Category: Tombstone Tourist
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As the Year Ends
Looking back on my genealogy-related accomplishments in 2015, my thoughts go first to the one that brought me the most joy. I visited 24 cemeteries this year. Three visits helped with my family history research. Maybe one of the others will help you with yours. If you haven’t yet made your New Year’s Resolutions, please consider…
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Wednesday’s Child: Wisconsin Baby in a Shell
The first “baby in a shell” headstone I had ever seen was in a large garden cemetery known for a somewhat elite clientele. In October, I encountered another example of this artistic style of carved stone in a small cemetery in rural Wisconsin. The epitaph reads “here lies at rest…
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Circling the Wagons I Get, but Circling the Headstones?
Why are these headstones in Mauston Cemetery (Mauston Wisconsin) arranged in a half-circle? What does it mean?
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Post-Mortem Picture in Bohemian National Cemetery
the photograph that remains provides a plethora of genealogical clues
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Wednesday’s Child; Louisa Potter 1859-1860
Using the cool new Find A Grave app, Husband and I stopped at a dozen or so cemeteries during a recent road trip. Hartwell Cemetery is a small, lovely white-picket-fenced graveyard near Abells Corners and Lafayette Township Wisconsin. Established in 1844, there are many old headstones and the same family names are…
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Thousands of Headstones are Sinking into the Ground
More and more cemeteries are going with flat-to-the ground headstones. They are more economical to create and it’s easier to maintain the landscaping around them. But they sink into the soil beneath them. And grass grows over them. And the names are lost to us, sometimes forever. Every fall when we visit the…
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Buried Here But Not; How I Played Hide and Seek on Find A Grave
This year I took over 100 headstone photos in a cemetery where they weren’t. Confused? So was I! I drove through the gates of Memory Gardens Cemetery in the wee hours of May 24th. It was misting and I was rushed knowing the sky would soon give in to the threatening rain.…
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Guardian Angel
When I visited St. Luke Cemetery in Chicago this past spring I was focused on young Herold Mueller and his headstone. It wasn’t until later that I noticed the angel nearby who was keeping watch over him. Herold’s picture is in an oval frame on his headstone. The German phrase hier…
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Not Far from the Tree
Styled after tree trunks and cut branches, the individual headstones of the Evans’ family are grouped around a large tree marker. The broken branches on the large headstone symbolize a life cut short.
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Milestone in the Cemetery
I smiled as I took this picture for Find A Grace, imagining the conversation that may have taken place. “Is that really what you want on your headstone Mom?” Apparently Jewell’s wish came to fruition. Her milestone can be seen in Chicago’s Irving Park Cemetery:
where2look4ancestors 