Unmarked Graves at the Evansville State Hospital

Unmarked cemetery found at State Hospital larger than originally thought

Posted: Oct 08, 2013 4:32 PM CDTUpdated: Oct 08, 2013 4:33 PM CDT

By Nicole Niziolek - email

Posted by Kara Mattingly - bio | email

 

EVANSVILLE, IN (WFIE) -

An unmarked cemetery was discovered at the Old State Hospital grounds in Evansville last January.

As it turns out, it's a bigger find than originally thought. 

The cemetery was found somewhere on the State Hospital grounds near Vann Avenue, just as preliminary research was being done on a project to build a pedestrian bridge across the Lloyd Expressway. 

Evansville City Engineer Patrick Keepes tells 14 News that, at first, the city thought there were 10 to 15 unmarked graves, but with more research, archeologists discovered there are closer to 70 graves. 

The Board of Public Works recently approved a plan to move the remains to a final resting place at Oak Hill Cemetery. We're told that plan should be finalized some time before the end of this year. 

So far, archeologists don't know much about the people who were buried there. What they do know is that the bodies date back to the early 1900's and were most likely people who once lived in the Old State Hospital. 

Keepes says it will be a very interesting process to relocate those individuals. 

"They will take them back to their laboratory, their facilities and they will do their research to see if they can put any names to these individuals. They'll prepare them and give them individual resting places," Keepes says. 

The total cost to relocate the remains is $270,000. INDOT will pay 80 percent of that.

Keepes tells 14 News that this will not delay the start of the pedestrian bridge project which is still set to begin in 2015.

Oak Hill Cemetery Tour (Today 25 Aug 2013)

The Vanderburgh County Historical Society is sponsoring...

an Oak Hill Cemetery tour "Captains of Industry."

Sorry for the late posting, but if you can make it - the effort will be worth your time.  It begins at 2 PM.  Hope to see you there!

- Indiana Bones

Some Genealogy Humor

The 12-Step Program for Recovering Genealogists is strict; and, it will be hard for me to overcome my addiction to the overpowering, all consuming desire to look for dead people!!!

There is lots of genealogical humor on the Internet... this site has lots of humor!  Twisted Twigs and Snarled Branches!  https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.278071112258211.62427.269836083081714&type=3  I especially like the 12-Step Program for Recovering Genealogists.  https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=520634304668556&set=a.278071112258211.62427.269836083081714&type=3&theater

Here are a few of the steps: # 9.  Family picnics will no longer be held in cemeteries! # 10.  My family will no longer be referred to as the "live ones!"  # 5.  I promise to no longer refer to "dead people" with my few remaining friends... # 6. I promise to take photos of other things than just tombstones!

To help me, I will spend time in quite places like libraries, cemeteries, courthouses.

BTW, if you happen to know anything about the West, Woodis, Flatt, Phipps, Long, Wood, Wheatley, Mays, Martin, Williams, Buckner, Haynes, Lewis, Huff lines please email me!

- Compiled by Indiana Bones

I Have Found 2 Super Great Resources!

Genealogists everywhere need to know about these new genealogical resources... I was shocked at how much I was able to find about my family lines that I have been researching for years.

The first source, although not very well organized, had file folders that were in alphabetical order... at least for the most part.  Some of the information I was well aware of, but a lot seemed to be all new!!!

The second source, was extremely haphazard with all kinds of other non-genealogical material mixed in with it.  This source would be the last place I would send any of our bloggers, but when I sorted through the stacks of hundreds of pages of paper - I found so much great material on many of my lines.  Just a gold mine of information: U.S. census images, deeds, wills, family stories, family photos, old correspondence.  Although some seemed to be known to me, most every page seemed to be totally new material!

Back to the first source - one that was widely used by genealogists prior to the explosion of computerized databases. It was something I used to the best of my ability.  It was not always easy to retrieve or locate information, but if you kept at it, you usually could find what you wanted.  The bad part of this system was when something got into the wrong folder.  Computer databases could have the same problem with an item being placed in the wrong place, as well... with the exception of being able to use a search engine to find it.  This source has been around for a very long time... I used to say that I decided to do some "original research" in my file cabinet drawers!  I said this because over the years, I would forget what was in many of the file folders.  This is similar to loose-leaf notebooks sitting on shelves or worse under the bed or in a box hidden from view. One big bonus of checking this source is that something you kept that its connection to your family had been dubious, may now be the missing link to prove your latest findings.  The longer you have been researching the more "forgotten" information are in those old filing cabinets or notebooks... go through what you have accumulated over the years to find some new gems of information that could be just the "treasure" you have been looking for!

Now for that second "gold mine," it is the curse of the Internet of a busy genealogist, especially one that tends to procrastinate a little too often.  I am speaking of when you print out great info from all types of sources from your computer.  You find some census images of many in your family and you print out these to review later.  You get great emails from another researcher or distant cousin that you print out... because you do not want to "lose it" among all of those less relevant messages.  However, you tend to print out that great joke and the cool information on how to make something cool out of paper clips and old floppy disks that end up mixed between you genealogy data in the tray.  Then, when your tray gets too full, you take the pages out and set them aside to be sorted out at a later time as you dutifully print out more volumes of all kinds of cool things and genealogy items.  What a disorganized mess it will soon become.  It amazes me that three or four months can quickly pass by before I even think about sorting out my "great new genealogical finds" from all of the other things.  I guess I should confess and admit sometimes these stacks do not get sorted for a year or longer before I take the time to go through them.  I generally will not let anymore time go past then when the stacks of printouts are as tall as my computer desk... I do have standards!

The last week or two, I have been going through these unsorted stacks of printouts finding all kinds of great stuff that I do not even remember ever finding.  Then I look into the filing cabinet to file it safely away and find some other material neatly hidden in my filing cabinet folders!!!

I hate to admit my haphazard genealogical habits, but when you have so much to do and so many things to distract you, it can become easy to "print & file" or "print & stack!"  I am currently working on a major project to put all of my papers into file folders and then go through these files gleaning new information into my computer database (and then to back it up on a flash drive).

Does anyone else find these two resources being overlooked in their own homes?  If you do, have you found any significant revelations for your family history? Like the TV commercial states: "Don't have stacks of printouts and buried info in filing cabinets! Get rid of cable TV!"  Or as I suggest, don't let your genealogy stack up or get buried in files! 

Hey, let me tell you about the greatest find in over 50 years of my researching... well, maybe in another blog, someday.

- Compiled by JGWest

WEST Surname y-DNA Family Reunion

 

FamilyTreeDNA

West Surname y-DNA Project

Family Reunion

St. Louis. MO

2013

 

 

Becky & I attended this year's y-DNA reunion.  We are Group # 5 in the West Surname Project at FamilyTreeDNA (known as the leader with the largest database of participants). We now have Y-DNA results for 310 WEST-surnamed males, identifying 113 unrelated WEST lines. We are a very diverse genetic group. Our surname was adopted many times by people in different locations. As more WESTs participate in the project, the benefit to all WEST researchers increases. We have 39 unrelated groups.  West is a somewhat common name.  We have learned that odds are not in our favor that we are related when we meet someone new by the name of WEST.

We stayed at the Renaissance Airport Hotel.  We were welcomed and honored by the city of St. Louis with a plaque, special cake, flowers and a very nice reception in the city hall.  Our reunion was covered on TV and in the newspapers.  We were treated as celebrities and everyone we met knew we were in town.  You would think we were some kind of very large International Convention.  There were about 20 or so of us.  We are a "colorful" and interesting family as we were described.  We all had a great time and discussed a lot of genealogy!

- submitted by JGWest

Happy Birthday, America!

Have you wondered...

if you had a Revolutionary War Patriot or Soldier in your ancestry?  Dick Eastman posted on his newsletter a good article that may be of help. [Not mentioned was the 1840 U.S. Federal Census list those living in the household that are getting military pensions.  - JGW]

See his article at: http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2013/07/how-to-find-a-revolutionary-war-patriot.html

Happy July 4th.!

From TSGS

- Graphic created by Steve Oberlin, copyright 2009 by the Indiana Society Sons of the American Revolution.

Irish Researchers - Take Notice!

Released by findmypast.com (copied from Eastman's Online Genealogical Newsletter [EOGN]):

On June 30, 1922, the Public Records Office of Ireland, located at the historic Four Courts in Dublin, caught fire during the Irish Civil War. Tragically a considerable amount of Irish records were destroyed. The fire has had lasting effects – still felt today – as Irish family history requires a unique approach to research than other heritages. To commemorate this anniversary and encourage exploration of Irish genealogy, findmypast.com will offer its full collection of Irish Birth, Marriage and Death indexes free of charge from June 27 to June 30. Anyone searching for their Irish ancestors can access the full Irish record collection by registering for free at findmypast.com.

Despite a great loss of records in the historic fire, there are still many opportunities to discover Irish heritage, with countless fascinating stories to be found from the records that survived.

FGS 2013 Conference in Fort Wayne, Indiana

The Federation of Genealogical Societies’ 2013 Conference is quickly approaching. As most of you know, this year the conference is in Fort Wayne! It will be held August 21-24 at the Grand Wayne Convention Center, which is just a block away from the Allen County Public Library (ACPL). On top of the great lectures, workshops and luncheons, this year’s conference features extended research hours at The Genealogy Center at ACPL.

Conference details and registration are available online at https://www.fgsconference.org. The deadline for the Early Bird Discount is July 1st. Make sure to purchase your tickets to luncheons (especially the IGS luncheon), workshops and special events early to guarantee your spot.

If you would like a print brochure or need some for your local society or library, please fill out the form at http://tinyurl.com/bjhaeok.

The Society Showcase is a great, affordable way for societies to highlight what they offer. FGS Member Societies can reserve a table in the Exhibit Hall for only $25. These tables are for promotional purposes and selling memberships and may not be used for other sales. Learn more about the Society Showcase at https://www.fgsconference.org/exhibits/society-showcase/. If your society would like to sell other items, there are still 1 booth available in the Exhibit Hall (https://www.fgsconference.org/exhibits/).

Society Publicity Contest – FGS Member Societies are also eligible to win a free conference registration to FGS 2014 in San Antonio, Texas if they help publicize FGS 2013 in print and online publications. You can find graphics and articles to use in society publications at https://www.fgsconference.org/media/society-publicity-contest/. You’ll also want to make sure you fill out the contest form and let us know each time your society publicizes the conference in order to be entered to win.

Indiana Librarians will be excited to learn that all conference sessions qualify for LEUs. Librarians’ Day is Tuesday, August 20 with sessions for librarians who serve genealogists. Visit https://www.fgsconference.org/program/librarians-day/ to find out more.

The FGS 2013 Publicity Committee would appreciate your help spreading the word about the conference to your local societies and fellow genealogists.

We hope to see you in Fort Wayne in August!

Tina Lyons
FGS 2013 Publicity Chair
conferencepublicity@fgs.org

- Submitted by Don Counts, TSGS President

Family Reunions and y-DNA

Going to St. Louis this month.

My WEST Family Surname Group # 5 will hold their annual family reunion this year in St. Louis.  Those in attendance will be related to each other proven by matches in their y-DNA.  Many of us have found the documentation of records to confirm the y-DNA results.  In many cases it was the y-DNA that confirmed the documentation.

Our group used FamilyTreeDNA for our testing... Group #5 is still the largest of 39 groups of West families with 19 individuals.  Below is a table of the current status of the West Surname Project.

Number of Y-DNA participants	339
Test kits returned	311
Y-DNA results posted to web page	310
Number of Family groups identified by DNA	39

We now have Y-DNA results for 310 WEST-surname males, identifying 113 unrelated WEST lines. We are a very diverse genetic group. Our surname was adopted many times by people in different locations. As more WEST's participate in the project, the benefit to all WEST researchers increases. 

With so many West families being unrelated, it makes it more difficult to find cousins and very hard to find ancestors.  There are many tools to help us in our research... the more we can use the better chances we will have to break down "brick walls" and to find new cousins to help us research records in courthouses and libraries.  We have been able to resolve many long standing questions for researchers in our line of the West's and we are beginning to coordinate and focus our research more to solve other mysteries concerning our family history.

Our West family reunion is a great opportunity to get together in person and discuss approaches to zero in on issues that we can attack at different levels & directions.

If you have not yet tried DNA testing, check it out... you may be very much surprised at what you might learn.  Long-time TSGS member Chris Myers just recently took a y-DNA test.  Let us all wish him success in what he might learn!

- Compiled by JGWest (AKA: Nate Flynn, the Librarian)

Evansville's Oak Hill Cemetery Tour May 2013

Panoramic view of the crowd attending this interesting tour of Evansville's largest cemetery.

Dennis Au & Chris Cooke conducts this tour on an annual basis.

Click on the photo above for a larger image.

On the left side you can see Indiana Bones in the yellow shirt and hat.

Next to Indiana to the right in the blue blouse is Becky West.

On the other side of Indy in the red blouse is Deb Travers.

Many TSGS members were present: John & Becky West, Deb Travers, Sue Newcom, Irvin & Connie Conrad, Karin Kirsch, Kathy Wilson, plus at least 3 more.

DNA News

From Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter

FamilyTreeDNA has offered the following announcement:

With the end of the DNA Day promotion, we (Bennett and Max), considered how to continue offering the best prices, yet keep control in the lab to avoid delays from high volume. Since demand is directly related to prices, we decided to implement a temporary price rollback whenever lab capacity allows us to do so.

Despite an extremely successful sale, we believe that with our increased lab capacity, we are able to continue offering reduced prices on several tests. While the prices are not as low as they were for the DNA Day promotion, you will notice that these temporary reductions are extremely attractive, and should be a real incentive to anyone that did not take advantage of the sale to order now, while the prices are reduced. With this system in place, prices may go up on different tests at any time based on lab volume.

Additionally, on April 1st when we permanently reduced the price of the Y-DNA12 to $49, we mentioned that our R&D team was working towards a price reduction for the equivalent mtDNA basic test. Good news! Not only did we manage to achieve this goal, but we did it for the mtDNAPlus test that covers both HVR1 and HVR2. Therefore, we're discontinuing the HVR1-only test. Our basic mtDNA test will now be the mtDNAPlus (HVR1+2) at the $49 price point! We hope that with the basic Y-DNA and mtDNA tests very reasonably priced, a whole new group of people will be tempted to begin their own DNA experience and increase the size of your projects!
You are welcome to spread the news, and as always, we thank you for your continued support.

(signed)
Max Blankfeld
Bennett Greenspan
Family Tree DNA

You can learn more at http://www.familytreedna.com/. 

West, Texas Explosion

Last week was a very bad week in the United States.  The Boston bombings and the fertilizer plant explosions in West, Texas will long be in our memories as a nation prayed for the families of those who died or were injured.  My family has a connection to the town of West, Texas.

Thomas Marion West was born November 5th, 1834 in Christian County, Kentucky. After moving to Texas he fought in the civil war becoming a Captain in the 19th Texas Cavalry Regiment. After the war he married Martha Jame Adams Steele in McLennan County, Texas. He was a farmer and later became the Postmaster at the Bold Springs train depot. The train depot was built on land originally owned by Thomas West. Later the depot with Thomas West as postmaster became known as the West Depot and in 1892 the area was incorporated as the town of West. Thomas West died on January 27, 1912 and is buried in Rock Creek Cemetery in Ross, Texas, about 5 miles south of West.

Thomas West was born in Christian Co., KY, the son of William Ellis West and Narcissa Stroud.  William Ellis West was a brother to my 3rd. great grandfather Jesse West, their father Charles H. West is a common ancestor for Thomas M. West and myself.  My 2nd. great grandfather was named for Thomas' father, William Ellis West.  He and Thomas M. West were first cousins.

Another son of Charles H. West was Thomas Allen West who also went to Texas settling in Denton County.

- Compiled by JGWest  [some of the above info was obtained from a web site supplied by Sandra Abbott yesterday http://www.west-tx.c­om/genealogy/ThomasWe­st/ including the grave marker photo (photo taken 7/5/2008 by bvm)... no contact info was available.]

Social Security Database - New Links

This from the KYGENWEB List:

Happy Easter everyone! One of our coordinators emailed me yesterday about
an email she received from Rootsweb/Ancestry. Wesley Exon is a content
marketing manager for RW and is trying to reach coordinators who have their
sites on RW. The Social Security database link has changed and he wants yo
to be aware of it! If you get an email from him, please answer! For the
rest of the coordinators (no matter where your site is), if you have a link
on your site to the SSI Database, please make sure the link is correct. The
new link is:  http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=3693


Thanks,
Suzanne Shephard
Assistant State Coordinator
KYGenWeb is part of the
USGenWeb Project

Just got this after posting the above!

FYI: RW's (Ancestry.com's) Social Security Death Index (SSDI) is no
longer free.  It was moved over to their subscriber's side many
months ago.  I believe they sited privacy concerns, if you can
believe that.  I changed my link to the SSDI at FamilySearch.org (
https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1202535 ).  The main thing
that I miss is being able to search by exact birth or death dates;
with FamilySearch's SSDI database you can only specify by year or a
range of years.  There are a few other free SSDI databases out there,
but I found this one to be the most reliable and easy to use.

Brian K. Caudill
Malabar, FL

Special Memorial for Easter

A very special child who loved to swing and sing her favorite song "Jesus Loves Me."

Samantha Ann McDonald

Located in Cave Hill Cemetery, Louisville KY is the most beautiful monument for a sweet little child who loved Jesus.  Photos come from a great blog "Save A Grave" http://saveagrave.net/sami 

Go to Save A Grave for more and also visit

Find-A-Grave http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=16477414

 The stone portion of this monument was designed by Terry Joy of Joy Monuments out of Louisville, KY. Tom White of Bethel, Maine was the sculptor of the bronze parts of the monument.

 "Sami"

 Visit Sam's Rock to learn about Sami and the work of her family to help others... http://www.samsrock.net/

The LORD is my ROCK - 2 Samuel 22:2

 Sami and Jesus

 A beautiful, innocent child swings with joy with Jesus!

 "This is a monument of Jesus holding the rope of a 3 year old Sami McDonald, who is swinging in a swing. They both have a smile and look like they are having a great time. Words to her favorite song “Jesus Loves Me” are etched into the granite rock. Along side her hand print are the hand prints of her Brother Jacob and her sister Becca."

"Jesus loves me, this I know... Let His little child come in... For the Bible tells me so!"

- Indiana Bones and the Tri-State Genealogical Society wishes everyone a very Happy Easter!

Interesting Hobby- Genealogy!

Genealogy is such an interesting hobby (or profession).  There are so many different levels of doing research and different goals of the researchers.  Some individuals pursue researching with a passion for learning more about their family in general, while others have the goal of learning about one specific person, line or even one event.  Some research is done in an un-organized manner picking up information with a more haphazard approach.  Many will use professional standards in citing sources and acceptance of facts.  It seems a large number dream of writing a book.  There are some that basically hoard their research for fear that others will use their research for their own or possibly for a book.

When I see the work of others, I have enjoyed most because they include iron-clad facts or in some cases pure fiction, but all are stories (true or not) of people and families.  There are the ones that are like the “begats” of the Holy Bible [King James Version: Genesis]… you know, “Eber begat Peleg, Peleg begat Reu, Reu begat Serug, etc.”  I have seen a lot of histories that are simply organized into charts, family group sheets with some documents and photos.  Then there are the ones that are written in story form with few notes or citations, some with many footnotes.

But what I find that really makes this hobby interesting, educational and fun – is that it is YOUR family and YOU are the one doing it (even if you have help).  Whatever way you do it, is your business!  Now, if you are doing it for other people, then, you might have to do it in a way that is appropriate for the intended audience.  This is the history YOU discovered and report to others.

Now, that I have spent over 50 years of learning about my family, gathering information and acquiring research techniques to improve my efforts and increase results; I, now, realize that I am just beginning to learn about my family.  I have researched mostly with the idea of discovering the parents and siblings along with facts like birth & death, plus anything else I could learn.  However, in the last few years I have been attempting to answer questions about these families and looking at people that are not so much in that direct line, like some of the more distant cousins.  One reason for looking at more of these cousins is that I have been finding many “new” cousins learning about how their families relate to mine.  Back to answering questions… this requires some intensive research into a very large area of documents and sources.  Often, it leads to new questions and new information that is unrelated to my original question.  This type of research lends itself well to putting “meat” onto the bones of my history.  Now, I must warn you that you might discover facts that are different than what has been passed down, especially something that might be considered negative or bad.  Realize that the more people you learn about in the family, the more you will encounter the ones that are not of the best character along with the heroes and saints.  It’s just family, YOURS!

Genealogy is the study of families and their stories are what make up the fabric of the history of a community, a nation and the world… through the ages.  And that is why genealogy is such an interesting hobby!

Written by Indiana Bones

The Adventures of Indiana Bones Feb 2013

Indiana Bones will be off soon, this morning, for another adventure in genealogical research. This time in the Christian County Courthouse looking for deed records of another John West born sometime between 1760 & 1775 in North Carolina. This John West is somewhat elusive, but bought the land inherited by the heirs of Thomas West, Jr. in Nov. of 1836 in Christian Co., KY. It says in that indenture that John West was the brother of Thomas West (the deceased)... others say that is not correct that he is the son of Thomas West and brother to the other heirs. Indiana Bones is on a quest to find out about this John West's actual relationship is to my direct ancestor Thomas West.

I have some U.S. Census records for a John West (or perhaps for more than one man) beginning in North Carolina and then in Christian Co., KY.  there is a John Trip West in Christian Co. that is more than likely the son of Thomas West that is in the 1850 Census (born about 1773).  The one that bought the land in 1836, we believe was born about 1762 and would be the young uncle to the 1773 John West.

I will begin by trying to locate the disposal of that 1836 land (250 acres) and see if I can find any other deeds and tax records for the brother John West.

- Indiana Bones

Tuesday's Meeting will Discuss DNA!

Why DNA?  Do you come up empty about DNA when it comes to a simple understanding of this great new genealogical tool?

Come to our meeting this coming Tuesday night:
 12 February 2013 6:30 PM at Willard Library – Bayard Room on the Second Floor.  

Kenneth “Ken” E. Nowlan, Jr. will present a very interesting program on “Making Sense of DNA: How Can It Assist Genealogical Research.”  How many of you have found people in your genealogical research and wondered if they were related, but could not find any proof. In today’s world there is a way to find that answer using DNA. We see on the news and on crime shows how DNA helps find the bad guys. Now you can find out how to use that technology in your research.  Ken earned his Bachelors Degree from Indiana University and his Masters Degree from University of Pennsylvania. He became a Certified Genealogist (SM) from the Board for Certification of Genealogists, he is the Project Administrator for DNA Surname Project on FamilyTreeDNA and is a Member of Tri-State Genealogical Society.

You do not have to be a member to come and participate at the society’s monthly meetings.

Has Your Family Talked About This?

Your family may have talked about this situation concerning the re-location of a loved ones burial.  This may sound morbid or foolish, but many families move from "home" and want loved ones buried where they live today.  There are many reasons why a family may want to do this as this article suggests.

Joy Neighbors blog site is one of my favorites - A Grave Interest.  This article is called "Remains of the Day - Relocating a Body."    She points out all of the things that are involved, plus cost considerations for each.  She does make a great suggestion to consider as a possible alternate solution.  Great article and a great blog!

- Compiled by Indiana Bones

Genealogy on Your Kindle Fire!

Using the Kindle Fire for Genealogy – GedFamilies

Just found a link to this article on Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter (EOGN) points to an easy way to carry your genealogy with you without having a computer.  Use your Kindle or other electronic devices.  

Here is part of the short article that has several links for more information:  GenBlog by 

Julie Cahill Tarr, Genealogist

"A few months ago, the company that developed Families [designed to work with the software Legacy Family Tree] released GedFamilies (Android, iOS, $7.99).  From what I can tell (based on the product description, screenshots, and the “test drive” I took on Amazon) it is nearly identical to Families.  The big difference between the two apps is that Families only works with Legacy Family Tree databases, while GedFamilies works with a GEDCOM file.  That basically means that if you use ANY genealogy database software that can generate a GEDCOM 5.5.1 file, you can use the GedFamilies app and have your family tree on your Kindle Fire.  Just like the Families app, you will need to download and install a syncing program on your computer."

Free Genealogy Workshop

Carolyn Howard

Author of "Blood of My Ancestor"

will conduct a FREE Genealogy Workshop

at Harrison College in Room 111

4601 Theater Drive, Evansville, Indiana

Thursday Night

February 7, 2013

6:00 - 7:30 PM

This is short notice, but I hope some TSGS members will get a chance to go to this workshop.  All researchers should get out and check this workshop out!

[Click on image to get a larger, easier to read image!]

Another "lost" Cemetery Found!

Indiana Bones our resident "cemetery geek" has found yet another "lost" cemetery.  Well, it was not exactly lost... it was just unknown to a large group of family members that did not know it even existed until just very recently.  Indiana did not go on a field trip to stand in the cemetery, but he did find a great land plat online showing the plat of the property and the cemetery.  The cemetery is also long distance in Chatham County, North Carolina.

As many of you know Indiana Bones is my alter-ego that is far more adventurous than I am... it is like Superman and the mild-mannered reporter, Clark Kent!  Putting it another way, when Indiana gets involved things get done.  This West Cemetery is listed on Find-A-Grave and was visited back in 1990.  Here is some of the info that Indiana found:
065    WEST [D54.1]
Location - Hadley Township. 1500 feet south of SR 1547, Rock Rest Road, 1.3 miles east of SR 1520, Old NC 87
Coordinates: 35d 48m 17.0s N; 79d 11m 31.0s W Click here for Google maps
On 14 July 1990, the cemetery was visited by Will Heiser, with David and Judith Peterson, property owners, Jerry and Cathy Markatos, neighbors, and Lamont Norwood. On 2 February 2000, Judith Peterson sent to Will Heiser a transcription of the grave markers with supplemental information on dates and family relationships furnished by Dr. C. Nash Herndon, a descendant of the West and Mann families.
Owner: David W. and Judith S. Peterson.
Legal Description: Deed 556-75, 27 Mar 1990, Plat 90-13, 12 Jan 1990.
Topo Quadrant: Bynum.
Family owned: Yes.
Abandoned: Yes.
Number of graves: 30.
Cemetery size: 70' x 100'.
White: Yes.
Restricted access: Yes. Accompanied by owner
Overgrown and easy to identify: Yes.
Not identified explanation: Current owners plan to maintain.
Enclosed: No.
Enclosed conditions: Evidence of old cedar gate posts.
Markers: Yes.
Markers with inscriptions: Yes.
Number of readable markers: 17.
Last burial: 1885.
First burial: 1814.
Markers damaged: Yes.
Damage from vandalism: Yes.
Other damage explanation: Weathering of soapstone.
Significant events: Original West plantation dating from 1780s.
Miscellaneous information: Dr. C. Nash Herndon, Winston-Salem is descendant of Mann and West families.


Curl, Jean (West)   (b. 14 Jul 1789 - d. 19 Jun 1814)
Daughter of Ignatius and Elizabeth Meacham West. 5th child. Location row 2. column 5.
Durham, Cynthia Jane (West)   (b. 8 Aug 1834 - d. 23 May 1857)
1st Wife of Sidney Franklin Durham. Daughter of Isaac and Sabra Petty West (7th child). "The spirit is not dead though low the body lies buried from pain and sorrow to dwell beyond the skies. Meet me in Heaven.". Location row 2. column 4.
Durham, D. E.   (b. 16 Jul 1870 - d. 30 Jul 1870)
Child of Dicea Lucinda West and Sidney Franklin Durham. Footstone: DED. Location row 2. column 1.
Durham, Dicea Lucinda (West)   (b. 11 Jun 1838 - d. 17 Jul 1870)
2nd Wife of Sidney Franklin Durham. Daughter of Isaac and Sabra (Petty) West (8th child). Location row 2. column 2.
Durham, Sidney Franklin   (b. 16 Apr 1833 - d. )
Husband of Cynthia Jane West and Dicea Lucinda West Durham. Location row 2. column 3.
Mann, Isaac H.   (b. 12 Apr 1815 - d. 2 Jun 1848)
Footstone: IHM. Location row 1. column 7.
Mann, John Jones   (b. 21 Mar 1790 - d. 13 Jul 1875)
Husband of Karenhappuch (West) Mann. Son of Roland and Barbara Holstein Mann. Footstone: JJM. Location row 1. column 8.
Mann, John W.   (b. 9 Aug 1827 - d. 1 Nov 1862)
Footstone: JWM. Location row 1. column 5.
Mann, Karen Happuch (West)   (b. 5 Jun 1797 - d. 16 Jul 1856)
Wife of John Jones Mann. Daughter of Ignatius and Elizabeth Meacham West. "Happy". Location row 1. column 7.
Perry, Kezia (West)   (b. 4 Feb 1792 - d. 30 May 1814)
Daughter of Ignatius and Elizabeth Meacham West. 6th child. Location row 2. column 6.
Powell, Lucy (West)   (b. 14 Mar 1779 - d. 2 Jul 1824)
Wife of Obed Powell. Daughter of Ignatius and Elizabeth Meacham West (1st child). Location row 2. column 7.
West, Ignatius   (b. 13 Dec 1750 - d. 1 Jun 1831)
Husband of Elizabeth Meacham West. Son of Thomas, Sr. and Lucy West.
West, Ira   (b. 16 Jun 1821 - d. 24 May 1852)
Husband of Susan Dark. 2nd child of Isaac and Sabra Petty West. "Blessed are the dead which die in he Lord from henceforth yea sayeth the spirit that they may rest from their labours and their works do follow them. Rev. XIV:13.". Location row 1. column 3.
West, Isaac   (b. 11 Oct 1794 - d. 28 Oct 1862)
Husband of Sabra (Petty) West. Son of Ignatius and Elizabeth Meacham West. Location row 1. column 2.
West, Kezia   (b. 10 Feb 1830 - d. 13 Nov 1853)
Child of Isaac and Sabra Petty West. 6th child. Location row 1. column 4.
West, Sabra Petty   (b. 7 Mar 1796 - d. 2 Sep 1885)
Wife of Isaac West. Location row 1. column 1.
West, William H.   (b. 16 Oct 1856 - d. 28 Apr 1857)
Son of Jesse B. and Julia (Petty) West. Footstone: WHW. Hand lettered. Location row 3. column 4.
Ignatius West (marked in blue above) was born in 1750 and died in1831 was a brother to Thomas West, Jr. and Richard West (along with other siblings).  A cousin Ron Roy & Indiana Bones worked together, online, to put this all together.  [Ron is a descendant of Richard West.]  Ron found several of the deeds where Ignatius West owned the property (it is in metes & bounds, which is much harder to use, especially 200 years later).  Then using a handy topographic map of Hadley Township (Bynum, NC) we could easily see where Dry Creek empties into Haw River as the deed describes.  This map shows a high area (hill) that is about where the plat shows the cemetery to be.  A search on Google Maps shows the area to be covered by trees.

- Reported by Indiana Bones

Lost Cemeteries and Discovered Unknown Graves

Yesterday's Evansville Courier & Press ran another interesting story on lost & discovered grave sites that seem to be found by accident by contractors doing some sort of construction/excavating work.  Read the online article at this link:

http://www.courierpress.com/news/2013/jan/26/there-are-unknown-grave-sites-among-us/

"According to state law, anyone who finds human remains or artifacts must notify the Department of Natural Resources within two days. So when a historic cemetery is unearthed, Jeannie Regan-Dinius hears about it. She is the cemetery registry coordinator at the Indiana Department of Natural Resources' division of historic preservation and archaeology."

The article mentions the SHAARD cemetery database - this "database is part of the Indiana State Historic Architectural and Archaeological Database, also known as SHAARD. The database is available online at http://bit.ly/WrOp8D. From that page, click the 'Enter SHAARD as a guest' link to access the database."  You will be required to accept their terms and conditions and then on the next page you will select the survey type... select "cemetery registry"  I just entered Vanderburgh County & Perry Township in the search box and got all the cemeteries registered in that township.  One is listed as "Forgotten Cemetery" dubbed by Glenda Trapp when we (TSGS) copied the cemetery in 1983 (that was nearly 30 years ago) by Glenda, Bonnie Fehd and her son Andrew with John G. West.  This was published in the Vanderburgh two-volume set of cemetery inscription books that many TSGS members helped transcribe grave markers in the smaller cemeteries of the county.  These books are for sale and still available.  The page of who is buried there was photocopied from our publication.  There is a military marker possibly from the Civil War in this "forgotten cemetery."

This SHAARD cemetery database is a great registry for Indiana's cemeteries and hopefully will help prevent some from being lost, forgotten or destroyed.

- Compiled by JGWest

TSGS Web Site

It has been some time since I mentioned our TSGS web site here on the blog.  On 14 Dec 2008, we began using a new counter with a cool world map that maintained some interesting facts about where many of our visitors to the site were checking us out.  The counter is named ClustrMaps.  Since we began its use, we have gotten 13,926 hits from all over the world.  In addition to the United States, we have been visited by at least one person from 46 countries with Germany leading the way, 42 hits; next is Canada with 31 visits; 25 from Taiwan; United Kingdom (GB) had 19; and Ireland finished the top 5 with 10 hits!

Over the last three years, we have had a total of 9,953 hits around the world, of these the United States had 9,731 with Indiana getting a huge bulk of these visits (4,192).  The other two states in the Tri-State area were Illinois with 598 hits and Kentucky had 572.  These were the top 3 and the following are the remainder of the top 10: California 492, Texas 312, Michigan 310, Florida 256, Ohio 248, Missouri 209, and Tennessee with 171.

When you go to our web site - http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~intsgs/index.html 
scroll to the bottom center and click on the map to see graphically on a world map where our visits are located and a list of states and countries with their totals.

The wide spread of these hits explains why we have so many TSGS members scattered all over the U.S.A.

- Compiled by JGWest

Old Unknown Cemetery Found

An old cemetery has been discovered on the grounds of the State Hospital... this is not the first discovery of unmarked, forgotten graves on these grounds.  The Evansville Courier is reporting the discovery: http://www.courierpress.com/news/2013/jan/14/no-headline---pedestrian_bridge/

Read the article and let us know what you think about the story and what you remember of past stories similar to this one.