Old Cemetery

Yesterday afternoon, I loafed and watched The War of 1812 on PBS.  It influenced the choice of subject matter for my next blogpost, which happens to be this one.  Here’s a War of 1812 flag-holder from a veteran’s grave….

Recently, I visited the “old cemetery”.  That’s what I’ve known it as since I was a kid.  It is located not far from where I grew up.  My siblings and I used to ride our bikes over there to look around and we’d accompany older relatives there on occasion.  Here’s a family plot containing graves of some of my ancestors….

These lichened old tombstones date from the 1860’s to 1880’s.  Unfortunately, much of the wording has worn away and is almost impossible to read now.  Several times over the years, I have taken photographs of these stones to record their historical information.  First with an old-fashioned film camera and later with the new-fangled digital type.

It would be helpful if more gravestones were like this next one, providing a treasure trove of names and dates with which to launch a genealogical search.    

She was my great-great-grandmother.  She was born in Onondaga County, New York.  I have a copy of her obituary.  It states that from New York her family “secured transportation by water and rail as far as Belvidere, Illinois, from which they drove an ox team hitched to a lumber wagon.  They followed prairie trails and forded streams as at that time there were no roads or bridges.”  Her father “bought government land at $1.25 per acre and built a sod house which sheltered them that winter.  The following year, 1855, a substantial log house was built.” 

I wonder what she would think of all our modern conveniences.  Especially, I wonder what she would think of computers, the internet, and blogging!!