11th Meet A Rabbit Column Posted!

The eleventh Meet A Rabbit column has been posted! The author of this week's column is Sue Edminster, and you can read the article here. Enjoy!

Tombstone Tuesday: The Other Side of the Minnis/Oswalt Stone

Last week, I posted one side of the Minnis/Oswalt family stone in Beard Cemetery, and this week, I am posting the other side of the stone. As you can see, this picture is a view of Beard Cemetery towards the road it is on and the cemetery is located in a fairly isolated area. The cemetery is mostly surrounded by trees and open fields (from what I can remember), but there is a church that is next to the cemetery. Of course, that is if I have remembered everything correctly. Some day is the future I will write about how my grandparents, brother and I ended up at this cemetery.

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!

10th Meet A Rabbit Column Posted!

The tenth Meet A Rabbit Column has been posted! The author of this week's article is Julie Cahill Tarr, and you can read it here. Enjoy!

Tombstone Tuesday: Another Grave Marker and a View of Beard Cemetery

The photograph above is of the stone behind the graves of Albert and Claudia Oswalt, and they share the stone with the Minnis family. The side facing towards the street has the Minnis name on it, and the other side of the stone has A. Oswalt written on it. (I will show that side next week.)

In this photograph you can also see the tombstones of other burials in Beard Cemetery. The person behind the stone is probably my grandfather who ended up in the picture by accident when I took the picture of the stone. (So far, all of the pictures of tombstones I have posted have been taken by me. Unfortunately, I did not take any photographs of the other graves in the Beard Cemetery, so I will not be able to show a close up of those tombstones. (Someday I might return to Beard Cemetery and take additional photographs.

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 ...

9th Meet A Rabbit Column Posted!

The ninth Meet A Rabbit column has been posted! The author of this week's article is Amy Johnson Crow, and you can read it here. Enjoy!

Some Wintertime Cemetery Thoughts ...

This is just a post of some of my ramblings thoughts on cemeteries, Michigan and winter at the moment. I'll try not to post too many of these posts in the future, but I just wanted to post some thoughts today because I have not posted very much on this blog since I started it.

At the moment, I am unable to really take photographs of tombstones because of the obvious fact that the weather is not the best for taking pictures. Michigan (and many other states) is blanketed in snow, and thus, to take pictures of cemeteries at the moment would be a waste of film or space. Of course, there are a few cemeteries nearby that I could take pictures of, but the weather is not the best. Over this past weekend, my area got about 8 inches of snow on top of the couple of inches that it received from last week, and so, many tombstones in the cemetery closest to my home are covered. Yet, I am kicking my self because over the holidays the majority of the snow we received in December had melted away, and that would have been the best time for me to have taken pictures of the nearest cemetery. Of course, I probably would have walked to the cemetery since it is just close enough to walk to, but I did not do so because it was still fairly cold at the time. (I would have taken one of my dogs with me when I visited the place, as it is not a very good idea to visit a cemetery alone, and the walk would probably have been too long for him in the wintertime.) Plus, I would have to walk down a dirt road (I live in a rural area), and in the winter time, walking down the road is probably not the safest thing to do since there aren't any sidewalks.

As you can probably tell, I am slightly frustrated that I cannot take any pictures at the moment. I'll have to wait for another thaw or until spring before I can take new pictures. So, until then, I will be posting pictures of cemeteries and tombstones that I took a few years ago. (And some of those pictures have yet to be developed.) So, please stay tuned for more in the future. ...

Tombstone Tuesday: Another Oswalt Grave in Beard Cemetery

The photograph above is of another Oswalt tombstone in Beard Cemetery. The name on the grave is Mary Oswalt, and as far as I know, this Mary is not related to me. I believe her parents are Albert and Claudia Oswalt since she is buried next to them, but I am not 100% sure. In another post, I will include some more information on Beard Cemetery. (Speaking of other posts, I just realized that I have not yet posted more information on Prairie River Cemetery, and I will do so in the future.)

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!

8th Meet A Rabbit Column Posted!

The eighth Meet A Rabbit column has been posted! The author of this week's column is Janice Branch Tracy, and you can read the article here. Enjoy!

Tombstone Tuesday: Another Beard Cemetery Grave

The photograph above is of another grave located in Beard Cemetery. Again, the person is of another Claudia M. Oswalt, but this one is the wife of Albert Oswalt, whose grave I posted in an earlier Tombstone Tuesday. (I was able to determine their marriage record and from census images.) Unlike the other Claudia Oswalt, whose grave I posted a while ago, the M. in her name stands for her maiden name Minnis. (You can view their marriage record, through FamilySearch Lab's Record Search, here. As far as I can tell, these Oswalts are not related to me.)

Tombstone Tuesday: A Grave in Beard Cemetery

The photo above was taken a couple years ago when I visited Beard Cemetery. I visited the cemetery with my grandparents and brother because we were looking for Oswalt tombstones in Saint Joseph county. One of the books of cemetery transcriptions had a transcription of Beard Cemetery, and the last name of Oswalt was mentioned. So, before we left Saint Joseph county (at the end of our second trip), we stopped at the cemetery, and I took pictures of the Oswalt tombstones. This tombstone is of Albert Oswalt, but I have not uncovered a connection. Thus, I do not believe he is related to my Oswalt family.

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!

7th Meet A Rabbit Column Posted!

The seventh Meet A Rabbit column has been posted! The author of this week's column is Kathryn Lake Hogan, and you can read it here. Enjoy!

Tombstone Tuesday: Another View of Prairie River Cemetery's Graves

The picture above is another view of some of the graves in Prairie River Cemetery, and I took this photograph when I stood behind my Stout ancestors' graves. I took the picture because I wanted to have a few photographs to help me figure out the location of my ancestors' graves in case I ever forgot where in the cemetery they were located. I especially took the picture because of the two columns in the background. Those two columns had been a part of my grandfather's story about a visit he made to the cemetery with his aunt many years before, and he claimed that they were connected to our ancestors. (I will explain this in another post, later.) The columns are a part of the Major family plot, and indeed there is a connection as Peter Stout's sister, Sarah, married a John M. Major. She is buried in the same cemetery as well. (I suspect it is in the Major family plot, but I haven't confirmed my suspicions yet because I did not look the last time I was at the cemetery.)

Update on Part Two of Searching For My Ancestor's Grave

As I mentioned last week, I was not be able to post part two for awhile because of my school work. Well, I am now home, so hopefully within the next few days I'll have part two posted! Stay tuned ...

6th Meet A Rabbit Column Posted!

The sixth Meet A Rabbit Column has been posted! The author of this week's column is William Morgan, and you can read the article here. Enjoy!

(As a side note, I just want to mention that I was originally supposed to write the column for this week, but since I have finals this week, I haven't had any time to write very many posts. Therefore, I want to thank William Morgan for taking my spot. I am extremely grateful. Thank you.)

Tombstone Tuesday: Another Detwiler Family Grave

Although I'm not done posting the rest of the pictures I have of Prairie River Cemetery, I've decided to post another photograph from Riverside Cemetery in Three Rivers. (I have yet to scan the other photos for Prairie River Cemetery, so that is why I am posting this photograph.) The picture above is the grave of James Detwiler, whom I believe was the son of John Detwiler. (I'll have to check his death record, but I believe that is who his father is him from studying the Detwiler families in Saint Joseph.)

A Note About Part Two of "Searching For My Ancestor's Grave"

I just want to let everyone know that I will post the second part of this story sometime in December, but I will not be able to do so until after the 12th or 13th because I am busy finishing up this semester at my school. In addition, I will have to look back at some of my research notes as I have realized that some of my memories from that trip and previous research trips to Three Rivers are getting mixed up at the moment. (Since I started to do research in 2003, I have made about three trips to Three Rivers.) So, I'll have to think about the trips when I am less stressed, and hopefully, I'll be able to sort all of my memories of the trips out. Anyway, I just want to let everyone know. I will eventually finish the story, so stay tuned for the next part. Thanks!