GYR July 2010--Scavenger Hunt

The latest carnival over at The Association of Graveyard Rabbits is a scavenger hunt. Bloggers were asked to find fifteen items found in cemeteries. Thank you to Julie Cahill Tarr over at Chicagoland Cemeteries who submitted this idea.

CrossHoly Trinity Greek Orthodox Cemetery, McCandless Township,Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
HeartAllegheny County Memorial Park,Allison Park, Pennsylvania
Fraternal SymbolAllegheny County Memorial Park,Allison Park, Pennsylvania

MonumentGreenlawn Cemetery,Tiffin, Ohio
FlowerHiland Presbyterian Church Cemetery,Ross Township,Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
HandEast Oak Grove,Morgantown, West Virginia
AngelGreenlawn Cemetery,Tiffin, Ohio
BirdGreenlawn Cemetery,Tiffin, Ohio
TreeGreenlawn Cemetery,Tiffin, Ohio
StarAllegheny County Memorial Park,Allison Park, Pennsylvania
ObeliskRumbarger Cemetery,DuBois, Pennsylvania
Four legged animalHampton Cemetery,Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
PhotoHampton Cemetery,Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Military gravestoneHampton Cemetery,Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
MausoleumHouston Family,Greenlawn Cemetery,South Charleston, Ohio

© 2010, copyright Linda Hughes Hiser

"Scene" from the Road

We are at the half way point of our week’s vacation at Treasure Lake, located just outside the town of DuBois, Pennsylvania. DuBois, pronounced du boys, has lost what may have been the French pronunciation over the years….or maybe it has always been called du boys.

This area of Clearfield County was, and still is heavily forested and a good percentage of the early population was from France and was engaged in logging and lumbering. The town’s namesake, John DuBois, a descendant of French Huguenots, had a prosperous lumber mill among other enterprises. In fact, he owned the acreage where present day Treasure Lake is located. He purchased the land and gave it back to the citizens of DuBois as a place for recreation.

The pace of life in this community, which is plunked down in a richly forested area and is flirting with the Allegheny National Forest to the northwest, is quiet and calming. It is a retreat from the sometimes frenetic life in the city where we live. There aren’t even many places for me to get “connected,” which is the reason I have been out of circulation for a time.

Our condo abuts one of the golf courses and wild life is present everywhere, seemingly undaunted by humans.

We find time daily to get out and about after a leisurely morning. So far our destinations have included walking the streets of DuBois and Clearfield photographing the turn of the century homes and buildings, wandering the cemeteries in DuBois and Frenchville, photos of ancestral homes for my cousins, swimming and having some delicious dinners out.

Dubois Cemetery--How nice to supply a port-a-potty!

Today’s activities are before me and hopefully I will find a free WiFi spot to catch you up on my whereabouts sometime today.

The Godfrey's and the Tate's

One week ago I was sitting at this computer doing the genealogy happy dance. At the last minute, even before packing for our long weekend trip into southwestern Ohio, I was noodling around looking for family in cemeteries down in that area on the net.

When my college roommate told me that we would be visiting a famous cemetery in Dayton, I remembered that one of my husband's aunts lived in Dayton and might be in the very cemetery we would be driving through. The cemetery is Woodland Cemetery & Arboretum in Dayton, Ohio. Several of the famous folks interred there are; the Wright Brothers, Paul Laurence Dunbar and Erma Bombeck.

The happy dance began when I found their names on the Woodland website. BTW, this cemetery has a wonderful website and all names are on their search engine. WAHOO!

My husbands great grand aunt and uncle, Peter and Elizabeth Tate Godfrey and their sons, Charles C., John W.H. and William Horace were all buried in Section 32. The REAL FIND was Caroline W. Tate, Elizabeth's mother and my husband's great great grandmother was also buried in this section.

Now for the down side! We arrived at Woodland and using the internet map were able to locate section 32. My brother found the Godfrey section, however only two tombstones were there and they were slowly making their way down a steep hill. This small section of what is a beautifully maintained cemetery is a disgrace. Broken gravemarkers are strewn around and numerous ones have rolled down the hill or are in the process getting there.

I've done this for a long time, so I know that finding anything is a plus and Elizabeth's was available for a photograph. The real disappointment was that there was no stone for Caroline Tate, Ted's great great grandmother. That one would have been my "money" shot!

Family in Woodland Cemetery & Arboretum

Section 32 Lot 2106
Elizabeth Godfrey
Peter Godfrey
Charles C. Godfrey
William Horace Godfrey
John H. W. Godfrey
Caroline W. Tate

Section 84 Lot 1520
Anna T. Godfrey
Harry F. Godfrey
Mary E. Godfrey

Section 102 Lot 1367
Harriet Godfrey

Section 98 Lot 1292
Mary Godfrey
William H. Godfrey

Section 111, Lot 3566, Tier 2, Grave 65
Infants of Fred Leingang

Over the river and through the woods....

To Helena’s house we go!

Back to Tiffin, Ohio. I wonder if the Heidelberg College sign will have been replaced with Heidelberg University. I shake my head even as I write this thinking of the Berg as a university…all 10 or 12 buildings of it. What ever were they thinking?

I had a plan for Tiffin this time around. Armed with my laptop and camera, I was determined to get to Greenlawn Cemetery and take photos of Ted’s side of the family tree for my genealogy work. Helena had called Aunt Betty (the Tiffin side of the family genealogy expert) and she was eager to show me around. YAHOO

Betty has had numerous physical issues of late and she was pushing her envelope to accompany me around the hills and dales of the cemetery….but she never missed a step. In fact, she had a smile as wide as the Mississippi and was anxious to get from one grave marker to the next. I wasn’t surprised….I would be the same, heck, I am. For some magical reason my arthritis seemed to disappear that afternoon and I kept up with her!

This cemetery has some impressive tombstones in it. Tiffin must have been, back in the day, the center of some pretty heavy industry to warrant such grandeur after death. I spend a lot of time in cemeteries and I would have to rank Greenlawn in Tiffin, Ohio as one of the better collections I have seen….considering the size of the town.

With my fingers literally freezing on the camera buttons, we spent over an hour walking and me snapping. The plan next time is to come on a warmer day.

Thank you Aunt Betty!

OLD GENEALOGISTS NEVER DIE.....THEY JUST LOSE THEIR CENSUS