Friday, April 18, 2008

A Bright Spot in a Frustrating Day

Several years ago I found the headstone of my 3rd greatgrandmother, Tamesin Hall Glover, in Gaines, NY. Sometime after her death her husband, David Glover, moved west to Michigan. My aunt and uncle have black and white a photo of his headstone in tall grass, taken from a distance. Recently I discovered which cemetery he is in so yesterday I headed out to find it and get a better picture.

Long story short, I got lost (several times) and when I did finally find the cemetery there were no headstones in the portion of the row where he and several other family members should have been. I did walk through the entire cemetery and I checked along the edges of the woods for stones that had been tossed aside. I was quite disappointed.

The day was saved for me by Juliane’s granddaughter. She had welcomed me to her home for a lovely lunch and wonderful conversation. She has an exciting trip of her own coming up! The time passed too quickly as we chatted about many different things. I also very much enjoyed meeting her mother. She has written a bit more about our discussion of computers and FTM.

Thanks to you both for a wonderful afternoon!

I spent the rest of the day making more wrong turns. I did find the graves of some cousins. I spent a very long time in another cemetery without any luck despite having a map of the plots.

This morning I’ll visit a bit with my aunt and uncle and then I’m heading home.

3 comments:

Thomas MacEntee said...

Apple

I had the same frustrating experience back in early March when I went to New Paltz, NY where many of my MacEntee and McEntee ancestors are buried. I could not find one of them! And there was snow on the ground which made it difficult.

And I keep feeling that frustration when my research finds more and more ancestors buried there.

Is your cemetery active or inactive? Mine is active and I may just call the cemetery office.

Craig Manson said...

What a great trip you're having! I'm very happy for you and eager to hear more.

Charley "Apple" Grabowski said...

Hi Thomas,

This was an old country cemetery. Some of the internments were recent but not many. So many of the cemeteries around here are in terrible condition like this one was. Since there is no family left in the area I suppose that the stones could have been missing for years. I hope that you are able to find help in New Paltz.

Hi Craig,

It was a fantastic trip and I hope to be able to share what I found soon!