RACING DOWN the RIVER -Brief Genealogical Notes

Cemeteries are the newest wedding sites...


As genealogists we have spent a lot of time in cemeteries, what do you think of this idea?

BROOKFIELD, Wis. - Cemeteries such as the Wisconsin
Memorial Park in Brookfield, Wis., have begun hosting
weddings as part of a new service trend, industry officials
say. Stewart Enterprises Inc. spokeswoman Denise Wester-
field, whose company operates the Brookfield cemetery, said
funeral homes make an ideal wedding site given the changing
perception of death in society, the Milwaukee Journal
Sentinel reported Wednesday. "Funerals are becoming much
more a celebration of life than a dark event, so why not
have your wedding at a funeral home?" Westerfield said.
Jessica Koth, National Funeral Directors Association spokes-
woman, said a growing number of cemeteries and funeral
homes have begun expanding their businesses to include
everything from weddings to bar mitzvahs. "It's something
that more and more funeral homes are looking at, whether
they're remodeling existing facilities or building new
additions," Koth told the Journal Sentinel.

-Submitted by Don Counts

RACING DOWN the RIVER -Brief Genealogical Notes

Interactive Vietnam Memorial

Footnote.com is a website that provides access to numerous historical documents. The site includes social networking features to allow for input from users in order to enhance the materials available on the site. While free material is available on the site, most of the documents require a subscription to view (or, can be purchased individually). One of the free collections available on the site is their interactive Vietnam Memorial, created digitally by stitching together more than 6,000 images. (http://go.footnote.com/thewall/)


Each person listed on the wall has an individual record where further details about their service and the conditions on their death can be viewed. One of the pieces of information available for each person is also their hometown of record. A search on "Evansville" reveals 57 men. Of course, there may be other Evansville soldiers who may have been living elsewhere at the time of enlistment and thus not have Evansville as their hometown of record.


Leveraging the social networking aspect of the site, I went through this list of 57 men and put links from their Footnote Pages to their FindAGrave listings when I could find them. In some cases, I even added obituaries as I found them in online newspaper collections, such as that of Private First Class, Douglas R. Harp (1943-1968) . Harp graduated from Reitz High School in 1961 and was a US Marine.


Take a moment to explore The Wall. If you know any one who died in the Vietnam War, contribute a story or comment to that person's page on Footnote. If we leverage the social networking capabilities of resources such as Footnote, we make them all the more valuable for all of us.

- Submitted by Taneya Koonce.

Tombstone Thursday - Samuel Thornton Scott

Greenlawn Cemetery

Vincennes, Indiana

Samuel Thornton Scott

First Head of Vincennes University

- Photos taken & submitted by JGWest

[Tombstone Thursday is dedicated in memory of Donald G. West 1952-2000]

NAVIGATING ALONG the RIVER - Research Tips

Google Books

Did you know that you can get full-text PDF files of books at Google Books? Their initiative to digitize books both in and out of the public domain can be of great value for genealogists. For books currently in the public domain, in many cases, the full-text is available in their entirety as a PDF file. You can download the PDF file for storing on your computer, or even use online publishing services (one example is Lulu.com) in order to have your own hard-copies printed. Some of the Evansville-related books available as full-text PDF downloads include:

White, Edward, and Robert Dale Owen. Evansville and Its Men of Mark . Evansville, Ind: Historical Pub. Co, 1873.

Indiana, and Charles Henry Winslow. Report of the Evansville Survey for Vocational Education, 1917.

Gilbert, Frank M. History of the City of Evansville and Vanderburg County, Indiana. Chicago: Pioneer Pub. Co, 1910.

Elliott, Joseph P. A History of Evansville and Vanderburgh County, Indiana A Complete and Concise Account from the Earliest Times to the Present, Embracing Reminiscences of the Pioneers and Biographical Sketches of the Men Who Have Been Leaders in Commercial and Other Enterprises. Evansville, Ind: Keller Print. Co, 1897.

Chainey, George. Foundation Stones, of the Church of the Unity, Evansville, Indiana . Evansville, Ind: For sale at George C. Smith & Co's, Booksellers, 1878.

Reilly, Mary French. History of Walnut Street Church: Sketches of Its Pastors, Elders and Prominent Members, with Reminiscences of Evansville in Early Tines. Evansville, Ind: The Courier, 1891.

Evansville (Ind.). Annual Report of the City of Evansville for the Fiscal Year Ending December 31 . Evansville, Ind: s.n, 1921.

Even for books that are currently not available as PDF files, the ability to search within their pages and see some of the text can still be very useful. In these cases, you can find information that may be in a book and then find out what libraries may have it so you can either visit the library or request the book through interlibrary loan to see more details. I discovered a brother of my 3rd great-grandmother this way from a book that had his picture even! (which, my mother says he looks just like her 2nd cousin). A couple of the Evansville-related books available for searching in Google Books but not as full-text PDFs include:

Bigham, Darrel E. Evansville: The World War II Years . Images of America. Charleston, SC.: Arcadia, 2005.

Bigham, Darrel E. An Evansville Album: Perspectives on a River City, 1812-1988 . Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1988.

Bigham, Darrel E. We Ask Only a Fair Trial: A History of the Black Community of Evansville, Indiana . Midwestern history and culture series. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1987.

Goldhor, Herbert. The First Fifty Years; The Evansville Public Library and the Vanderburgh County Public Library . 1962.

Reeves, Floyd W. Report of a Survey of Evansville College Under the Auspices of the Commission on Survey of Educational Institutions of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 1930.

Schellhase, Robert. Evansville, Indiana Schellhases-- a Century Plus, 1851-1993. Evansville, Ind: R. Schellhase, 1993.

Schockel, Bernard Henry. Manufactural Evansville, 1820-1933. Thesis--University of Chicago, 1947.

Sprinkles, Dallas W. The History of Evansville Blacks . Evansville, Ind: Mid-America Enterprises, 1973.

Vickery, Louise E., and Barbara F. Rice. Vickery of Evansville, Indiana, 1850-1987: The Descendants of William Warner Vickery and Elizabeth Wolfe from Southwest Cork, Ireland. Evansville, Ind: Evansville bindery, 1987.

White, Samuel William. Fragile Alliances: Labor and Politics in Evansville, Indiana, 1919-1955 . Contributions in labor studies, no. 60. Westport, Conn: Praeger Publishers, 2005.
Google Books also has a growing collection of digitized magazines that date back decades. For example, this article from the July 3, 1962 issue of Jet magazine highlights the first African-American vice-president of the Student Government Association at Evansville College - Ed Fly.

(click on image to enlarge)

I use Google Books very frequently in my genealogy searches. If you've not used it, you definitely should add it to your list!

- Submitted by Taneya Koonce

"The Cannon is Back"

The cannon is back in the Civil War section at Oak Hill Cemetery!

(click on images to enlarge)

And she is beautiful!

This cannon seems to stand guard over this part of the cemetery.

Photo taken in the early morning of Memorial Day.


Looking down the barrel.

- Photos taken & submitted by JGWest

Marker/Plaque/Monument Monday

"In Memory of Our Veterans & Our Ancestors..."

Oak Hill Cemetery

Evansville, Indiana

Veterans Memorial Plaza

Veterans Memorial Plaza dedication plaque - 11 November 2001

The above plaques recognize the former Vanderburgh county residents who made the ultimate sacrifice to preserve our freedom.

Veterans Memorial Plaza near entrance to Oak Hill Cemetery.

Plaque on pedestal at entry point to the plaza. In memory of all american Veterans.

Becky West standing next to plaque at entry point to the plaza.

- Photos taken & submitted by JGWest

"1933 Memorial Day Service"

The following article appeared in the 28 May 1933 issue of the Evansville Press.

Special tribute will be paid the seven living members of the Farragut Post, Grand Army of the Republic, and members who died during the year, at Memorial Day services in Evansville next Tuesday. Five of the “boys in blue” passed away during the year. They were Julius Tzchoppe, G.T. York, John Ziegler, John Reisinger and Richard Suggs, who was a member of Wagner Colored Post. Only three Civil War Veterans will be able to carry on with the services this year. Major Byron Parsons, William Warren and Robert Witzman will attend services at Oak Hill Cemetery and will occupy a car in the parade. John Smith and Fred Frank, Evansville members of Farragut Post, will not be able to take part in the services. The two other members, Joseph Hunnell and Silas Day, will not be here. Mr. Hunnell lives in Bloomington and Mr. Day at the Old Soldiers’ home, Lafayette. Surviving members of the Wagner Post are Albert Cosby, Fred Gibson, Andrew Stubbins, Moses Slaughter, George Winlock, Simon Walker and Charles Williams. Other war veterans who died during the year were Henry E. Elsea, Edmand Bichlein and Michael Matz, Spanish American War; Russell L. Newbit, Veterans of Foreign Wars, and Walter M. Carter, Walter W. Gates, Lucian Gordon, Carl Minch and Frank Daugherty, World War.

Services will be held at McCutchanville Church on Sunday and at Camp Ground Cemetery, Salem. Each of the church services will be followed by the decoration of soldiers’ graves in the church cemeteries. Services will also be held at Locust Hill Cemetery and at Lutheran Cemetery. Line of march for the parade will start at the Coliseum and to Eighth Street. Twenty patriotic and civic groups will be represented. Services at Oak Hill Cemetery will conclude the program.


- Submitted by Brenda Jerome