Serendipity at the Cemetery

When first beginning my research in family history, my grandparents and great aunt and uncle took me to Lone Fir Cemetery to show me where the burial sites are for my great great grandmother and some of her children. What was odd at the time is we did not know where her husband was buried. Later in my journey of discovering the family story we returned to this cemetery and went to the office to see what other information they might be able to provide. At that time they were very liberal about sharing the information from the two files on this family.

Gathering Cemetery Information for My Mother-In-Law's Late Present

So, my husband talks with his mother on Sunday and she mentions that she is going to Missouri and may visit some family gravesites. Then I of course print out a list of people in his family buried there. Looking online for information I come across several of them in findagrave.com with lots of data and pictures. She will be getting a late Mother's Day present.

Hunting for Family Burial Information and Serendipity

For the past month I have been searching for information for a client who is looking to find information on her mother's grandfather's brother's family. The project entailed contacting various cemeteries, funeral homes and public libraries, while also doing some online searching for obituaries and newspaper articles related to the family. Out of those eighteen contacts made, there were several that provided valuable material about this family.

A Beautiful Fall Day at Rose City Cemetery

Back on Memorial Day I visited the Milwaukie Pioneer Cemetery with my friend Teena. Since then I helped her to organize her collection of family history into a notebook and computer database. She shared the notebook at a recent family reunion. While the family compared notes, they came to an agreement that the family had been linked to the wrong brother in New Zealand. To further corroborate this link required a visit to Rose City Cemetery in Portland, Oregon where her grandparents and great grandparents on her paternal line are buried. There is also another great grandfather on her maternal line.