Tombstone Tuesday - Tombstone looking for a new home - Sarah Ball

Sarah Ball, tombstone from Tioga Cemetery, Pennsylvania (although could be New York).  Tombstone is now in the Tucson, AZ.   Tioga Cemetery was moved but tombstones did not move with it.  They were given away or sold to antiques dealers.  This one came to us through my husband's mother who was an antique dealer in Mosherville/Millerton area of PA.   Sarah's memorial now sits in our side yard.  Who would think to look in people's yards for your lost relative?

Tombstone Tuesday - Charles Siems, Ziems, Seames

This Tuesday's Tombstone brought to you by member Al Seames:

The pictures below represent my hunt for the grave of my great-grand father Charles SIEMS, ZIEMS, SEAMES.  He was buried in the North Street Cemetery in Buffalo, NY in 1882 and later in 1901 was moved to the Pine Ridge Cemetery in Cheektowaga, NY ( a suburb of Buffalo).  He died at age  25, cause unknown, and left a widow with three small children.  It took several visits and letters to locate the cemetery where the North Street Cemetery remains were reburied.  Finding the grave in the sea of green turf that was about 3 to 4 inches thick was another problem ( see picture before turf was pulled away).

Because Charles died at such a young age there are few things known about his parents except his mother was a widow when he was married.  Best I can determine his father, Karl or Charles, died when he was somewhere between 10 and 17 years old.   His marriage record and his son's census records indicate he was born in Buffalo, NY but I have not been able to find a baptism record or any record in City Directories of his family living in Buffalo until his mother shows as a widow in 1875.

Tombstone Tuesday - Mary R. Norwitz

This week posting is from Lee Levin:

Mary R. Norwitz (never married)
b. 1912
d. 1937, Camden, Camden, New Jersey
Buried Har Zion Cemetery, Philadelphia, PA

Do you have a tombstone or wedding picture you would like to share? We would love to showcase your family pictures in our Tombstone Tuesday or Wedding Wednesday postings.  Please include a jpeg and a short paragraph or few sentences about your picture/family.  Your picture will be posted on our blog and any inquiries will be forwarded to you.  This is a wonderful opportunity to share your family research with the society and the Geneabloggers on the web.  Please email your pictures and info to pimacountygenealogysociety@gmail.com.

Tombstone Tuesday - Jan Westra and Magdelena Terpstra

This week's Tombstone Tuesday post is from Jodi Strait-Shutts:

Jan WESTRA and Magdelena TERPSTRA are my great-grandparents.  I am looking for further information about Jan and Magdelena Westra; I don't know their parents or even where this tombstone is located in the Netherlands.   Two of their sons, Ale (Albert) and Herman Westra, came over to America in the 1920s.   Ale, who changed his name to Albert when he became a naturalized citizen, was my maternal grandfather.  Ale was born 13 Mar 1908 in Dronjirp, Friesland, Netherlands.   Other known children of Jan and Magdelena are Ella Harke WESTRA, Mine WESTRA and Reintje WESTRA. 


Do you have a tombstone or wedding picture you would like to share? We would love to showcase your family pictures in our Tombstone Tuesday or Wedding Wednesday postings.  Please include a jpeg and a short paragraph or few sentences about your picture/family.  Your picture will be posted on our blog and any inquiries will be forwarded to you.  This is a wonderful opportunity to share your family research with the society and the Geneabloggers on the web.  Please email your pictures and info to pimacountygenealogysociety@gmail.com.

Tomstone Tuesday - Stephen Brock died Nov. 3, 1839

Here is our first Tombstone Tuesday posting.  This entry is from our member Brad Brock.

Stephen Brock

This is Brad's 4x Great Grandfather  who is buried in a family plot in back of the farmhouse he built in 1808. It is located in Strafford (at the time Barrington), New Hampshire. His father is Brad's current biggest brick wall too. If any body can help he would be most obliged.


Here is Brad's listing of family's graves in Strafford, New Jersey http://www.bradbrock.net/genealogy/stafgraves.php this is a wonderful format to share gathered information.  Thank you for sharing Brad.

Do you have a tombstone or wedding picture you would like to share? We would love to showcase your family pictures in our Tombstone Tuesday or Wedding Wednesday postings.  Please include a jpeg and a short paragraph or few sentences about your picture/family.  Your picture will be posted on our blog and any inquiries will be forwarded to you.  This is a wonderful opportunity to share your family research with the society and the Geneabloggers on the web.  Please email your pictures and info to pimacountygenealogysociety@gmail.com.

Archaic Medical Terms and Upcoming Events

Dr. Paul Duffey mentioned that he found information on archaic terms on Rudy's List of Archaic Medical Terms here is a link to that site:  Rudy's List of Archaic Medical Terms.

Also mentioned in our discussions was a resource for timelines of diseases, a book called History for Genealogists Using Chronological Time Lines to Find and Understand Your Ancestors by Judy Jacobson. Here is a link to the book on Amazon - http://www.amazon.com/History-Genealogists-Chronological-Understand-Ancestors/dp/0806354399/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1321750469&sr=8-1

I also found a website with a listing of epidemics at  wikipedia - epidemics and also at Flue traker - epidemic time line. 

Don't forget to send in your wedding pictures and tombstone pictures for Wedding Wednesday and Tombstone Tuesday.  Please include a jpeg and a short paragraph or few sentences about your picture/family.  Your picture will be posted on our blog and any inquiries will be forwarded to you.  This is a wonderful opportunity to share your family research with the society and the Geneabloggers on the web.

Don't forget to mark your calendars for the DNA talk on January 14 at UMC Room 2117.  Bill Peckat will be the room equipment host and will introduce Dr. Kaplan.  Dr. Matt Kaplan will talk on the use of DNA.  He is the  Director of the Bio5 DNA testing lab that does all the testing for National Geographic Genographic Project and for Family Tree DNA. Matt is a master presenter, and makes this subject very understandable. Don't miss this opportunity!


Our next regular monthly meeting will be January 21, 2012 at the Joel Valdez Main Library downtown.  Please note the program time of 2 to 4 p.m.  Our presentation will be on Organizing Yourself to Organize Your Research presented by JoAnn Thiabault followed by a Genealogy Fair with software demonstrations on the more popular genealogical software.  More information to come as we get closer to the meeting date.


Have a happy and save holiday season!