It's All Relative's Post Means The Most!
I love reading other's blog posts! I love reading magazines, books and anything relating to genealogy. I have a pile of all of this to read. Slow but sure I am catching up a bit which is always good. If I get to far behind I may end up missing something of great importance!
I had the opportunity to have lunch with some fellow GeneaBloggers today, one of which is visiting and I have never met. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to attend because I had already committed to watching the prince and princess. For those who don't know, these are my grandchildren. Good thing I love them as much as I do, because this grandma would have really liked to go hook up with these GeneaBloggers. Wasn't meant to be though...so what was in store for me?
Between naps, feedings and playing I was able to read some blog posts. One in particular really caught my attention. It was a post at It's All Relative by Laura, entitled Gravely Disappointing. This was a great post in my opinion. So much about it hit home for me.
The photo Laura shared was very "disappointing" just as she stated. However, I am very grateful she shared this picture and this post. It got me thinking about my great grandparents (MINER) grave sites that I couldn't find last year. I found where they were buried but when I went to see their graves, neither grave was marked. I wrote about it in a post here. After not locating a headstone for either of them, I sadly went home. I have vowed to get them headstones.
I just looked at the photos I took last year again. I remembered an incline of a slight hill in the section where my great grandparents are buried and wanted to see if I could tell from the picture how much of an incline there was. I also remember trying to figure out the rows and they were all jumbled. Finally, I remember thinking the hill had slid and that was why the rows didn't make sense. Looking at the photos, it is about as I remembered it, but the grade is more dramatic than it looks I think in the picture.
When I informed my father I found their grave sites, but neither had a headstone, he was very surprised. We discussed my grandmother and where in her life she was at the time of these deaths, as we felt she would have been the one to handle the services, she was the only daughter. Again, my father was in real shock there were no headstones.
Now, I am thinking there must have been headstones placed for them. My father can't believe their wasn't. I do think the hill slid over the years after rains. This is why none of the rows made sense. I am also thinking their headstones may have been covered and overgrown as Laura was talking about with the picture she shared. I am not sure who would have ever gone and visited their graves. My grandmother became legally blind fairly young and had to give up her drivers license. Because of this especially, I do not feel she had been there for many years, and I don't imagine anyone else visiting either. Very sad. My next plan is to make a phone call to the cemetery and see what they can tell me regarding headstones. If they had one, can we go about finding them at all? Inquiring minds want to know!
Laura also talked about how to dress when going to a cemetery and having a cemetery kit. Sometimes it is the simple things. Why have I always thrown everything together at the last minute when I planned to go to the cemetery? Why haven't I taken the time to prepare a kit to have ready at any given time? How many posts do I have to read before I realize I really need to do this, and do it? Well, Laura, your post has hit home so strongly for me that I have added this to my to do list! I am going to make a cemetery kit to carry in my car, always.
One final thing Laura briefly hit upon, Find A Grave. I joined this fabulous site probably a year ago with the intention of adding grave information. I have not added one yet. This has actually been on my mind for the past couple of weeks, I feel so awful that I haven't contributed. I think once I get the first one done and know what I need to do, it will be easy. I haven't made this a priority, but it is now also on my to do list. So much to do, so little time. It is still beyond me how so many of you get so much accomplished, consistently. I really would love to figure out how to clone myself.
Laura, I really want to thank you for your great post. As you can see, it meant so much to me!
Thanks for stopping by!
Wishing you success in all of your genealogical treasure hunts!
Copyright © 2010 By Cheryl Palmer
You have been awarded the Ancestor Approved award for your great work on your genealogy blog...please stop by my blog and pick up the award (by right clicking on it and saving it to a .jpg) and then post the below information with the picture, using the format I used when receiving it.
ReplyDeleteThe Ancestor Approved Award asks that the recipient list ten things you have learned about any of your ancestors that has surprised, humbled, or enlightened you and pass the award along to ten other bloggers who you feel are doing their ancestors proud. Here are the 10 things I have learned from my ancestors.
I am also forwarding the Ancestor Approved Award your way. I always enjoy your down to earth way of blogging about our genealogy pursuits.
ReplyDeleteKim Eisman
Http://ancestorsiclaim.blogspot.com
Thank you so much Mary and Kim for thinking of me and awarding me! I feel so honored!
ReplyDeleteCheryl,
ReplyDeleteI just read your post responding to Gravely Disappointing. I'm so glad it moved you to take action and I hope you are able to locate those "missing" headstones. Thank you for sharing your thoughts with me and with others who may search harder for those lost markers.
Laura
Hi Laura,
ReplyDeleteThank you for commenting! I appreciated your post very much, it got me thinking, and moving! More to follow!