not taken care of anymore. My father has now opted to be cremated and part of his ashes placed on The University of Alabama (if we get approval) and the other part at Arlington. My mother's ashes will be placed around a dogwood tree my neighbors are purchasing and planting in our yard. Thanks for those wonderful memories! Sherry
Sherry: family history research is fun and can be very addicting and time consuming. Too many other irons in the fire for me at this point, but I would like to make the connection across the Atlantic one of these days.
Throughout the years different members of our family (on all sides) have sent forms and requested pictures to put together books. Our immediate family has always participated and I have all the books. When my daughter was in middle school she had a project of doing a family tree and so we did a half hearted one. During high school my daughter was asked to do a more in depth family tree and the teacher asked them to go back to see when family members arrived, from where, slaves, etc. My daughter and I were able to do one that really got us both interested in all of this. The free software helped and we still have a copy of her huge poster. One book showed the Coat of Arms, how many slaves and how many women as the census counted slaves and women but no names. I have visited all of the family cemeteries but have not taken the time to take my daughter to the old homesteads and all. Right now she is not interested in that portion but my dear old daddy is in his early 80's and wants to take a trip to visit all of it. I'm thinking about going with him as he will want to do all of the driving. He just came to visit and stay with my daughter while I was sick and I swear he looks and acts as if he were in his 50s. He and I used to skip rocks in the creek that runs through the old homestead in northern Alabama. You always bring out the greatest memories in your Threads! Thank you, Sherry P.S. I am cleaning out our house and have a handmade buttermilk pitcher that has inlaid gold on it that one of our family members brought over on a ship, I have the spinning wheel my great great grandmother used and the two handled saw my granddaddy used with his daddy. I have loads more but will just list those for now.
I'm wanting to locate my great, great grandfather's gravesite, but having trouble finding out where he's buried. I suspect that it is likely in some forgotten family cemetery or perhaps in an old church cementery. I do know his name and his birth/death date, but my uncle (who is sort of the living historian of the family) doesn't know where he's at and my grandfather has been gone for some years now. I've looked online in the county records, but that isn't so easy to navigate through. Here's some advice I'd like to give to the younger generation. My grandfather had many stories to share. Some I listened to and others I did not. I encourage young people (and their parents) to gather as much family information as they can while the senior members of their families are still living and have it to give. I have always liked history and was a little bit interested in family history when I was young. However, I naively didn't appreciate the knowledge my grandparents had to give until they were long gone. Write it down, record their stories on a tape recorder or whatever and you'll have a family treasure of another kind...a more indepth knowledge of your roots.
jester...i'll assume you're talking north carolina... county records are sparse and are only good back to about 1900 for the most part. official death certificates weren't kept until like 1903, so if they died before that you may only be able to find a will or some record in the state archives. luckily, it's on jones st across from the gov's mansion in downtown raleigh. tons of info there, including census records, tax records, wills, property deeds, military muster rolls, marriage licenses, etc. also, and sorry yankees, but it's true: there's alot of info missing simply due to soldiers and carpetbaggers destroying county courthouses and personal belongings after the war between the states (i'll let you call it what you want....). some info like birth/death records from family bibles and the like are lost forever, and can only be pieced together from other records....
Sherry: definitely go on that trip with your Daddy. Take lots of pics and bring along a digital recorder and let your Daddy talk as much as he will about anything that comes to mind. It'll be a blessing for years to come.
