{"id":162,"date":"2015-01-31T13:53:36","date_gmt":"2015-01-31T18:53:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nyblog.arleneeakle.com\/?p=162"},"modified":"2015-01-31T13:53:36","modified_gmt":"2015-01-31T18:53:36","slug":"how-cemetery-records-and-inscriptions-can-expand-your-new-york-genealogy-part-i","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nyblog.arleneeakle.com\/?p=162","title":{"rendered":"How Cemetery Records and Inscriptions Can Expand Your New York Genealogy, Part I"},"content":{"rendered":"

How Cemetery Records and Inscriptions Can Expand Your Genealogy:<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Identify places of origin<\/strong> for ancestors\u2013village or town, county, country written on the tombstone; separate cemeteries for each ethnic group or special divisions in the cemetery:\u00a0 East Side Polish, West Side Polish, German, French, Irish Catholic, Irish Protestant.\u00a0 Pay as much attention to where the grave is located as you do to the inscription on the stone.<\/li>\n
  2. Compare family naming patterns<\/strong> on stones and in sextons registers with relationships stated or obvious from the lay-out\u00a0of graves in the burial plot.\u00a0 It is normal in New York\u00a0for the wife to be buried on the left of the husband.\u00a0 In older sections of the cemetery, extended family members are often buried in proximity to each other\u2013children, grandchildren, aunts and uncles, their spouses, etc.\u00a0 In newer sections, husband and wife are together, extended families will be found in their own plots scattered through the cemetery or buried elsewhere.<\/li>\n
  3. Identify and document elderly parents<\/strong> who emigrated from the old country\u00a0and\u00a0died shortly after their arrival–their\u00a0entry is carved on the back of the family stone (later concealed by large bushes or vines and easy to miss).\u00a0 The tombstone or the sexton\u2019s notation in the register may be the only evidence to alert you that the parents did come.<\/li>\n
  4. Original spelling<\/strong> of your surname on emigrants\u2019 tombstones and proof of name changes.\u00a0 Americanized, shortened, changed surnames will be carried by younger generations\u2013children and grandchildren.\u00a0 Grandfather is buried under the original<\/span> spelling of the name\u2013exactly as he spelled it himself.\u00a0 Somehow it just didn\u2019t track right to bury him under an assumed name.<\/li>\n
  5. Evidence of religious background<\/strong>:\u00a0 artwork carved on the stone including crosses and their variants.\u00a0 Size and color of the tombstone\u2013Quaker stones were restricted to 12\u2033 high, with few words carved on them. \u00a0Scandinavian burials have modest stones in shades of pink, cream, or warm gray sandstone. Polish stones are large, red or black in color, and stand elbow to elbow as if they were army troops lined up to march.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    See also August K Gillespie, \u201cGravestones and Ostentation:\u00a0 A Study of Five Delaware County Cemeteries,\u201d Pennsylvania Folklife <\/em><\/strong>XIX (Winter 1969-79):\u00a0 34-43.\u00a0 Quaker stones were under 14 inches high (1840-1960) and included 4-6 lines of inscription.\u00a0 Presbyterian stones averaged 35-38 inches in height (1840-1890) with 8-10 lines of inscription.\u00a0 The Article also compares Baptist, Episcopal, and Roman Catholic stones.<\/p>\n

    Stay tuned for more…Your favorite New York genealogist, Arlene Eakle \u00a0 \u00a0http:\/\/arleneeakle.com<\/p>\n

    PS \u00a0Whole multi-generational pedigrees can be constructed from cemetery evidence!
    \nPart 2 coming next.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    How Cemetery Records and Inscriptions Can Expand Your Genealogy: Identify places of origin for ancestors\u2013village or town, county, country written on the tombstone; separate cemeteries for each ethnic group or special divisions in the cemetery:\u00a0 East Side Polish, West Side … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[12,13],"class_list":["post-162","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-cemeteries","tag-pedigrees"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nyblog.arleneeakle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nyblog.arleneeakle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nyblog.arleneeakle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nyblog.arleneeakle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nyblog.arleneeakle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=162"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nyblog.arleneeakle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":163,"href":"https:\/\/nyblog.arleneeakle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162\/revisions\/163"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nyblog.arleneeakle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=162"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nyblog.arleneeakle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=162"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nyblog.arleneeakle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=162"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}