Hunting through the family closet.

When looking through your family tree sometimes you run a ground. No pun intended.
Families have information that may not jive date wise with what you find.
That’s when I try to find a headstone. See if maybe they left us a clue.
I had one that was a particular mess. Some members had him being buried in Neb. and others in Kansas. We after a little digging I found he was in Kansas. Died in Nebraska and taken back to the rest of the family in Kansas. Which as I think about it, that was probably no easy task back in those days. Remember if you find some family says one thing and the other have a different version, there might be a good story there and it’s worth taking the time to find out.

Well they are called all kinds of things but some have a specific purpose.
I came across a book called Stories in Stone by Douglas Keister. He talks about the different styles and types of carvings. So as I started to photograph our local cemetery I keep all of what I learned in my mind being more observant about the uses and meanings on the stones.
My mentioned this to a friend and she posed a question to me.
What about the big ones that cover where the grave is?
Well as i observed some had markings and some did not. I wondered if they did not have anything had it just worn away.
As I found out some of the stone slabs as I called them where called Ledger Stones these rectangular stones often contained information about the deceased. Some Ledge stones also had foot and headstones with them.
Most of them if you look farther back into history had depictions of the person as well as maybe a family coat of arms.
Here it seems it was carried over as a tradition. After much discussion though these may also serve another purpose in area’s of flooding by holding the coffin down in the ground.
It is a shame that the writing on these stones has a tendency to go away. For after records are gone it’s very hard to see who they are, but you do know they are there.
The flat stones come in very many styles, some are slightly raised as above. Some are flush with the ground. Look out for them and see what you find.

A few weeks ago a friend turned me on to the Graveyard Rabbits blog. I have looked through the articles and the member’s blogs and found them interesting. One of the topics had to do with a scavenger hunt. The list they had is: (The photos I’ve put for examples come from two cemeteries in my area; Greenlawn Cemetery Berthoud, Co. and Mountain View Cemetery, Longmont, Co.)
Cross,
Heart,
Fraternal symbol,
Monument,
Flower,
Hand,
Angel,
Bird,
Tree,
Star, note all the ones I found where really hard to see in Photography Still looking.
Obelisk,
Four-legged animal,
Photo,
Military gravestone,
Mausoleum,
But I found so many more that where fascinating that I thought I should also add them.
These include:
Farming,
Man and Horse,
Quotations,
Hand made,
Mountains,
Elk,
So I say to you, take a walk through your local cemetery and see what you find. You could be pleasantly surprised.

I recently started contributing to a website called Find a Grave. They try to list all the cemeteries, people in them and have photos of the graves.
I volunteered to get some photos at a cemetery close to where I live. While I was there a couple of women showed up. They let the dog off the lease and proceeded to throw the ball out for the dog to fetch. This went on for awhile. I didn’t really see them paying their respects to anyone. Then they finally packed up and left.
I’m still not sure just how to react to the whole thing. While I was out there I saw others come and visit and take pictures, but I must say that probably the only time I have ever seen a cemetery used as a dog play ground.

A couple of weeks ago I decide to finally meet a couple of cousins in Nebraska. Not only did I receive loads of information about one section of the family, but we went around to some of the cemeteries that hold the remains of some of the relatives.
I found that most of the cemeteries we visited were out between farms.
I was very curious to see one of our families most famous grave sites, which i thought was also out in a field. When we got there I discovered it was now in the middle of a housing development.
One of the people who had been living next to the memorial came out and visited with us. She said I was only the second person in 20 years that she had met that was a relative of the family buried there.
She also told me that every Memorial day she decorated the memorial. It was her way of honoring the pioneers, she told me.
I was very happy when she sent me a picture of the memorial.