Searching For My Ancestor's Grave: A Wild Goose Chase, Part 5

(October 31st, Note: It has been awhile since I have written anything on the search for my ancestor's grave, and since I've been busy with school, I haven't been able to post any further updates to this story since my last post. I will try my best to finish this story as soon as I can, but I cannot set a timetable due to being busy with schoolwork.)

In my previous post, my grandfather and I had just left the Three Rivers Library after our unsuccessful searching of the funeral records, and we had decided to visit the second funeral home on the list the county clerk had given me. We drove around the residential streets in the northern part of the city until we saw the funeral home on a corner. Of course, we parked the car and went inside.

Sitting at the desk inside the home was a woman, and we explained that we trying to uncover the burial place of our ancestor. We mentioned that our ancestor had died in either 1940 or 1942, but weren't certain of the date because we did not have the death certificate. (To obtain a death certificate from the city of Detroit, where our ancestor had died, you had to have the exact date of death, and at the time we did have his exact date of death. I would eventually obtain his death certificate, but that would not be until some months later.) We also mentioned that his body was transported from Detroit to the Three Rivers area, but we did not know which cemetery he was buried in. It was possible that he was buried south of Three Rivers, but that was only speculation. We gave the woman the name of our ancestor, and she looked to see if the funeral had any records of him. She did not find any records, but she explained what records a funeral home might have of a burial. She also called the sexton of Riverside Cemetery in Three Rivers to find out whether or not our ancestor was buried there, but the sexton mentioned the farthest any Oswalt had been transported to the cemetery was from Grand Rapids. (That man happened to be the father of our ancestor.) In addition, the cemetery did not have any record of our ancestor being buried there.

After hanging up with the sexton of Riverside Cemetery, the woman asked if there were any other possible places he could have been buried. We mentioned that Centreville was also a location suggested, and I think I mentioned that one of our ancestor's wives was buried in the main cemetery. The lady suggested that we check with the sexton of that cemetery to see if he was buried there. (I forget if she offered to call him for us. Either way, she had helped us out immensely, and I am grateful for the assistance she gave us. I do remember that the county clerk had given me the phone numbers of the sextons in the county, and I think I mentioned that we had the number to the cemetery.)

After thanking the woman, we went back to the car, and my grandmother called the sexton of the Prairie River Cemetery. He wasn't at the cemetery, but he did agree to meet us at the cemetery. After the call, we head to the cemetery.

In the next post, I will write the story about our meeting with the sexton of Prairie River Cemetery in Centreville. Until then, enjoy, and stay tuned ...

Searching For My Ancestor's Grave: A Wild Goose Chase, Part Four

In my previous post, I left off as my grandfather and I were heading to the Three Rivers Public Library. We were hoping that we would be able to view some old funeral home records held at the library and that those records would provide some answers as to where our ancestor was buried.

We arrived at the library, and went over to the desk to ask one of the librarians about the funeral home records. The librarian claimed that the library did not have the funeral records, and then demanded to know who told us about the library's holding of old funeral records. After explaining that one of the funeral homes had informed us about the old records, the librarian informed us that she did not know anything about them. (Whenever I recall this incident, I always cringe because I feel we probably asked the questions in the wrong way, thereby angering the librarian. Of course, I could be wrong, but I still believe the fault probably lies with us. So, when I think about this, I always feel embarrassed because I feel we could have possibly avoided offending the librarian.)

After talking to the librarian, we went over to the local history room, and I was able to find the funeral records. Unfortunately, I discovered that the funeral records only covered the decades of the 1910s and 1920s and not the 1940s, as we needed.

So, with the determination that that lead was a dead end, we decided to visit the other funeral home on the list I was given. In the next post, I will write about our visit with the second funeral home. Stay tuned for the next post ...

Michigan Cemetery Atlas - Revisited

As you may remember, I wrote about an atlas that lists all of the cemeteries in Michigan a few months ago. Well, I happened to notice that Harold over at Midwestern Microhistory mentioned the book in an article over a week or so ago, and I thought I would just let everyone know. Enjoy!

Searching For My Ancestor's Grave: A Wild Goose Chase, Part Three

In the previous post, I left off at the point where we had returned to our hotel room and eventually went to sleep. Before we went to sleep, though, we had decided that we would pay visits to the the two funeral homes in Three Rivers that the County Clerk's office had recommended that we contact. (Why Three Rivers? Well, my great-grandfather traveled on with his father's body to Three Rivers, and that was where my great-grandfather met up with the local funeral director to bury his father.)

So, the next morning we got up, and after having breakfast in the hotel, we left to visit one of the funeral homes in Three Rivers. The County Clerk's office had given us the name and address of the funeral home and since I had map of the city, we were able to find the place. We went inside, spoke to one of the funeral directors, and explained that we were looking for records as to where we could find the burial place of our ancestor. When we mentioned that the burial occurred in the early 1940s, the man explained that the funeral home we were in did not exist at that time; however, the funeral home had bought out a funeral home that did exist at that time. The funeral, though, did not have the records of the former funeral home because they had given the records to the Three Rivers Public Library. My grandfather and I then decided to return to the Three Rivers library, and see if we could find those records.

In the next part, I will write about our visit to the Three Rivers Library and our visit to another Three Rivers funeral home. Stay tuned ...

Saginaw City Cemeteries Transcriptions

Although I realize that I am supposed to focus on Michigan rural cemeteries on this blog, I just felt I should mention that the City of Saginaw has put burial transcriptions of the three cemeteries it manages online. I've decided to mention the website anyway because I have a couple of ancestors who died in Saginaw, and I was waiting for the transcriptions to be completed so that I could look and see if my ancestors were buried in one of the three cemeteries. Unfortunately, I have not been able to find either of my ancestors buried in either of the cemeteries, but below is some more information on the website.

Saginaw manages the cemeteries of Oakwood, Brady Hill and Forest Lawn, and you can now search all three of the cemeteries' transcriptions here. Although I have not been successful, I hope that someone else will find this website helpful. Enjoy!

Searching For My Ancestor's Grave: A Wild Goose Chase, Part Two

As you may remember, I started to post about the search for my ancestor's grave before Thanksgiving. Well, I have finally gotten around to looking up my notes and to finishing my story.

When I left off, my grandfather and I were planning on making a trip down to Three Rivers, Michigan. We decided to go make a trip in July, and stay at a hotel there for about two nights. After checking into the hotel, we went to the county courthouse in Centreville, - a village about five miles from Three Rivers and a 5-10 minute car drive between the two places- and did a little research into the vital records held in the county clerk's office. After ordering a marriage certificate, I asked one of the assistant clerks about local funeral homes that might have existed back in the 1940s, and the clerk wrote down two funeral homes in Three Rivers where I could ask about my ancestor's possible burial. After I received the information, my grandma asked about a good place to eat dinner, and the clerk suggested a place.

At dinner, I discussed with my grandparents and brother our plan of action for the next day to find my grandpa' grandfather. After dinner we went back to our hotel, and relaxed before going to bed. ...

At the moment I have to stop with my story since I am behind in posting this article, but hopefully, I will be able to finish it in part three. Stay tuned for the next part. Enjoy!

Tombstone Tuesday: An Overview of the Stout Graves

The photograph above is an overview of my Stout ancestors' graves, and believe it or not, the header of this blog comes from this photograph. When I took individual pictures of Peter, Laura and Claudia's graves, I also took pictures of the area surrounding their graves so that I would be able to remember where these stones were located in case I forgot. This picture is one of the photos I took of the graves surrounding my ancestors' graves. Personally, I believe it is a good idea to take pictures of the surrounding graves in case one later learns that a neighboring grave happens to be of a relative of an ancestor. Plus, if I happen to forget where in the cemetery a grave is located, I can look back to the pictures of graves I took around my ancestor's grave to find it. (I should also mention that one of my grandpa's stories involved grave makers that were near my Stout ancestors' graves, and I took a picture of those graves since it was a landmark that my grandpa remembered from a previous visit. I'll explain what I mean in another post.)

Searching For My Ancestor's Grave: A Wild Goose Chase, Part One

As I promised a little while ago, I have finally decided to share the story of how I found my ancestor's grave. And the search for this ancestor's grave was quite an adventure. Well, sort of ...

Until a few years ago, no one in my family knew where our ancestor (whom I will call John) was buried. Or at least those of my family members who were still alive who remembered him. The only person who knew was my great-grandfather, and he died several years before I was born. Plus, he did not like talking about his family history, so it almost seemed as though the secret of the location of John's burial was buried with my great-grandfather when he died. Or so it could have turned out that way, if it were not for my grandfather. My grandfather had the desire to find out where John, his grandfather, was buried, and he expressed that wish to me several times since I had taken over the research into our family's history. So, one of my earliest research goals was to help my grandpa find John.

So, what did we know before we began searching for John's grave? Well, we knew John had either died in 1940 or 1942 in Detroit since my grandfather remember John passing away and remembered attending his funeral. Unfortunately, we did not have an exact date of death for John, and since we did not have that date of death, we couldn't order his death certificate. (You have to have an exact date of death in order to obtain a death certificate from Detroit, and since we did not have that date, we obviously could not get the certificate. Obtaining a death certificate through Detroit is cheaper than obtaining it through Lansing.) Of course, that death certificate would not have helped us if we had been able to obtain it. (I'll explain why, later.)

Since John died fairly close towards the end of the Great Depression, my grandpa's family did not have a lot of money, and in consequence, the funeral they had was small. (My grandfather is unsure if there was a funeral notice in the newspapers since the funeral was held within a couple days of John's death.) The day after the funeral, my great-grandfather arranged to have himself and John's body transported to Three Rivers by train. Once my great-grandfather arrived in Three Rivers, we know he was picked up a local undertaker since he told my grandpa about being picked up. What we did not know was where my great-grandfather had John buried. My great-grandfather apparently only had a limited amount of time before he had to catch the train back to Detroit, so he did not accompany the undertaker to the burial site. All we know is that my great-grandfather later received a letter informing him about where John was buried, and of course, my grandfather was of the opinion that the letter was eventually thrown away. So, in short, we did not have a clue as to where John was buried.

Based upon what we did know, we figured that John had to have been buried in a cemetery somewhere around Three Rivers, but we did not know at the time if it was north, south, east or west of the city. After my grandpa spoke to his sister, he thought that maybe we could narrow our search down to cemeteries south of Three Rivers. Of course, we were just speculating as to the location, but we decided to make a research trip to Three Rivers in the summer to see if we could find John's grave.

In my next post, I will continue with the search for John's grave once we reached the Three Rivers area. Stay tuned ...

Looking For A Cemetery in Michigan? Here's A Place To Look

If you happen to be looking for a cemetery in Michigan, and you do not know where it might be, here is a book that might help you: Michigan Cemetery Atlas (Lansing, Michigan, 1991). This book lists the names of cemeteries in Michigan, and gives a location for those cemeteries by county. This is one way a person might be able to determine where a cemetery is located, or if they do not know the name of the cemetery, looking at the map for the county might help a person narrow down the name of the cemetery he or she is looking for. I know that the Library of Michigan has at least one copy of this book in their genealogy section.

Another source one could use to locate the county of a cemetery is the Library of Michigan Michigan Cemetery Sources database on its website. Again, this is a website that will give a list of names of cemeteries in a particular location. It does not contain a map of where the cemeteries are located, and the burial records for the cemeteries are not online. This site, though, is a place to start, if you are looking for the names of cemeteries in a particular area.

Of course, if you are going to go visit one of the cemeteries in Michigan, I would obtain a map of the local county that you plan to visit, so that you are able to find the cemetery. In addition, paying a visit to the local library near the cemetery would be a good idea, especially if you are looking for a specific person buried in that cemetery. The local library might have a transcription of the tombstones in the cemetery, and finding out where a grave is located will save time when you visit the cemetery.