A new King Family Genealogy Book

Lorine from the Olive Tree Genealogy has a new book out. From England to Arkell. It is the story of two pioneer settlers, Lewis & Thomas King who left Suffolk England for the Wilds of Upper Canada in 1831.

Lewis and Thomas King were brothers born in Wenhaston Suffolk England to parents James King and Hannah Blanden aka Blanding. In October 1830 when Lewis was 37 and Thomas was 34, the brothers joined a group of men and sailed from England to New York. According to written histories, the men arrived in November 1830.


Read More About From England to Arkell

More Kansas Death Records

I have updated my Kansas page on AncestorsAtRest.com I have added 100 more obits and updated some links. A lot of the new obits are from the Wichita area.

Kansas Death Records

Mass Grave For 19th-century Irish Immigrants

Researchers may have discovered a mass grave for nearly five dozen 19th-century Irish immigrants who died of cholera weeks after traveling to Pennsylvania to build a railroad. Historians at Immaculata University have known for years about the 57 immigrants who died in August 1832 but could not find the grave.
Read More

Coffin Plate of Adam Wilkin Now Online

The Coffin Plate of Adam Wilkin is online. Adam died in 1869 and with a little hunting I found him living in Wallkill, Orange County, New York in 1860.

See the coffin plate of Adam Wilkin

Reburied After 700 Years

More than 200 people have attended the funeral and burial in north Kent of an unknown teenage girl who was decapitated about 700 years ago. Read More

No Photos Of Tombstones Allowed

The church board of Old Union Christian Church Cemetery in Lexington Kentucky is up in arms about a man taking photos of graves and posting them on a web site.

Read More

Coffin Plate of Pamelia A Grovesteen

The Coffin Plate of Pamelia or Permelia A Grovesteen is now online on Ancestorsatrest.com Permelia may have lived in Union Vale, Dutchess County, New York.

Permelia A Grovesteen Coffin Plate

Vampire Unearthed In Venice

I thought this was an interesting story as it tells us a little about the burial customs and beliefs of our ancestors back in the 1500s. Who knows some one reading this story may be descended from the woman in the grave.

An archaeological dig near Venice has unearthed the 16th-century remains of a woman with a brick stuck between her jaws - evidence, experts say, that she was believed to be a vampire.

Read More About The Vampire Of Venice

Coffin Plate of Samuel Allen 1799 ~ 1874

The Coffin Plate of Samuel Allen 1799 ~ 1874 is now online at Samuel Allen 1799

Or take a look at the coffin plate index atCoffin Plate Index

Simcoe County Ontario Pages

I am working on my Simcoe County Ontario pages on AncestorsAtRest.com today. AncestorsAtRest.com Simcoe County

Coffin Plate of Howard M Caryl

The Coffin Plate of Howard M Caryl is now online on AncestorsAtRest.com
Howard M Caryl

St Ann's Cemetery in Penetanguishene Simcoe County Ontario

I was in Penetanguishene the other day and had some time on my hands so I took some photos of graves in St Ann's Cemetery. I already had a handful of graves from St Ann's online but this new batch gives me about 150. I now have about 75% of the old pre 1900 graves. St Ann's cemetery is still in use but I do not have many photos of the more recent burials.

I am still geting the new grave photos on line and it will most likely take me the rest of the day to finish.

You can see what I have online so far at St Ann's cemetery

Paddington Cemetery Sinking

Mourners at a section of graves in Paddington Cemetery in Willesden Lane, Kilburn, have to negotiate filthy marshland in section 3B of the graveyard after unseasonal weather turned the site into a quagmire. Graves are sinking and becoming a boggy mess after foul weather played havoc with the ground.


Read More

Coffin Plate of Hannah Herbert 1850 ~ 1861

The Coffin Plate of Hannah Herbert 1850 ~ 1861 is now online. I had a look for Hannah in the 1860 United States Federal Census. I found a Hanna Herbert living in Georgetown Ward 1, Washington, DC, She was born about 1850 in the District of Columbia. I also found a Hannah Herbert living in New York, Ward 17 District 4, New York. She was born about about 1848 in France.

You can see the Coffin Plate of
Hannah Herbert on Ancestors At Rest.com

Coffin Plate of Mary L Durfee 1856 ~ 1864

The Coffin Plate of Mary L Durfee 1856 ~ 1864 is online on Ancestors At Rest.com Mary L Durfee

I dont know who this Mary was but she may have been from North Providence, Providence, Rhode Island.

Graveyard Rabbits Carnival, Manly Family Coffin Plates

The topic for the premier edition of the Graveyard Rabbits carnival is "exceptional finds. So I thought I would share my 3 favorite coffin plates from my collection. I started my collection of coffin plates after my mother gave me one that had been handed down in our family for over 100 years.

For those of you that are unfamiliar with the subject. Coffin plates are decorative adornments attached to the coffin that contain genealogical information like the name and death date of the deceased. Generally made of a soft metal like lead, pewter, silver, brass, copper, zinc or tin. The different metals reflect the different functions of the plates, or the status and wealth of the deceased.

In North America in the 1840s the practice of removing the plates from the coffin before burial as mementos started to become common. This practice was particularly popular in the North Eastern United States, Maine, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, New York, Connecticut and Rhode Island. The farther you get from the Northeastern U.S. the less common the practice becomes. This practice peaked in the late 19th century (1880~1899) and by the 1920s it had all but stopped.

I have many coffin plates in my collection, several hundred in fact, but my 3 favorite plates are rare as the come from England. The English never went in for the North American practice of removing the plates before burial. They preferred to leave the plates attached to the coffin when it was buried so as you can imagine the English coffin plates are a little hard to get.

English coffin plates were also different from North American plates in that the English plates were often much larger. In north America most coffin plates are only about 4 to 6in wide. However in England they often used much larger plates called breast plates. Breast plates can be as much as 12in wide and 18in tall and are often shaped like a shield.

This set of three brass coffin depositum plates are all from the Manly family. These items were removed with the family's permission upon the deconsecration of the church and clearing of crypts etc. The two from 1875 are in classic Gothic shield style are professionally manufactured by Ingali Parson whilst the 1893 piece is heavily influenced by Arts & Crafts movement but has no makers mark. All three plates are brass with hand engraved lettering.

The plates read
William Manly Died Oct 25 1893 Aged 84 years.
Martha Manly Wife of William Manly Died April 26th 1875 Aged 62 years.
George Frederick Manly Died April 8th 1875 Aged 28 years.

Many people are a little surprised when they first see my collection of coffin plates. A lot of them ask me why I collect something that to them is kind of creepy or morbid. To me they are works of art. The beautiful engraving was all done by hand in the days before machines took over that job. The designs of the plates themselves reflect the styles of the period in which they were made. They also represent the growing industrial skill of the metalworking industry. And of course as a genealogist I love the way they connect me to the past. When I read the names on the plates I think about who the person was, what their life was like. I often try to do a little research on the family to see if I can learn any thing about them. I feel in some small way like I am keeping the memory of that person alive. I may not be related to that person but in many cases I am probably the only person who ever thinks about them, or in some cases is even aware they ever existed. And I think everyone deserves to be remembered.

William Massey Paid A Heavy Price

When I found out that the next topic for the Canadian Genealogy Carnival is Black Sheep Canadian Ancestors I thought to myself, "This is a Genealogy Carnival that I can take part in" For if there is one thing that I seem to have an abundance of it's Black Sheep Ancestors. The only hard part about participating in this Blog Carnival is deciding what ancestor to talk about. There is my great grandfather the hard drinking Sunday school teacher who wrote racist poetry as a hobby. Also my ancestor the railway worker who was arrested for stealing Winchester rifles from a boxcar. My bigamist ancestor. The Gambler. The rum runner and his wife who ended up in a penetentiary. And of course we can't forget my ancestors who were mixed up in the massacre of the Donnelly family. Canada's notorious family, the Black Donnellys, were massacred February 4th, 1880 by a vigilante committee.

However my favourite Black Sheep Ancestor is William Massey. William was my 4th Great Grandfather and he lived in the small town of St.Marys Ontario. The details are sketchy but it seams William worked for the Wells Fargo company in the early 1860s as a stage coach driver. One of the things that Wells Fargo did was transport money from place to place. One day for reasons we will never know William decided to help himself to over $888 dollars. This may not seem like much money to us today but back in 1863 it was a lot of cash.

Well I guess William was not the smartest criminal who ever lived as he soon found himself in front of the local magistrate on an indictment of larceny. I do not know much about the workings of the Canadian Justice system in the 1860s but it seems that this Court appearance was some kind of preliminary hearing to see if charges were warranted. Sort of like a Grand Jury in the United States. One interesting little side note is that one of the jurors was Timothy Eaton. Mr Eaton went on to found the Eaton department store chain. For you Americans out there, Eatons was Canada's equivalent of Sears.

Anyhow it would seem that the jury thought there was enough evidence to warrant charges so William was sent home to await his trial. However old William did not want to take his chances in court. He decided to get the heck out of Dodge and head south for the border, and a few weeks later he was in Massachusetts where he enlisted in the U.S. Army to fight in the Civil War.

Now it appears William being the crafty criminal mastermind that he was may have enlisted under the alias of John Smith. However William, or John Smith, did not much care for Army life for he soon deserted and made his way back to St.Marys just before his death in November 1865. It is hard to say what William's reasons for going back to St.Marys might have been. One can only speculate. His daughter claimed that he was so broken in body and spirt after the war that he died soon after returning. Whatever the reason it would seem he paid a heavy price for that $888.00 in stolen Wells Fargo money.

Hopewell Township, York County Pennsylvania, 1890 Tax Records

Hopewell Township, York County Pennsylvania, 1890 Tax Book. I have started to add scans of each page of the Hopewell Township, York County Pennsylvania, 1890 Tax Book. This book is a fantastic one-of-a-kind genealogy resource for Hopewell Township, York County Pennsylvania as it helps to replace the missing 1890 census. The book contains a complete list of every person in Hopewell Township that paid land tax in 1890. The book contains 4 columns that the tax collector could fill in, Name, County Tax, State Tax, and Remarks. I have transcribed only the names of the individuals found in the book and they are online. Now I have started to add a scan of each page so you can see the records for your self. I am only up to the letter C at this time but I will keep scanning.

Hopewell Township, York County Pennsylvania, 1890 Tax Book

More Coffin Plates

John Becker died 1898, John Becker died 1902, John Williams Lee died 1883, James Nolan died 1862, Josiah Rockwood died 1853, Mary Tobin died 1886, Walter Shillabe died 1803, I have added a few more coffin plates in the last week or two.



Coffin Plates

Edward Haskell and Judith Haskell Coffin Plates

Edward Haskell and Judith Haskell coffin plates are now online on Ancestors At Rest. Edward H Haskell Died Sept 6 1880 Aged 62 years 5 ms and Judith Haskell Died June 6 1854 age 13 years.


Coffin Plates