The Wonders That Come In The Mail From Distant Cousins

What a wonderful package I received recently in the mail. It was from the distant cousin that found me because of this blog.

It was a copies of information his father had found before his death. This traces this line back to the Mayflower. His father was approved to join the Mayflower society and this cousin as since down the same. How exciting history is and that we are all part of some history somewhere is even more exciting.
That is what is so wonderful about genealogy. It connects us to the past.

At this time we are busy packing to move back to Minnesota from Texas so I have packed up this information for now. Will share more about this line when I get to my new home. Actually I am moving back to my home town. The city ( Duluth ) I grew up in until marrying my hubby #2 and moving to the big city of St. Paul Minnesota.
I am going back to the shores of Lake Superior and am so excited. We are renting a small duplex steps from the beach.

Hope that all of you find distant cousins through your blogs. I just had a distant cousin find me from face book. I have thought of her often over the last 40 years and hope to get an email from her soon.

Thanks for stopping by.. Grace

My New Family Tree Program I Am Now In the 21st Century

I finally broke down and bought a new family tree program. The last one I purchased was in 1998.
It worked fine and I thought that was good enough.
But after visiting with Random Relatives and hearing about her family program I decided I should look into buying a new one. I love her posts and how she tells how she is related to the person she is writing on.

Now if you read any of my other blogs, especially http://www.couponloversunite/ you will know I am working on a thrifty life style. Coupons, living within my means and no credit cards. I am on a tight budget and this program is not part of my budget.... BUT I did receive a gift card from Office Depot for not only my purchases but also for turning in my dead ink cartridges. This gift card still had $27.14 left on it and my 2009 family tree program with tax was $32.46. So my out of pocket cost was $5.32.

The $5.32 came out of my grocery budget but my pantries are so over loaded from great deals it won't matter. We could probably live off what I have stocked up for a month other than bread, milk and some meat.

We down loaded it last night on to my computer We were able to put the information I already had in my old family tree into it. Best of all I can interact with http://www.ancestry.com/ and my family tree program. I love it and love ancestry.

I am in the 21st century with my family tree program now. Last night I was on http://www.ancestry.com/ and in my family program for about 3 hours.

I will some how make sure ancestry is in my budget. Gives me hours of entertainment and I have hooked up with a cousin and we email often. Her grandfather is my grandfather's brother so we are cousins some how. Can't wait to meet her next time I am in Minnesota. We lived only miles apart for over 15 years and never met.

Will post later about some of my finds. Till later thanks for stopping by... Grace

Leaving Memories For Our Descendants

Oh how I wish I had more writings from my ancestors. Letters, notes anything to get to know them better. Glimpse into their lives. What they were doing, what was happening. I mentioned this very fact to my sister the other night. " I wish we had more knowledge of our family.

How did my grandparents meet? I do not know how my mother's parents met. I do know that my father's parents went to school together and he wrote in her autograph book as did family members and friends. This wonderful old book was passed down to me and is one of my most treasured memories. It belonged to my grandmother Alta and is about 100 years old and very fragile. Some of the pages are loose but it is so beautiful.

Alta's mother wrote Feb 20, 1910 Dear Daughter May your cup of happiness always be full. Her father just wrote his initials. And on September 8, 1911 her future husband wrote. Friend Alta Wishing you success through life. Your friend Perry Zion. They married June 11Th 1913.

But this does not tell me how did they met, were they dating in 1911 when he wrote in her book?
I do know I need to start writing down different pieces of my history. If I don't someday my descendants will be saying the same thing. I need to write down each piece of history I find about my ancestors and put it together for those in the future to read.
I found an envelope that my aunt daisy wrote down all the places she and her parents had lived. This gives me a glimpse of history for them. I wish it had been written on a pretty piece of stationery but this shows a part of her that was very frugal. She saved everything. I should write that some day. It is a sad story that needs to be told. Another day though.
This is my Aunt Daisy in 1940 in Mora Minnesota...

Have you started a journal yet? Where have you lived .... favorite teacher... the best part of growing up... grandma or grandpa had an unusual habit... I met someone special ... Where did we work, go to school or what are our favorite foods?
So many things to think and write about but one day at a time.
For now I think I will write all the places I know I have lived and see if I can find pictures of some of them. That may be of interest to some one some day. Next maybe memories of meeting my first husband, then my second husband. Maybe the day I had my boys or when I first met my step children ... so many different memories to think about.

How about you ... are you making a journal of memories? Mine will be in a three ring binder that I can add pictures, postcards and mementos.

Directory of Historical Societies

Here is a great links to help in our search for family research

http://www.daddezio.com/society/hill/index.html

Here you can find a link to a Directory of Historical Societies in the United States, Canada and Australia.
Some links are live and others give you location information.

Who Were My Great Grandparents Part 8

This the last of my Great Grandparents. Number 8 is Mabel Jane Coleman.

Mabel was born July 1st 1872 in Greenwood, Nebraska to John Henry and Alta Angeline ( Cheuvront ) Coleman. She was the second born of five children having two brothers Elic and Elmer and two sisters Alta and Mary.

The early years of her life was spent in Nebraska. Her parents traveled many times during her youth.

She married Arthur Hall in Denver Colorado August 28, 1891. They had three daughters. The oldest being my grandma Alta.

She was a christian woman being baptised in Nebraska and later years became a member of the Lutheran Church her last twelve years. She spent her last years in the Black Hills territory with her two daughters Mae and Pearl after her husband Arthur passed away.

She passed away March 1946 in Arkansas while visiting her sister Mary Wirsig and is now buried in Crawford, Nebraska next to her husband.

Who Were My Great Grandparents Part 5 Jonathan Zion Rachel Millsap

This is the fifth of my great grandparents. My first four great grandparents were from my mother's side of the family. Now I am sharing from my dad's side of the family.

This is Jonathan Adam Zion my dad's grandfather. His son Perry was my father's father.

Jonathan was born September 29, 1861 in Decatur county Iowa to John Henderson and Mary Margaret (Cossill ) Zion. He was called Adam most of the time.

When he was sixteen years old he left home to learn the blacksmith trade. After spending four years as an apprentice he followed his trade for 20 years.

He married Rachel Millsap February 11, 1886 near Lamoni Iowa and soon moved to Kendal Kansas.












Their first child was Perry who was born December 12, 1886. In the winter of 1888 / 89 they moved to Tuskgee Iowa where their second child Norton was born. They moved back Decatur Co where their two daughters Etta and Gertrude were born during that time. They moved to Diagonal Iowa around 1894 where the youngest daughter Bessie was born.In 1900 they moved to Hope Idaho. After this they resided in Minnesota before moving by wagon to Nebraska in 1909. In 1916 they went with many other homesteaders by train to Moffat County Colorado arriving March 22, 1916.

Family memories tell that he like to chew tobacco and raised sheep. One time he turned his back on the big Ram and got butted. He was a large man around the waist. My uncle Joe tells of trying on his pants and he could of gotten them around him twice. Uncle Joe was no small man. Grandma Rachel was probably a great cook.

Adam's health began to deteriorate due to the hard work of being a blacksmith and he retired to the farm.

He developed the family brand in 1907 and this branding iron is still used today by my cousins on their cattle. It is a Z with quarter circle under the Z.

My grandpa Perry is the handsome man on the left

In about 1926 he went to Denver to see the doctors about the cancer he had. He was unable to work after this and spent time with his grandchildren giving them memories that they have passed on to the family.

Adam passed away April 07 1927 and is buried in the Craig Cemetery in Craig Colorado.

Who Were My Great Grand Parents Part 4 Katherine Gallaher

Today is about my great grandmother Katherine Gallaher. Katherine was born May 10, 1873 to Patrick and Johanna ( Riordan ) Gallaher. She was born in Hamburg, Vernon Wisconsin. In 1893 she was married to Appleton Esler December 12, 1893 at the Methodist parsonage in La Crosse Wisconsin. She spent most of her life in the Mora, Minnesota area. She had a total of three children by birth, Grace, Merle and Jesse Wayne. Appleton had two children with his previous wife. They were Tillie and Russell. Katherine helped to raise them. I know very little of her life which is a real shame. She had my grandmother Grace in 1892 out of wedlock. At that time this was a great shame and I am told her parents turned her picture to the wall. She was raised Catholic and left that faith and became Methodist which also I would think strained the relationship with her parents.

Katherine died March 19, 1940 in Ogilive, Minnesota and is buried at the cemetery in Mora, Minnesota next to Appleton. Appleton died in 1938.

My picture is Katherine and Appleton in Ogilive during the 1930's

Who Were My Great Grand Parents Part 2 Carrie Lockwood Day

This a tin type picture of Carrie Lockwood Day Warner and her sister Mae Lockwood taken about 1875

I want to tell you about my great grandmother Carrie Lockwood Day. Sadly I do not have as much information on her as her husband William Albert. My Uncle Don told me that everyone adored her.


Carrie was born to John Lockwood and Betsy Jane Eddington on October 07 1870 in Blue Earth Minnesota.


Carrie married William Albert Day January 09 1889. Nine months and 22 days later my grandfather was born. Seven more children were born over the next years.

Here she is pictured with her husband William A. Day and my grandfather William H. Day. I love this picture so much. How cute is my grandpa Willie?

If you read her husbands history you see he was an entrepreneur. She was not in the lime light, he was. I would guess she held this family together taking care of the children and the home.



This picture was taken probably in late 1913 or early 1914. Pictured is my grandfather William holding his first child my Aunt Daisy who was born January 26, 1913. My great grandma Carrie is sitting on the left and her mother Betsy (Eddington) Lockwood on the right. This was taken some where in Minnesota. I have this picture in a large size framed in an antique gold frame. It hung in my grandparents home and was passed on to me and now hangs in my home in my bedroom.









This is the family about 1917.

My grandfather is pictured 4 from the left back row.

Above grandma Carrie is pictured with her son Fairfax Day in McGregor July 3, 1942, taken at a lake in McGregor.

She remarried some time after William A Day died to George Warner. She lived in McGregor Minnesota till her death on April 2, 1946.
She is buried at a cemetery outside of Sacred Heart Minnesota next to William A Day.

Genealogy News Update

Interesting updates from a genealogy email I received


rallyat the Michigan State Capitol and the State Library complex Read this article , hope that they can stop this money cut. Probably won't though.

Merger Creates Britain’s Leading Genealogy Company
1930 Census Is Free on Footnote In August!
Ancestry.com Expands Jewish Records Collection
Crimes of Your Great-Grandfathers ... this is an interesting article if you are in to this type of history. I have a great great uncle that was murdered while doing his security job on the docks of Duluth Minnesota. I have not found any more information on this yet. Then I have a great great uncle that died accidently but his sister thought he was murdered. What else is in our family tree to still search out. I have started a new blog site that features old news articles this type at http://thewanderingnewsgatherer.blogspot.com/

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by to see me.

"I Wonder Who You Are " My Brick Wall

This is my super brick wall. My grandmother Grace was born in July of 1892 in Minnesota, but her mother never married her father. Great grandmother did marry in December of 1893, to a wonderful man who raised my grandmother as his own.

I was never really told much about my grandmother's birth father while growing up.
They did tell me his name. We were led to believe that he was a no good scoundrel who took off for Chicago. I wish my grandmother would have talked about him, but she was of another generation. That is all we got, he was no good and went to Chicago.
It was not until my mother and uncle were getting older that they finally pulled out a picture of him some time in 2000. My darling uncle even whispered "Our little mama was illegitimate."
At least we have a name and a picture. This is one of my great grandfather's. His name is Andrew. I really doubt he went to Chicago.
I tried to get my grandmother's birth certificate but no luck as there is none available to the public. I have searched the census in the area where I think he may have lived and may have found him. I even found a cemetery in the area with a grave with the same name as his.
But until I find some one with the same photo on the Internet I will really never know that I have found him. All I have is this photo of a handsome young man. His name is Andrew and he is one of my grandfathers. For what ever reason they never married. He probably was a good man who moved on after he and my great grandma never got together. He probably married , had children and died.
I do know he saw my grandma Grace at least once. My great grandma's brother had died in an accident in 1911. Andrew came to the funeral. My great grandma said " Andrew this is our Grace"
How I wish my grandma Grace had talked about him and anything else she may have known about him and his family. She never did and this one photo is all I have .

Great Aunt Grace Got married in 1929 What was Happening

The last post was a picture of my great aunt Grace in her pretty wedding dress. What an exciting day that was for her I am sure. She was 29 years old and getting married for the first time.

Tonight I was looking at that picture and decided to print out the historical information for my family note book to put with her picture. Below is the link I used

http://blogs.ancestry.com/circle/?p=870&o_iid=23560&o_lid=23560. From there I found the year in question.this is copied from their site so not only can you read what happened but you also can have the link to more information.

The year was 1929 and is probably best remembered for the October 29 “Black Tuesday” stock market crash that signaled the start of the Depression Era.
President Herbert Hoover continued to express optimism with statements like, “Any lack of confidence in the economic future or the basic strength of business in the United States is foolish,” but fortunes had been lost, unemployment rose, and the “Great Depression” would last into World War II.
In Chicago, one of the most notorious crimes of the era takes place on February 14, when seven gangsters who were members of Bugs Moran’s gang were gunned down in a warehouse on Clark Street in Chicago, in what is now known as the St. Valentine’s Day massacre. No charges were ever filed on the infamous murders, but it is widely believed that Al Capone and his gang were behind the crime.
The year 1929 had its share of natural disasters too. Off the coast of Newfoundland, a 7.2 magnitude earthquake struck and set off a tsunami that killed 28 people, devastated coastal communities on the Burin Peninsula, and ruptured 12 transatlantic telegraph cables.
In the U.S. an F5 tornado devastated parts of Arkansas, the lower Mississippi Valley suffered severe flooding and an ice storm hit New England.
In February, Dartmoor in Great Britain had one of the worst snowstorms in history. The storm dumped over six feet of snow on the area and the winter was one of the most severe on record in Britain. Europe also suffered cold temperatures, with record lows set in Germany and Austria in that month.
Fire took its toll in 1929 when a fire at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio killed 123. The fire began when x-ray film got too close to a lightbulb and ignited. The poisonous fumes given off by the burning films killed most of the victims. More information and photos are available on the Cleveland Public Library website.
In entertainment, the first Academy Awards ceremony took place. The cost of admission was $10 and the awards ceremony lasted five minutes, with fifteen statuettes being handed out. “Wings,” starring Clara Bow, Charles “Buddy” Rogers, Richard Arlen, and Gary Cooper, won best picture.
That same year the Marx Brothers made their film debut with Cocoanuts. Ernest Hemingway wrote, A Farewell to Arms, and ironically one of the most popular songs was Happy Days are Here Again, which was released just prior to the stock market crash.

Wow what a year that was.

Wedding Picture of My Great Aunt Grace 1929

Today I wanted to show you a beautiful wedding picture I have of my great aunt Grace (Day )Gatzemeyer Crosby.

I do not have much information written down about her. What I do know for sure is she was born May 11Th 1900 to William Albert and Carrie ( Lockwood ) Day and died November 14, 1993.

She was the sister of my grandfather William on my mother's side.

What a pretty bride she was the day she married Lloyd Gatzemeyer, who I thinks first name was really Joseph according to the 1930 census. That is her sister Gladys as her bridesmaid. I am not sure of the groomsman name but may be one of her brothers either Bernard or Morris.

They were married about 1929. According to the census of 1930 They are 41 and 30 years old . The 1930 census asks age of first marriage and they give the age of 40 and 29. This tells me they had been married about a year.

The wedding dress and bridesmaid dress seem sheer and the hem lines end just above the knee. Her veil is floor length and also sheer. My great aunt Gladys is wearing a wonderful brimmed hat. The picture was take at the New Hennepin Studio in Minneapolis, Minnesota .They never had any children. Not sure how the marriage ended yet.

I do know she married a second time to Carl Crosby but I do not think that marriage lasted real long. He died within a few years of their marriage.

I have memories as a child riding the train to Minneapolis with my Aunt Daisy, sister and cousin to visit Aunt Grace and Aunt Gladys. My aunt Daisy was close to them, so we went once every summer. Great memories.

Putting depth to the history of my Ancestor

I love searching around the Internet for anything relating to genealogy that I can add to my own research.
I am blogging and searching my great grandfather Arthur Reynolds Hall this week. He was my father's grandfather. He was born September 19, 1863 in Evansville Rock County, Wisconsin to George Wilbur and Louisa Marie( Reynolds) Hall
What was happening around this happy event in my ancestors family.
In my searching I found this site http://blogs.ancestry.com/circle/?p=870&o_iid=23560&o_lid=23560. From there I found the year in question.
this is copied from their site so not only can you read what happened but you also can have the link to more information.

The Year Was 1863
The year was 1863 and the U.S. was embroiled in the Civil War. Notable battles that year included those at Chancellorsville, Vicksburg, Gettysburg, Chickamauga, and Chattanooga. One of the most well-known battles of the Civil War, 1-3 July 1863, the Union Army, led by General George G. Meade met General Robert E. Lee and the Army of Virginia at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania to engage in one of the largest battles to ever take place on American soil involving more than 160,000 men.

The battle would result in more than 23,000 Union casualties and between 20,000 and 25,000 Confederate. Later that year, President Abraham Lincoln was invited to speak at the consecration of a cemetery where he would deliver his famous Gettysburg Address, on 19 November 1863.

Earlier that year, on 1 January, Lincoln had issued the Emancipation Proclamation, declaring that all slaves held in Confederate states were to be free, and further declared that they “be received into the armed service of the United States.” Following this proclamation, the 54th Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteer infantry became the first northern all-Black Union regiment.

Not all of the Civil War soldiers of 1863 were volunteers. In March of that year, the National Conscription Act began a draft registration for men between twenty and thirty-five. The conscription process allowed for wealthy men to hire substitutes or buy exemption for $300. The process angered those who couldn't afford to get out of service, and following the news of devastating casualties from Gettysburg, when a list of draftees was listed in New York papers, rioting ensued. Mobs attacked the armory and then took to the streets, targeting blacks and abolitionists in a horrific manner. Federal troops, many of them fresh from the fields of Gettysburg, had to be called in to quell the riots.

In partitioned Poland, Lithuania, and Belarus, another protest of a draft, in this case into the Russian Tsarist army, resulted in an insurrection known as the January Uprising. After the uprising failed, the Russian government executed hundreds, and more than 18,000 people were exiled to Siberia.

Another proclamation by President Lincoln would be of a more peaceful nature. On 3 October, he issued a proclamation calling for a national day of Thanksgiving to be held on the last Thursday of November. (The full-text of the proclamation appeared in the 13 October 1863 issue of the “Adams Sentinel,” which can be found on the blog entry for this article and in the Ancestry Historical Newspaper Collection. (Click on the newspaper image in the upper right corner to enlarge it.)
In other U.S. news in 1863, Arizona and Idaho were organized as U.S. territories, and West Virginia was admitted as the 35th state.

The International Committee of the Red Cross was founded in 1863, inspired by a book written by Henry Dunant, a Swiss man who had visited an Italian battlefield and asked “Would it not be possible, in time of peace and quiet, to form relief societies for the purpose of having care given to the wounded in wartime by zealous, devoted and thoroughly qualified volunteers?”
In London, crowds gathered in January hoping for a ride on the first underground train, a project aimed at cutting down on the congestion on London streets.

There is a printer friendly copy of this which I copied and put in my genealogy binder with his other information. As I am showing my grand children and others this book, not only are they looking at recording of births, deaths, children , the census reports and pictures of my great grandfather Arthur and family, there is history around this period of time for them to read.

An interesting foot note to me is less than one hundred miles away in Fon du lac, Wisconsin my great great grandfather John Lockwood was courting and soon would marry Betsey Jane Eddington on September 25th, 1963. John would enlist in the 2nd Calvary Wisconsin on August 29th, 1964 to join the war. John is an ancestor on my mother's side. http://www.mapquest.com/maps?1c=Evansville&1s=WI&1y=US&1l=42.7803&1g=-89.299202&1v=CITY&2c=Fond+Du+Lac&2s=WI&2y=US&2l=43.773102&2g=-88.446899&2v=CITY. Of course there were no freeways or cars then. Wagons were the method of travel. Cars did not come till later.

Whats New at Ancestry.com

Just wanted to let you know some of the new things at www.ancestry.com. If you are a member of ancestry.com you can check out these links.

Massachusetts soldiers and sailors of the Revolutionary War
Regiments and armories of Massachusetts: an historical narration of the Massachusetts Volunteer Militia, Vols. 1-2
Australian Convict Transportation Registers – First Fleet, 1787-1788
Australian Convict Transportation Registers – Second Fleet, 1789-1790
Australian Convict Transportation Registers – Third Fleet, 1791
Australian Convict Transportation Registers – Other Fleets & Ships, 1791-1868
Annual report of the Adjutant General of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 1863-1865

Plan of Action Investigate a Sibling or Cousin

My plan of action was to learn more about my Great grandfather Arthur R Hall. I have spent several hours on http://www.ancestory.com/ and have gathered the census for Arthur and his wife, and his daughters including my Grandma Alta.
I found a small genealogy book my aunt Alice wrote about the Hall family and learned some things about Arthur and on his father George. We will go into George at a later post.
Arthur was born in Evansville Wisconsin in 1805. His father was George and his mother was Louisa ( Reynolds ) Hall. As a child he attended school at Union Township Section 20 at the stone school house built in 187? He then attended and graduated from the Evansville Seminary in 1884. I have not found as of yet that he practiced in the ministry.
He helped build the third home, a 2 story house on his parents farm and at least 2 other that were similar about town.
He went on a adventure to Denver Colorado where he married Mable Jane Coleman August 28, 1891. I know nothing about their romance at this time. When did they meet and where. Did he visit Denver earlier and return to marry her or was living in Denver for a period of time part of the adventure.
After marrying the couple moved to Chicago, Illinois and lived there for seven years. ( Other records have it as 4 years so I am not sure.)
This would of been during the Chicago World's fair in 1893. I have in my possession a souvenir from that fair. This souvenir was passed down to me from my grandma Alta who was their daughter. I wonder if he help build this magnificent fair.
This was an exciting time in Chicago. I read the fiction / non fiction book " Devil in a White City " by Erik Larson http://www.randomhouse.com/crown/devilinthewhitecity/home.html. It was a great read about this time.
Arthur was a carpenter and fathered 3 daughters. They were living in Chicago when my grandma was conceived , she was born in Evansville Wisconsin. They must of gone there to visit family just before her birth. They returned to Chicago where the second daughter Mae Bell was born in 1895. In 1898 they moved to Nebraska and lived in Geneva where in 1901 the third daughter Pearl was born. They also lived in Taylor Nebraska for awhile. In 1919 they moved to Crawford Nebraska. While visiting his daughter Alta ( Hall ) Zion in Craig Colorado he passed away of hardening of the arteries around his heart.July 8 1919. He was returned to Crawford and buried. I am on a search for his grave. Notes on his wife my great grandma Mabel say that she died in Arkansas and she also was buried in Nebraska so they are probably together.
I need to get the census reports for Mabel (Coleman) Hall his wife, this hopefully will tell me where she was living shortly before they married. Was she in Chicago with her family during that period. But that is for another day in my search for my great grandfather Arthur Hall and my great grandma Mabel Coleman Hall.

More Best Web Sites 10 Best Web Sites to See Dead People

Here are a few more Best Web Sites that from family tree. This post has been taken from http://familytreemagazine.com/article/10-obituary-web-sites

Use these sites to find obituaries, cemeteries and other traces of your departed ancestors.
American Battle Monuments Commission If you have military ancestors buried in US cemeteries abroad, this is the place to find them. The site covers 24 overseas military cemeteries with almost 125,000 American war dead, plus Tablets of the Missing that memorialize more than 94,000 US servicemen and -women.
AncientFaces $ This collection of nearly 50,000 old family photos also offers family stories and recipes, plus Family Spaces Web pages on which to share them (starting at $29.95 a year).
Cemetery Surveys View nearly 240,000 burial records, many with photos of the actual headstones; the site is richest in coverage for the southeastern United States. You can even import your finds into Google Earth.
DeadFred $ A longtime favorite, this genealogy photo archive has helped more than 1,400 people reunite with pictures of their ancestors. It's free to search the archive of more than 92,000 records representing more than 16,000 surnames. Paying members ($19.95 a year) get customization options and enhanced photo posting.
Find a GraveThis simple-yet-powerful cemetery database has grown to more than 31 million grave transcriptions. You can search by name (with options for maiden names and partial surnames), birth date, death date or cemetery location, or browse a cemetery for people you think might be your ancestors. There's also a surname index and the Social Security Death Index. .. this is one site I have started searching and have now joined them as a find a grave member.
Interment.netThough smaller than Find a Grave, Interment.net is likewise worth a look—its user-submitted gravestone records cover cemeteries that no longer exist, along with graveyards beyond the United States. Special collections cover veterans' cemeteries, flooded cemeteries, California mission graveyards and Woodmen of the World burials.
Kentucky Historical Society In addition to a searchable catalog and digital collections, this handsome site serves up the Kentucky Cemetery Records Database—hundreds of thousands of names transcribed from gravestones across Kentucky, from urban cemeteries to rural plots.
MortalitySchedules.com Don't you just hate it when you find an inconsiderate ancestor who died right before the next census? Now you can track him or her with the help of this site: It provides free transcriptions of the 1850, 1860, 1870 and 1880 census mortality schedules, in which enumerators recorded information on all people who perished within the 12 months preceding the census.
Names in Stone $ Not nearly as data-rich—yet—as more established cemetery sites, this newcomer nonetheless has a great concept: You can search for a grave and get a map showing where it is in the cemetery and whose plots are nearby. Searching is free, and you get not only the information on a tombstone but also the grave's location, the cemetery name, a cemetery map, the address, GPS coordinates and driving directions. Paying members ($7.95 per month, $39.99 per year) can save searches and a "cemeteries of interest" list, get automated- search notifications and receive discounts on "virtual gravestone décor." Only about a dozen states are represented to date, but this one's worth watching.
Nationwide Gravesite LocatorThis Department of Veterans Affairs Web site—a domestic counterpart to the aforementioned American Battle Monuments Commission site—searches burial locations of veterans and their family members in VA National Cemeteries, state veterans cemeteries and various other military and Department of Interior cemeteries. It also includes veterans buried in private cemeteries where the grave is marked with a government grave marker.
So many places to search for our information. Hope that you enjoy these sites and find something interesting in your own ancestor hunt.

A Historical Cemetery in Rosenberg Texas McNabb Family

I am not sure what there is about people who love to wander the cemetery and look at grave stones of people who are not their own family but I am one of them. I of course love finding my own family's gravestones, but they are scattered across the United States and Europe.

I found this wonderful old cemetery here in Texas thanks to my brother in law Larry. He loves history and old cemeteries like I do. Part of this wonderful old cemetery there are a great number of historical grave stones.

It was quiet and peaceful there. The sky was blue and it was hot - to hot to be there, but I still I wandered and took pictures for a bit.

I had posted awhile back about the top ten genealogy sites and http://www.findagrave.com/ was one of them.

This is a wonderful site where people just like me who love to wander cemeteries can post information and pictures about the gravestones of the famous and the non famous just for the historical or genealogy fact. I can sit here in my home and visit http://www.findagrave.com/ and see the grave stone of my great grandfather Adam Zion in Colorado and someone else can see the gravestones I am posting tonight and the next few evenings at that site.

Tonight I posted the tombstones of a family. I have not been able to find any information on them on the Internet yet but here is the information from their gravestones.

As you are facing the head stones on the left hand side is Johnnie McNabb who was born September 21 1902 and who died January 8 1944. My question is was Johnnie a female or a male? Did they name females Johnnie in 1902 after a father named John.

The middle tombstone is much larger and is that of Alexander D McNabb who was born May 4 1854 and who died February 20 1911. Printed also on his stone is "Women of the World Memorial. " Makes me wonder why this printed on a man's headstone. The tombstone on the right side of Alexander is Charlien Gloyd McNabb who was born September 27 1868 and died June 12 1929. This was probably his wife. I wonder if Gloyd a maiden name or middle name.

Find a Grave Web site From your Laptop

Last night I posted some of the top web sites for genealogy. One of them was Find a Grave

I love to wander the cemetary. Quiet and so peaceful. Today I had dh stop at a cemetary in the Houston area. Will tell about that in another post. But tonight I wandered Craig Cemetary from my laptop.

Find a Grave is a simple-yet-powerful cemetery database has grown to more than 31 million grave transcriptions. You can search by name (with options for maiden names and partial surnames), birth date, death date or cemetery location, or browse a cemetery for people you think might be your ancestors. There's also a surname index and the Social Security Death Index.

Tonight I went to the site. Registered as a member, offered to take pictures of gravestones in my area. I then found that the pictures of my great grandmother Rachel and great grandfather Adam Zion plus there grave stone had been posted. I had seen these pictures before on the internet, but to night I was able to also get the name of the cemetary in a picture also. Before leaving I left viritual flowers for them. .

That is my grandfather Perry upper left hand corner.

Try to take some time to check out this web site. I am amazed. I will be taking some time to searching this site. I hope to be able to find graves of my ancestors that I have not seen yet.

Happy searching

Family Tree Magazine 101 Best Web Sites 2009

Family Tree Magazine recently released their annual 101 Best Web Sites for 2009. You probably have seen most already, but I wanted to add those that I think are perfect to this blog.

10 Best Web Sites for Vital Records

Arizona Genealogy Birth and Death Certificates For any of those whose ancestors were born or died in Arizona are very lucky. Not only can you search here for birth records (1855 to 1933) and death records (1844 to 1958), but once you've found your family members, a single click brings up a PDF of the original document.

Cook County, Illinois, Vital Records $ This new Web site makes finding your Chicago-area ancestors a snap: Searching the more than 8 million birth (75-plus years old), marriage (50-plus years old) and death (20-plus years old) records is free. The results show name, record date and file number, with an option to download a copy for $15.
If you happen to be confused by sound-alike names here? You can use the search tool created by genealogy-tech guru Steve Morse at stevemorse.org/vital/cook.html.

Maine State Archives This archives site serves up a searchable marriage index (1892 to 1996, with a gap from 1967 to 1976) and death index (1960 to 1996).

Massachusetts Archives This is a searchable database that lets you search indexes of Massachusetts birth, marriage and death records from 1841 to 1910. You can search by first and last names, year and location. Be sure to bookmark this site, too, its ongoing project to index more than 1 million immigrants through the port of Boston (1848 to 1891).

Minnesota Historical Society Yea.. alot of my family lived in Minnesota. Here you can search your ancestors in the Land of 10,000 Lakes and a million mosquitoes with the indexes to birth records (1900 to 1934, plus selected pre-1900 records) and records from death cards (1904 to 1907) and death certificates (1908 to 2001).

Nova Scotia Historical Vital Statistics $ This site covers 111,386 births (1864 to 1877), 94,933 delayed birth records (1836 to 1907), 12,043 marriage bonds (1763 to 1864), 211,617 marriage registrations (1864 to 1932), 53,835 deaths from 1864 to 1877, and 392,787 deaths from 1908 to 1957. Every name is linked to the original digitized record. Searching and viewing is free, and you can order e-copies ($9.95) or paper copies ($19.95). To bad I have no family there.

Michigan This new site stands out for its Library of Michigan collection of nearly 1 million Michigan death certificates, 1897 to 1920—particularly notable because a readily available statewide index for the years 1915 to 1920 didn't exist previously. But these digitized records go far beyond a mere index, giving you the decedent's birth date and place, parents' names and birthplace, cemetery name and location, and more
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South Dakota Department of Health Even though South Dakota didn't begin statewide birth records until 1905, people born before that date were allowed to file for delayed birth certificates. So don't be put off by the apparent four-year span of the database, which covers births from 100 years ago and earlier—more than 180,000 South Dakota births in all.

Utah Death Certificate IndexIf your ancestors died in Utah, you can find them in this searchable database of more than 250,000 death certificates, from 1904 to 1956, linked to images of the originals.

Western States Historical Marriage Records Index This ever-growing database now numbers more than 686,000 marriages, including most pre-1900 nuptials plus many later ones for Arizona, Idaho and Nevada. Also worth a look for marriages in California, western Colorado, Montana, Oregon, Utah, eastern Washington and Wyoming. New Mexico marriages from the 1700s are being added. I have ancestors that married and lived in this area also.

My " Zion " family roots

My interest in genealogy started over 10 years ago. My father's sister started that interest as she would share graphs and names of my dad's family the " Zion " family. She would share family names the Colemans, Cheuvront's and the Hall family. As I searched I found more and more names. The more you look the wider the family gets. My Zion line came from Germany some time before 1770. As of now we do not know his or his wife's name. He was probably born about 1749. My first known Zion ancestor is John W Zion who was born about 1770 in North Fork Holston River Washington County Virginia. He had a sister named Rebecca Zion. John married Lucy McCornick November 3rd 1789 in Washington County Virginia.

Part of my interest in my family history is the history of the area and what happened in the lives of my ancestors. By going to http://www.google.com/ and putting in Washington County Virginia history I found the following information at http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~vawashin/

The first white settlers arrived in what is present day Washington County in the 1760's. Abingdon, Va. was known as Wolf Hills before "Abingdon" was selected as the name of the county seat. Washington County was formed from Fincastle County in 1777, the county seat, Abingdon was formed in 1778. The original Washington County, VA in addition to containing some of the other present day surrounding counties also contained what is today, Sullivan County, TN. Visit this page, Early Settlers of Washington Co, VA, to see some of the names of the early settlers to county (before 1780). Burned by Union forces in 1864. The county is divided into seven magisterial districts: Harrison, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Taylor, Tyler, and Wilson.

I searched the Early settlers link and only a few names were listed. I saw a McCormick but not a Zion so the search continues. I wonder if the McCormick is related to Lucy McCormick.

I hope that you will continue to join me in my search for my roots