Wednesday, May 16, 2012

The Things Left Behind by Judy Truesdell

The following beautiful account includes Judy Truedell's thoughts and impressions of Oakland Rural Cemetery in Porter Center (Niagara County.)  You can find more information about "the residents" of Oakland Rural Cemetery at:

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=cr&CRid=2284335&CScn=oakland&CScntry=4&CSst=36&CScnty=2009&






I've always been fascinated by the things people place on the graves of loved ones. I'm curious about who the people in the graves are.  Why the items mean something to those left behind and why they might mean something to the deceased?  Walking in a cemetery I've seen all kinds of things.  Teddy bears, race cars, toy dogs, horses, balloons, Christmas trees, bird houses, any number of things which are a clue to the people buried there. 

I was noticing these things as I took my dog for a walk yesterday in the cemetery a few miles from my house.  It's an old cemetery somewhat hidden between two parkway entrances and across from a large golf course.  Usually, I take my dog to the park just down the road in the other direction from my house, but it was cold close to the lake and the cemetery is farther off the lake shore and warmer.

I walked slowly up and down the rows of head stones toward the little wooded area toward the back.  My dog pulled excitedly at the end of his leash, poking his head in every single nook and lifting his leg at every bush and tree. 

I knew some of the people buried there.  Some of them I just know by the familiar names of villages and roads on the stones. 
Several of the stones had mementos placed on them.  One had a lovely sculpture of a wolf.  Another older one had a rhinestone covered horseshoe necklace left carefully at the base.  The owner had passed away years ago.  I was wondering at it when I saw a headstone with a large Christmas wreath set against it.  I walked over to investigate.  This wreath was at least four ft. across and sat against the  base of a stone of a boy who died at the age of 5.  The grave wasn't as old as some of the others. Maybe 10 years now that I think of it.  The wreath was fantastic and beautiful.  it was covered in tiny boxes tied up like presents with shiny paper and bows.  A garland of colored lights was wrapped around it and on a big bow at the bottom was a stuffed Grover from Sesame Street.  The thing that astonished me though, was the Christopher Radko blown glass ornaments tied around the wreath.  They were large colorful thin glass painted brightly with not an imperfection on them.  There was a snowman, gingerbread house and Christmas tree all glittering and perfect despite the winter winds and many fallen trees and broken branches laying around the site.  I looked at the grave for a few minutes wondering about the amount of overwhelming grief the decorators must have felt or joy at the giving of the decorations, I wasn't sure which. 


I moved on, with the urging of my dog, into the wooded area to allow him to explore the many stumps and holes.  While he dug and nosed his way through the leaves I called my sister to catch up on family news, mentioning to her some of the things I had found.  She loves the historical significance of cemeteries.  I told her we should get together here for a walk. 
All-in-all, I would say I was there for a few hours, enjoying the quiet time with my little beagle playing hunter of imaginary prey.  Finally, I decided I should make my way back to the front of the cemetery to the strip where cars are parked in a line along the road.  I decided to stop once again at the wreath and squatted down to touch and admire each of the beautiful glass pieces.  I stood up and backed away to turn around and was startled to find a couple standing a few feet behind me.  "oh, excuse me, hi" I said and started to gather the dogs leash in my hand and turned, embarrassed, to the front of the cemetery.  I was kind of ashamed to be touching something that didn't belong to me and I was afraid they thought I was going to harm the wreath, even though I don't know why they would think I might. 

I walked the dog over to the edge of the head-stone line and headed towards my car.  I turned once and looked quickly at the couple.  I noticed the woman was dressed in a long gray coat and gray hat, She was kind of mousy, maybe in her 60's, with brown boots and a scarf tied around her neck.  She wasn't facing me.  She and her husband? walked away from me towards the back of the cemetery.  She mumbled something quietly but he didn't say anything.  Actually, I barely noticed him at all except that he seemed a little stooped and seemed the blue-collar type of working man. His coat was more like a woolen hunting jacket but brown and faded in color.  He wore a hat as well.  They were a few feet apart and walked slowly but sort of purposely to the back.

I headed toward the parking lot at the front.  I remember I clicked the door lock, looked up and almost dropped my keys when I saw there wasn't another car on the strip of gravel that is the parking lot.  I looked at the road. It's too far for someone to take a stroll from the nearest house.  Where did this couple come from?  What were they doing going to the back of the cemetery where there was a small woods leading to a parkway and then nothing for quite a ways.  I started to put my dog in the back of my car, and then stopped and took him out and walked along the front of the cemetery to the eastern edge.  No car was parked on the road down that way.

The cemetery has a driveway to the back with a little turn-around.  That's where the newer graves are although there aren't many of those.  That section faces the parkway and while I was there only one car drove up that way. The radio was loud and the car was filled with a bunch of kids.  They saw me walking and made one turn around and left.  No car was up that road now.  I stood at the corner of the cemetery looking across the slope that leads up to the wooded area.  I didn't see anyone at all.  Purposely,  I took the leash and headed back toward where i had just come from.  When I got about halfway I realized they were no longer there.  Where did they go?  I should have been able to see them up on the slope.  My dog and I were alone. 



I headed back to my car and got in. I texted my sister, "hey, I'm still at the cemetery looking at that wreath I told you about and I just saw a couple walk toward the back and disappear.  There isn't any car here but mine!"

 I think she thought I was kidding.


"lol" she typed back.


I wasn't.  This is a true story. 




Wednesday, April 4, 2012

The 1940 Census

I have to admit I was just as excited as everyone else about the 1940 Census being released--however, I waited a few days until the hysteria waned to take a peak at it myself.  And here I am...making my own little discoveries.  I went immediately to Niagara Falls to find my grandmother.  I thought she would like to see herself back in 1940.  It's not so different than going back in time for here she is just a young girl in 1940, a student, living with her parents, her brother and her grandparents.   And I couldn't help but notice that my great grandparents were just about my present age on April 16, 1940.  Now that made me stop and think!

If you haven't already checked it out, I will tell you a little bit about what you will find in 1940.  You may need to use the 1930 census as a reference point for Enumeration Districts if your family lived in the same place.   Although that may not even be too helpful in cities such as Niagara Falls as the population grew in leaps and bounds during that ten year period and apparently districts were switched around. Knowing the Enumeration District from 1930 did help me find my family in Niagara Falls, though. 

So what is on the 1940 census?  What sets this census apart from the others is the emphasis on employment status.  In fact, I counted twelve questions related to employment issues alone.  Was this person at work for pay or profit?  Was this person assigned to public emergency work (WPA, CCC)?  What is his occupation?  What industry?  How many hours did he work in a week?  How many weeks in a year?  What wages or salaries were received?  And then there are the Supplementary Questions....These questions randomly include the persons on lines 55 and 68 and ask those individuals additional questions.  I'm sure we're all hoping some of our ancestors were included among the lines 55 and 68 folk!  These additional questions include mother tongue, veteran status, place of birth of parents, social security status, if women were previously married and much more.  

Looking for my grandmother, I knew I wouldn't find information I did not previously know.  But it was fun to go back in time.  Glancing through Niagara Falls City Ward Number 9, District 32-91, I was astounded by the amount of  Niagarans of Italian descent!  Actually every page of all of the districts that I happened to look at had several Italians.  My family was among the Italians of Niagara Falls.  I found the Fortuna's at 827 19th Street--deep in the heart of Little Italy.  My great grandfather, Francesco (called "Frances" by the enumerator) was a barber at the time.  He had a little barber shop in the building that would in a few short years become the Deluxe Restaurant--(Fortuna's Restaurant today).  My great grandfather had recently purchased the entire building.  He was living here with his wife, my great grandmother, Clementina (who was only 38), my grandmother, Jean (she was 15 years old and a student at Niagara Falls High School).  She had already legally changed her name from the beautiful Italian name her parents had given her at her birth, Gina, to the anglicized Jean Ann--which had been suggested to her by a school teacher.  My uncle Joe, who would one day be my godfather, was only 10 years old.  They also lived with my great great grandparents, Angelo and Adelina Ventresca, who had also come from Italy.  My great great grandfather worked on the Niagara Junction Railroad.  And most interesting of all was that my great grandfather stated that he worked 50 hours per week and my great great grandfather pulled in a whopping 40 hour week at 63 years old. 

Good luck finding your own family!  I will be off checking to see what all of my other relatives were doing in 1940.  On to Oklahoma City! 

Friday, March 2, 2012

Using Google Books for Genealogical Research

Maybe I'm a little obsessed with genealogy...but every morning I wake up and imagine the world of information that is waiting for me...and most of it is hiding in Google Books.  Through Google Books we have this magical access to books that would never otherwise show up on our local library's shelves.  Google Books are all about the possibilities and those possibilities are what open us up to the real stories behind our ancestors lives. 

If you are not familiar with Google Books, go to Google and look to the right of the banner for "More."  Under "More" you will find many different options.  Choose "Books."  It's that simple. 

The secret behind Google Books is that it searches through the full text of books that Google has scanned.   Several major research libraries are actively scanning their collections as a part of the Google Books Library Project.  These are the materials that we access through Google Books. 

I think I have found Google Books most useful for researching historical locations.  Most of my family came from places that I have no personal knowledge of and our Local History Room doesn't contain information on these other localities either.  This is where Google Books are so helpful.  I have been able to reconstruct my ancestors' worlds by reading through these obscure local histories.  If you're lucky you will find your ancestors in Google Books, too! 

So what else is in Google Books?  For historical researchers, there is nothing else like it.  There are Daughters of the American Revolution Lineage Books, Biographical Encyclopedias, Genealogies, County Histories.  Many of the books are quite old and sometimes that is very useful to a genealogist.  It gives us a special view of a time period that is hard to capture otherwise. 

The only problem with Google Books is that not all of the books are in their entirety.  Books in the public domain are completely accessible.  Some books are limited to a number of viewable pages.  Some are "snippet" views and some are just a record.  But don't let that frustrate you!  If these books  are what you want...let me know and I can see if the library can access it through an interlibrary loan.  This happened to me recently.  I found a book I felt was critical to my research of African American Slaves in Virginia.  I found it in a preview format on Google Books.  I was able to search through it and it was here that I found some very pertinent information.  Unfortunately,  it blocked me from total access.  A print copy was listed as costing $135.00 on Amazon.   When we searched for the title through WorldCat (the monster catalog of books and their availability in worldwide libraries) it was only available for interlibrary loan through the State University of New York at Binghamton Library.  There was a cost (depends on the library)...but I have my very special book in my hands right now (and I have it until April 24...usually interlibrary loans allow for a longer borrowing period) and I am ready to go!  

As for search strategies...again it's very simple.  Use parentheses to group words together.  For example type in:  "Donnelly" "Augusta County" "Virginia."  Play with the words.  Spell them different ways.   A number of books will pop up.  Some may be downloadable or viewable.  Some are only available in “snippet” format.  Again...there will be books that show up that you can not read online.  Don't worry.  Just come to the Lewiston Public Library and we will try and get that book for you.  Think of Google Books as a sort of Pathfinder to possible sources.

Play with Google Books—you will be fascinated by what you find!

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Vive la France!



It’s a funny thing…but you never, ever know where genealogy will take you!  For this reason—in my opinion—there is no other pursuit in the world that is more exciting.   This week I spent a lot of time delving into France—an area of research I had never encountered until now.  Thanks to a patron with a most interesting family story I was able to discover some of the richest areas for genealogical research in the world. 


Our particular patron explained that she would like to plan a trip to France this year in order to reconnect with her ancestors. Could I help her find some things about her family?  I promised I would give it a try.   She is a first generation American.  Her mother was born in Brest, France, and her father was born in London, England.  They met many years ago in England.   She was especially interested in finding the truth behind her grandfather’s story.  Armed with a box of vintage French military medals, she had an idea of where they had come from, but she really wasn’t sure.  And there was this certain fondness she had for the grandfather these medals had belonged to…especially after knowing that he had survived a Japanese prisoner of war camp where he had been kept in a bamboo cage and tortured.  He certainly was a brave man and a fighter.    Her grandmother’s story was just as sad as she had found herself thousands of miles away from home with two children in the midst of war-torn Indochina.  Her seventeen year old son had the misfortune of developing a brain tumor during this time.  It would have been operable except for the fact that they were in the midst of an invasion and with no medical care.  The young man died and his family was never able to forget the tragedy of his death. 


Quite frankly, I had no idea where to begin.  Of course, initially I used our regular go-to sites (www.ancestry.com , www.familysearch.org and www.google.com) but the first two really were not showing any great results.  We decided to narrow things down and look for the origins of the medals that had belonged to her French grandfather.  Maybe that would get us somewhere.  Google Image searches were excellent for this.  We typed in “French Military Decorations” and some of the words which were etched onto the medals themselves.  These searches brought up images and we were able to figure all of the medals out but one.  Most were from WWI but as her grandfather had served with the French Customs in Indochina during the 1940’s this confused her.  Plus, there was one medal which is quite unique.  Beautiful and colorful it is written in an Oriental script.   This one has proven to be more difficult to figure out.  At this point I think I will try and find someone who has more knowledge of French medals as I am stumped.   The question that stumped her the most, however, was:  why did her grandfather have all of these medals from WWI?  She thought he had only served during the WWII era and in the French colonies.  Could these WWI medals belong to him or were they his father’s medals?  We did find a record in the Memoires de Hommes, Mort pour la France, that reveal a man with the same name who died in Belgium during WWI.  As we had no birth or death dates during our reference meeting, we were not sure if this could be her great grandfather.  Of course her grandfather could have indeed fought in both wars.  But then who was this poor man (with the same name) who died on a battlefiled in Belgium? 


When our patron left and I was able to spend more time searching for French records, I ran into the wonderful Archives de France.  Apparently, the French have been preparing for us!  I was overwhelmed with the resources available.  But because of the language barriers—if you do not have a working knowledge of French—you may want to use Google to translate the web pages.  Of course, the actual digitized images are in French so you are on your own at this point! Luckily I was able to muster up some old high school French.   I did some general French searches by surname and then narrowed it down to region.  Each region has different records digitized.  As I was focusing on Brest—I found there were 21 different record types in Brest which include parish, civil, military, cemetery records and much more.    If you don’t already have Java installed on your computer, you may have to download it at this time.  Java is a programming language necessary to have in your computer to access the records in Archives En Ligne—it’s free and safe and easy to download.  These records are not indexed so you will have to scroll through the pages in search of what you are looking for.  If you have a date—it will be much easier—as the books are ledgers and information has been added through time.  Just my quick searches with the scant information I had brought me to the family name.  Hopefully when she works through these searches she will find the records she needs. 


As I had finished browsing for our patron’s family names, I found myself unable to leave a certain database, Memory of Men Who Died for France.  This type of database is much more than a “database.”  It’s one of those storehouses of information that genealogists often lose themselves in.  The Archives recently added 1.3 million records, “Mort Pour La France.”  It’s the story of the 1.3 million men who lost their lives for France during WWI.  It’s not just names and dates.  These notations are the stories of real men’s lives lost on battlefields.  And sadly, the story of the ends of many, many family lines.  But thankfully, the fact that these records are now digitized has made it possible to bring these men back to life.    If the man we found is actually our patron's great grandfather, maybe finding him will finally put some ghosts to rest. 


If you are interested in French genealogy here are some tips on using the Archives de France and some other helpful websites.  Bon Voyage!


For general French research: 


Go to:  Archives de France at  www.archivesdefrance.culture.gouv.fr/


*Or if you need it in English, type “Archives de France” into Google and click on “Translate this page”

*Plan du site—Sitemap

*Online Resources

*Databases

*Genealogy

*Put in name

*Check results

*Results with camera icon show actual record


For particular area in France search also at www.archivesdefrance.culture.gouv.fr/ 


*Look under “Online Resources”

*“Archives Digitized and Available Online”

*Map of France

*Choose: Brest (for example)

*Archives En Ligne

*Digitized Records (on left)

*(You may have to download Java—if you don’t already have it—programming language necessary to have in your computer to access the records in Archives En Ligne—it’s free and safe and easy to download)

*21 different record types for Brest (including parish, civil, military, cemetery and more)

*“Voire le register” click on this to view record

*"Voir la vue"—view page

*Not indexed, so you must have general idea of time period and browse


For the Memory of Men Who Died for France Database go to:   www.memoiredeshommes.sga.defense.gouv.fr/

*WWI

*Died for France

*Search Form (to search by name)


Other helpful websites for French records and genealogy:


The French Genealogy Blog:  http://french-genealogy.typepad.com/genealogie/

(an excellent tool to subscribe to if you are interested in French genealogy)


Genealogie.com (Google this and then “translate this page”) about 426 million individual’s records


Genealogie.com has a military decorations section—Decorations Militaire


Guide to French Medals:


www.northeastmedals.co.uk/foreignguide/french/france_index.htm


A photograph of our patron's medal from her grandfather's service for the French government in Indochina, circa late 1940's, early 1950's




We would appreciate any information or input you may have concerning this medal.  

Saturday, January 7, 2012

24 Hours in Pictures; Lewiston Village Cemetery


24 Hours in Pictures; Lewiston Village Cemetery
October 31, 2009

Calling All Dead Beats

Everyone is welcome to come and see what we are all about!  Our next meeting of the Dead Beats Society is on Monday, January 9th at 6:00.  Upload obituaries to our monster database...help transcribe a 130 year old diary from Lewiston...contribute your family stories (or local stories) to our Civil War collection....learn new and exciting websites and strategies for locating your own ancestors...and get help from some expert genealogists on your quest.  

If genealogy isn't your thing, but you love history, this is where you will find the best sources available in our local area.  It all begins here at the Lewiston Public Library.... 

An Inspiration: The Story of Emily Lodge




Emily Helena Crummer Lodge



                                                                    August 1, 1891
Niagara Falls Gazette


The beautiful old-fashioned woman whose image graces our blog is Emily Helena Crummer Lodge and she is one of the reasons I believe that it is possible to find anyone's story. I found her by accident--in the form of a poem published anonymously in an old Niagara Falls Gazette. Some romantic soul happened to pass by her lonesome grave many years after her death and wrote a poem about it. About 120 years later, I found the poem, and sought to find the story behind the words. And did I ever find a story!


A reference to her death found in St. Peter's Church Registry at the Niagara Falls Public Library


Mrs. Lodge (1828-1864) was born in Corfu, off the coast of Greece. Her father was Major James Crummer, a British officer of the Napoleonic Wars and the Police Magistrate of Newcastle, Maitland and Port Macquarie, New South Wales, Australia. Her mother was Aikaterini Plessos, the first Greek woman immigrant to Australia. Emily was married to Captain Francis W. Lodge, a well known sea captain. She caught bilious fever and died in her husband's arms while lodging at the Cataract House in Niagara Falls, New York, on October 10, 1864. Her nephew, Sir Oliver Joseph Lodge, famous British physicist and past president of the Society for Psychical Research (SPR), believed in the survival of man after death and often successfully contacted his dead relatives in séances…perhaps, even Emily, herself.

My colleague, the intrepid Pete Ames, genealogist and trustee at Oakwood Cemetery in Niagara Falls (Emily's final resting place), and I, searched high and low for anything we could find to tell her tale. We became obsessed. We found relatives the world over and incredibly one woman in Australia had a daguerreotype of our Emily. She sent a photograph of the image to my home address by air mail and I had my husband whisk it out to the library as soon as it passed into our mailbox--for my impatience with these sorts of things is legendary. While a storm raged outside, I opened the package and there she was! There is a sort of magic that happens when a devoted researcher can finally look into the eyes of that sought after person. That first "hello" is indeed a personal and special moment in time. As if we can really go back in time...

The biggest problem we had, though, concerning our Emily, was still driving us crazy. Where the heck was she buried in Oakwood? The records are sketchy for the 1860's but the poem gave something away in its lines: Strangers' Rest. We knew where Strangers' Rest was but we also knew there was no stone that belonged to Mrs. Lodge in Strangers' Rest. And lucky for us we do believe in magic for one Sunday before the anniversary of her death Pete had a surprise for me. He had found her. It was all quite by accident--as he had been looking for the grave of another poor soul who had actually taken his life by a gunshot in the cemetery. He looked around the general area of the incident and there she was! Half of her stone was gone but he could see all he needed to see: Emily Helena. It was a beautiful bright day autumn day in Niagara Falls and the encounter was electrifying. Although she was not in the area we call Strangers' Rest, today, she was not too far from it. When he looked up the records among the 20,000 others he found that a Mr. Lodge owned the lot. It was definitely her.

In the end, Emily Helena Crummer Lodge is the first spark on a search through Oakwood's past. Pete and I have been uncovering many stories over the years but she will always be incredibly special. We were able to stumble upon records the world over that helped to put her story back together. In a way, she is finally reunited with her family--as they had been wondering what had happened to her. She died in Niagara Falls and for reasons unknown her husband had to keep her body here for eternity. She is a stranger and a traveler, but aren't we all?


Emily's grave at Oakwood

(Look for her complete story and that of many others coming soon!)