Cape Cod Vacation- Time To Check Out Cemeteries!

Well, my ancestors are from upstate NY...

...Canada, Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Michigan, but I get exactly where you are coming from.

The New York folks helped settle the Albany area.  Many of them were loyalists in the American War for Independence, and afterwards, hastily became Canadians...

My ancestry is Scottish, Irish, Scots-Irish, and British.  The Scots have a horrible curse available..."May your name be lost forever"  It is my goal to see that it doesn't happen.

Hate stops a beating heart.

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by: KarenS @ Wed Jul 15, 2009 at 11:14:52 AM CDT

The Burr Oaks desecration

is absolutely horrifying to me.  The people who participated in this desecration..."May their names be lost forever."  I truly mean that.  They should be buried in unmarked graves, with no records beyond those absolutely required by law to be kept.

Hate stops a beating heart.

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by: KarenS @ Wed Jul 15, 2009 at 11:31:20 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

You will see some of mine

At Newburyport MA.  Nathaniel Merrill (1610) and the Chase family.  All Puritans.  They persecuted us LGBT's at the gallows and other ways encouraged by the teachings of Cotton Mather.  They must be turning in their graves at my life's actions.  lol

Same-Sex Marriage is good for the economy.

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by: CharlesMerrill @ Wed Jul 15, 2009 at 11:31:35 AM CDT

There is a part I'm proud of

Most were abolitionists and eventually got over strict religious belief through education and became free thinkers.  

Same-Sex Marriage is good for the economy.

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by: CharlesMerrill @ Wed Jul 15, 2009 at 11:44:17 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

It took courage

For those early families to cross an unknown ocean in rickety wooden sailing boats.  Hope and faith pulled them through, but the ugly stuff in the Bible was also there and still remains.
Have a wonderful family vacation Louise.

Same-Sex Marriage is good for the economy.

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by: CharlesMerrill @ Wed Jul 15, 2009 at 11:53:27 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Well said ....

I love the quote and how true it is.

If you don't care about family past or present, don't expect anyone to show up when you get planted as I always say.

Have a great time on vacation.

Just because your voice reaches halfway around the world doesn't mean you are wiser than when it reached only to the end of the bar. - Edward R Murrow

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by: Lyndon @ Wed Jul 15, 2009 at 11:47:04 AM CDT

Swiss ancestry

My grandfather's father was an itinerant preacher who lived all across the US. There is still a church in Nampa, ID named after him. My grandfather was a bit footloose as well, but eventually settled back in the family's traditional home state of Virginia. My mother's side of the family was from Pennsylvania and migrated to Ontario in the mid-1800s.

Both sides of my family are of Swiss ancestry and both sides came to America in the 1730s. They were Mennonites fleeing from Catholic persecution in Europe. For a while, I thought my family was something special, having been in North America for so long. Then I went to high school with kids whose ancestors have been here for over 10,000 years!

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by: Stephanie @ Wed Jul 15, 2009 at 12:25:46 PM CDT

none of my ancestors had the decency

to die anywhere near such lovely surroundings, lol!  at least, not the ones i know of so far.  

as louise knows, i'm starting to look into the lives of my virginian ancestors (and now i've found some in maryland too, louise).  my family worked out the lineages long ago, but nobody ever has mentioned whether any of them were slave owners, and if so what related information we can find out about the people they enslaved.  so i'm slowly putting together a list of people who lived in the likely places at the right times and will compare it to census records.  

as they say you can never prove a negative, so i will never know that someone didn't own or trade in slaves.  however, if it was a staple of their economic lives or lifestyle, it'll show up in a census.

i've gotten interesting and sometimes unexpected responses from family members who've realized what i'm up to.  the most common one is "why?  you aren't responsible.  what, do you want to pay reparations?"  

sigh.  the fact is that i'm not entirely sure why i'm doing this, but i do know that i just need to know.  and if there were slaves in my family's history, i do feel a responsibility to acknowledge that fact and, in a sense, place a stone for them.  and finally, i'm disturbed that my cousins were able to find out this information quite easily while doing their lineage work, but never bothered.  they were only interested in someone maybe being related to knight so and so or qualifying us to belong to daughters of the american revolution.  in short, they're looking for badges of honor or fame in the family tree, and thoroughly willing to overlook the possibility that other things might be dangling from the branches.  i will not stand for sanitized history.

quite interesting to me is the beloved story of one of my great great's who fought for the union and went home to recover from a battle wound, only to die of pneumonia.  the family honors this man (and they should), but the only talk about his cousins who fought on the confederate side is that they made extra cash by crossing the river and playing cards with their union counterparts during down times.  how the great question of slavery might have been playing out in our family at the time has either been studiously forgotten, ignored, or nobody even thought to look into it.  that's going to change now.






Lurleen on Twitter

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by: Lurleen @ Wed Jul 15, 2009 at 12:31:55 PM CDT

Sears is a treat

Cape has all kinds of amazing cemeteries, but the Sears cemetery in Brewster (entrance is in Dennis) is a real treat and is our favorite. It's a small family cemetery (now overseen by the Town of Brewster) in beautiful wooded location on a quiet hill overlooking a beautiful pond and up a short trail past a herring run. While acid rain has taken its toll, there are some wonderful old stones there.

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by: kathygnome @ Wed Jul 15, 2009 at 13:05:37 PM CDT

Linking a great website

here of Cape Cod cemeteries... and going to pop this link up top as well. And here I was thinking people would think this post was weird...

I can't wait; 10 more days!!! :)

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by: Louise @ Wed Jul 15, 2009 at 13:19:21 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

"time permitting" indeed

I will buy you dinner if you can hit every cemetery between Provincetown and Plymouth in a week. Especially in the summer with traffic. :-)

But the Cape has some awesome cemeteries -- I know, I grew up there and love cemeteries myself. They're an excellent way to feel a direct connection to people and events (history) -- sometimes, as you point out, almost 400 years in the past (and those are just the ones in New England). When you can tie a name to your own family, or your own town, it's a very powerful feeling that you're connected directly (I don't mean genealogically) to people who were alive back then.

I have always found it incomprehensible that people desecrate grave sites. It may not be your family or your religion, but they're important to someone else and they deserve to be respected (which is different from revered or honored).

Enjoy your time away -- AND your limited wifi!

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by: Lane @ Wed Jul 15, 2009 at 13:23:58 PM CDT

It sounds like a WONDERFUL trip, Louise!!

And I do know what it's like to discover one's roots. [Apologies to Alex Haley.]

I was raised in a little town in Alabama and so were my parents.  Although my dad's family migrated to our home county in 1920, -- my dad was 9 -- they were often considered "outsiders."  

Momma's family, OTOH, emigrated to the Heart of Dixie somewhere between 1790 and 1830, according to my research, from the Tidewater area of Virginia and eastern North Carolina via England.  Momma really never wanted to live anywhere else.

I, OTOH, wanted to get away from there as soon as I could.  It was only recently that I discovered that Momma's family's residence in the county stretches back 6 generations as well.  Now, after 30 years living in Texas, North Carolina and Florida, I'm back in Alabama -- although 2 counties away from Home -- but I realize that I'm not only back where I came from... I'M BACK WHERE I BELONG!!!

Thanks for this post... and enjoy your trip!!!

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by: GraciesDaddy @ Wed Jul 15, 2009 at 14:03:18 PM CDT

Louise your keen genealogy interests reminds me of my maternal Grandmother

She was Mormon, and every where they traveled she'd check with cemetaries and courthouses, she did it through Iceland, and Scotland, and Hawaii trips.
I have parts of my lineage going way way back, others I've tried my hand at, but my disgust with the LDS church makes me adamant I won't use Ancestory.com, and they seem to have the best records globally.
Have fun at the cemetaries, if you take some large sheets of paper you could make some crayon rubbings. Lakewood Cemetary in Minneapolis is one of the older cemetaries, and I would go walk there from my apartment, they have some spectacular sculptures, many victorian style headstones too.

What have you done today, to make ya feel PROUD?


~Heather Small

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by: peteyPornpig @ Wed Jul 15, 2009 at 14:21:09 PM CDT

recently I did find a forum where someone was looking for my Dad's cousin

I was able to correct some erroneous spelling, and I knew this cousin's parents so could take her another generation farther back, and knew the name change a Scandanavian great grandfather did when he came to America.
I also recently found a cabinet maker of my father's side who has work preserved in museums, and could trace him from
PA to Charleston in 1700s.

What have you done today, to make ya feel PROUD?


~Heather Small

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by: peteyPornpig @ Wed Jul 15, 2009 at 14:29:27 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

wow, it must be so cool

to be able to see your ancestor's actual work.  we have quilts that my civil war era grannies made (from uniforms from both sides - amazing), but that's it.  near as i can tell, everyone was a farmer, so no tangible record remains.  although, i am curious to find the sites of the former farms and see what is there now.  more farms?  forest?  strip malls?  i know a strip mine poisoned one family farm in kentucky.






Lurleen on Twitter

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by: Lurleen @ Wed Jul 15, 2009 at 14:34:58 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

I think even better than finding works, would be to discover diaries and letters

Unfortunately those things usually weren't kept or have gone to fragments and ashes. But to read their daily accounts of their lives would be a stunning find.

btw Louise I had webpages originally when I was a newbie on computers, and now that stuff is gone when old computer died on me, and I'd removed the content from a website I had.
Anyways, I'd found a spectacular photo of a tree and then reversed the image so I had a white tree. I'd make a thumbnail of the two different versions of this tree on each entry, the regular tree for living relatives, and the white for deceased...It made a quick reference on the charts, and was visually pleasing. Here's a similar idea.
 

What have you done today, to make ya feel PROUD?


~Heather Small

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by: peteyPornpig @ Wed Jul 15, 2009 at 14:58:00 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

That's cool!

And because my head is in an unusual place (ie, PRACTICAL!), I might try doing that with Picasa images of the stones later on- it might enhance the images and inscriptions.

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by: Louise @ Wed Jul 15, 2009 at 15:12:57 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

The rubbing idea might be good to keep kids busy and interested

Then they'd have something they made on the trip to bring home

What have you done today, to make ya feel PROUD?


~Heather Small

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by: peteyPornpig @ Wed Jul 15, 2009 at 15:22:14 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Oh, nonono

This is a Momma solo trip- all the better to hit shops in P'town!

Dad can watch the kids for a few hours... to beat traffic, I'll be up and out by 5am. If I'm lucky, I'll manage 6 or 8 cemeteries at best! ;)

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by: Louise @ Wed Jul 15, 2009 at 15:28:02 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

I understand that, I hate shopping with others

They are so SLOW....LOL

What have you done today, to make ya feel PROUD?


~Heather Small

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by: peteyPornpig @ Wed Jul 15, 2009 at 15:34:16 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

one thing my brother who was much more security conscious

he was also studying computers when only 12 kids in college was studying computer science.
He warned me about maternal mother's name not being available online, because many banks and credit card used that information as a security question.

What have you done today, to make ya feel PROUD?


~Heather Small

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by: peteyPornpig @ Wed Jul 15, 2009 at 15:26:18 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

yes, and birth dates too.

Lurleen on Twitter

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by: Lurleen @ Wed Jul 15, 2009 at 15:30:06 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

wow sorry for the errors

was = were

and Maiden Name

What have you done today, to make ya feel PROUD?


~Heather Small

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by: peteyPornpig @ Wed Jul 15, 2009 at 15:31:34 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

yeah, that would be great.

in particular i'd like to know if the peculiar sense of humor in my mom's family was passed down or a recent thing.  the oldest writings i can find are postcards my mom send us in the early 70s from honduras, lol!






Lurleen on Twitter

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by: Lurleen @ Wed Jul 15, 2009 at 15:16:06 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

NEHGS

has a database of old early newspapers. In it I found where my 4th great-grandfather, who disappeared in the early 1820's, was convicted as a counterfeiter sentenced to life at the "Bangor Gaol", then later escaped and never heard from again (guessing he went to sea, as his in-laws were all marriners).

Well, except for the fact that he came back home long enough to say 'bye' to the family- and impregnate his wife with his namesake, my 3rd great-grandfather! That part is NOT in the papers. ;)

Maine State Archives has the Supreme Court Papers and even 3 of the original counterfeit bills! How cool is that...

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by: Louise @ Wed Jul 15, 2009 at 15:32:32 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

That's cool to see the bills, and gives your family the edgy INFAMOUS tinge

What have you done today, to make ya feel PROUD?


~Heather Small

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by: peteyPornpig @ Wed Jul 15, 2009 at 15:39:45 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

I'm jealous

Right now I am in Bangor...the second B city this week...first Boston, now Bangor, then Baltimore.  My flight to BGR was cancelled yesterday, so I had to fly to Augusta then on to Bar Harbor and get a ride up to Bangor.

Tomorrow 6a flight to JFK then on to Baltimore.  3000 miles this week.  I'm tired.

Back to Bangor next week.  At least had a nice dinner in Brewer tonight at Kostas!

Have fun Louise!

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by: bkmn @ Wed Jul 15, 2009 at 19:18:26 PM CDT

See those blinking red lights

over on the Brewer side of the river? (leftmost; the right ones are on Copeland Hill- my family has been there since the 1700s) That's "Rider's Bluff" in Holden- and one of the Cape Cod families on my list.

Kostas is new-  will have to check it out. Haven't had Greek food since we were in Baltimore ourselves!

Know all of the cities you mentioned quite well and can just imagine how exhausted you are. Safe travels, bkmn...

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by: Louise @ Wed Jul 15, 2009 at 19:57:48 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Now you made me hungry for Greek food...fat chance of that in Louisiana

When ever we travel I try to eat Greek restaurants, in Vegas, or San Diego. My favorite restaurant in Minneapolis was "It's Greek to Me." Here you can hardly find take out Chinese.

What have you done today, to make ya feel PROUD?


~Heather Small

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by: peteyPornpig @ Wed Jul 15, 2009 at 21:15:52 PM CDT

[ Parent ]