A Call for GPS use in Cemeteries

A call for genealogists and historians to straighten out cemetery descriptions and names of cemeteries, through the use of the Global Positioning Satellite system, (GPS.)

The names of cemeteries change all the time. Each generation called their local cemetery by different names. In some cases they are referred to at various times by the surname of a prominent family that is buried there, or perhaps by the name of the farmer or person that donated the property. Sometimes they are named for the religious group or church property on which they stood. Sometimes they are named by their physical location.

I know for a fact that in the little town that I grew up in, one of the nearby cemeteries was known variously as “Rice’s Hill Cemetery,” “Oak Hill Cemetery,” and the “Cowles Cemetery.” If any of those names were used we all knew where it was. When I got older and was interested in genealogy and curious enough, I searched at the Onondaga Historical Association (OHA) and the Onondaga County Public Library (OCPL) for information on people buried there and discovered that researchers before me had named this cemetery variously as “The West Hill Cemetery,” and “The Clark Cemetery.”

So different names for different time periods, yet they all refer to the exact same little burial plot.

Dick Wright, the President of OHA, had gotten into the habit of filing all of the Onondaga County cemeteries in file folders categorized under the “Military Lot Number,” with a written physical location description at the top of each list. For instance, so many miles, in a certain direction, from a specific intersection or landmark. This indeed took care of the problem of various names for the same place throughout different time periods, at least for Onondaga County.

Another case in point is the excellent work that Cliff Lamere has put up on the Internet for research in the eastern counties. http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~clifflamere/Home/Aids.htm#Cemeteries

When Cliff built this very helpful website he describes collections and holdings in various repositories and also described the Rickard Cemetery Index for Columbia County. Rickard lists multiple gravestones in many different books and files, by different names, but they all refer to the exact same gravestones.

So how do we straighten out this mess and keep the problem from reoccurring from generation to generation?

Well there is one thing that does not change. That is the physical location of the gravestones. So if we start using a handheld GPS device to record the exact coordinates of either specific gravestones or even if we just stand at the main entrance to the cemetery and record the latitude and longitude, it would help greatly for all future generations of researchers.

So I encourage all of you readers to start recording this data and sending the results in to the various GenWeb coordinators and publishing the GPS coordinates in all NYS cemetery listings.

Dick Hillenbrand

Upstate New York Genealogy

www.unyg.com

Historicmapworks.com now on Ancestry.com

Readers may remember that I have blogged before about the marvelous maps, all in original color, that have been available at historicmapworks.com. See my previous blogs at: http://ny-genes.blogspot.com/2007/01/maps-maps-maps-historicmapworkscom.html, and here: http://ny-genes.blogspot.com/2007/08/update-on-historicmapworkscom.html.

Well now they have just notified me that you can now access all of their gorgeous maps by having an account with ancestry.com. The difference is that with ancestry you will be able to view the maps in full size scans, and you will be able to copy and paste them into your genealogies or printout various sizes of these maps. If you already have an account at Ancestry and are logged on, then you can go right to the new map section here: http://content.ancestry.com/iexec/?htx=List&dbid=1205&offerid=0%3a7858%3a0

Today's news is all a twitter in the genealogy world because of the announcement that ancestry and the parent company, Generations Network, has been bought out by a large investment group, Spectrum Equity Investors, for numbers reported to be 300 million dollars.

As long as Ancestry keeps adding databases like the historicmapworks collection, they will get my full support.

Dick Hillenbrand
Upstate New York Genealogy
www.unyg.com

Comments box now added to this blog

We tried this once before and it was a mess, but going to give it another go.

Readers should now be able to comment on all of the blogs on this site, by entering your message and having it verified.

Hopefully it will be informative or entertaining to the readers. If we can control the spam it shall remain.

Have fun.

Dick Hillenbrand
Upstate New York Genealogy
www.unyg.com

Looking for early newspapers in New York State?

Read any good newspapers lately?

Here are some ideas and places to search for information on early newspapers in any area of New York State.

First I go to the New York State Library Newspaper Project website and catalog at:
http://www.nysl.nysed.gov/nysnp/nygcty.htm . You can see what the library has on microfilm in their collection, all of which may be ordered for your own use through inter-library loan (IIL.) There is also a way that you can purchase any of these microfilms, at a fairly reasonable rate.

The NYS Library has been VERY serious about locating and filming any holdings of early NYS newspapers. They have scoured museums and archives all over, as well as private holdings that desired to have their papers preserved. Many of these films were created by the state library and some were purchased as duplicates of other original film holders. The above website is very helpful to see what is EASILY available.

Next I go to French's NYS Gazetteer of 1860, (which is the VERY best tool for NYS research IMHO,) and in the footnotes at the start of each county section is a very detailed description of all of the newspapers that were known to have ever been published for each county to the knowledge of Mr. French or his canvassers, as of 1860.

If you do not have your own copy of French's in your personal library yet, shame on you \grin/, you may download a free digital version from books.google.com. I keep it on a thumb drive on a lanyard around my neck when I'm traveling, no kidding!

Now the chances of some runs of a newspaper, or even some holdings of individual newspapers that are not in the above catalog "might" still exist. One or two issues might have been found in an old trunk, or lined the bottom of a bureau drawer, or hopefully not a parrot cage. But you get the idea, you will have to search for them.

Try google for the paper's name in quotes, which you get from French's, or search for the publisher's name, or go on the county GenWeb site. You can get to every county GenWeb site very easily by going to my website at www.unyg.com and clicking on "NY COUNTIES & CENSUS," and then when you click on each county name it takes you directly to that county website. You will have to keep digging and don't give up. They are out there.

Another massive collection of all early newspapers from anywhere, are at the American Antiquarian Society, in Worcester, Mass. You can go there and actually handle the originals if you want the real warm and fuzzies. Better though, many of their holdings are also now being microfilmed and being made available for public use, usually through subscription based services like footnote.com worldvitalrecords.com, genealogybank, ancestry.com and probably more. Do a search for "early American newspapers." Be sure also to check the Family History Library in Salt Lake City at www.familysearch.org. Click on their library/library catalog. Hey, you never know!

Always check the county GenWeb site or the rootsweb message boards also. If you do make any fantastic discoveries of films that are not at the NYS Library, please let me know and I will blog about my new best friend.

Have fun!

Dick Hillenbrand
Upstate New York Genealogy
www.unyg.com