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Showing posts with label #genealogy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label #genealogy. Show all posts

Friday, October 30, 2009

Daytripping at Woodlawn


I am on a jet plane to NYC. I have been to NYC a few times, but I never had the opportunity to reserve much time for genealogical research while I was there. This time I have planned time to visit the New York Historical Society, Woodlawn Cemetery, and Greenwood Cemetery. There will be a lot of opportunity to make good use of the digital camera I bought last month.

On this trip I will be ferreting out more information on the siblings of Stephen Rosevelt, plus there is supposed to be a family record of Solomon Rosevelt at the NYHS where they also have the Relyea Papers. Those papers are supposed to have several documents regarding my line.

All of Stephen's brothers and two of his sisters resided in NYC for at least a few years. All of the brothers, except for John Henry, were involved in someway with shipping. Jacob headed the Custom House and also was a ship's chandler. Solomon and George both had shipyards and Warren was a dock builder.

My plan was originally to visit NYHS early on Saturday. The weather forecast caused me to rethink that. They were calling for rain 0ff-and-on for most of the day, but more so in the afternoon. I decided Woodlawn would be the bet for the morning. Three of Stephen's siblings are buried there, Sarah Gifford, George, and Warren. It was a very easy ride from the hotel on the subway. Woodlawn is the last station on the line and the cemetery is just across the street from it. The main entrance though, where I needed to get my photography permit, is on the farther side. It is quite a nice walk through the cemetery and the route to the office is marked by a divided white line on the lane. I had talked with Sonia at the cemetery office earlier and had emailed her several times. She was very helpful. While I was there I got the lot card, which was very helpful.

By the time I reached the family lots, it was starting to lightly rain. I hurriedly took the pictures and looked around the area. Fortunately, it wasn't raining very hard and I was able to get some very good pictures. The fun part was finding a name I did not know of before and which should open up another line of research. On the way back to the subway station it started to rain harder and I was very happy I had brought my umbrella.

Next stop-- NYHS.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Search Engines for Genealogists

My favorite search engine is Google. It has great depth and some excellent search options in the Advanced Search. I am curious to know what other genealogists think. What is your favorite search engine? What makes it better?

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Odds and Ends

I had requested a photo on Find A Grave of Alpheus Brown. I had found the death certificate for him somewhat by accident a few months ago. Unfortunately, the volunteer wasn't able to find a stone for him. It was my best chance of detrmining his birthdate. The volunteer suggested I contact the Keeler Township Clerk. I tried calling a few times today, but I didn't get an anwer.

It was my day to do calls. The other was to the New York Historical Society. I followed the advice I got from them on Twitter. The archivist was quite helpful and I should be able to get into the papers when I visit NYHS in October. I am very much hoping there will be some great documents. He verified that they did have one set of family papers and that they were accessible.

Tomorrow, I need to send the photography permission form to Woodlawn in NYC>

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Find A Grave

After fighting with my Adobe Photoshop Elements 6 for several minutes, I finally got the pictures from last week to save at under 250K. That is the largest image Find A Grave will allow you to upload. I got a couple added that someone had requested. Now to get some more of my own families added.