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Coffin Plate Of Eleaza Albee 1884

I am not sure of the name on this Coffin Plate but it looks like Eliza or Eleaza Albee. I will let you decide. I am sure with a little work we can figure it out.

Hard to read coffin plate.

El????? Albee

Died Jan 19 1884

Aged 71 years

Search over 500 coffin plates on AncestorsAtRest.com

I had a look in the 1880 U.S. Federal Census and I found 2 possible hits.

Name:  Eliza Albee Spouse:  Leonard Albee Birth:  abt 1812 - Connecticut Residence:  1880 - Wilmington, Houston, Minnesota Name:  Eliza H. Albee Spouse:  Charles Albee Birth:  abt 1814 - New Brunswick Residence:  1880 - Machias, Washington, Maine

The Coffin Plate Of Thompson Tyler 1856

Thompson Tyler Coffin Plate 1856

Thompson Tyler

Died April ? 1856

AE 19y 7mo

See more coffin plates at AncestorsAtRest website

Carrie Christina Hoch Coffin Plate

Carrie Hoch Coffin Plate

Carrie Christina Hoch

Died Nov 26th 1900

Aged 18 Years 6 Mos

To see more Coffin Plates try AncestorsAtRest.com 

I had a look in the Ontario Canada Death Records and I found a Carrie Hoch born in 1882 in Fullarton Ontario and died on Nov 26 1900 in Perth County Ontario. More research is needed but I betting this is our Carrie.

Free Acces Until May 31 on Fold3

The 150th Anniversary of the United States Colored Troops

On May 22, 1863, the War Department issued General Orders 143, establishing a Bureau of Colored Troops in the Adjutant General’s Office to recruit and organize African American soldiers to fight for the Union Army. With this order, all African American regiments were designated as United States Colored Troops (USCT). 

Today marks the 150th anniversary of the USCT, and the National Archives is pleased to announce the completion of the USCT Service Records Digitization Project. In partnership with Fold3, the project provides online access to all service records—more than 3.8 million images—of Union volunteers in USCT units. 

From May 22 to 31, the digital collection will be free on Fold3. (All National Archives collections on Fold3.com can always be viewed for free at any National Archives facility nationwide.)

Compiled military service records (CMSRs) are part of Record Group 94, the Records of the Adjutant General’s Office. They contain card abstracts of entries related to an individual soldier such as muster rolls and regimental returns. 

Many CMSRs also contain original documents called “personal papers,” which are especially valuable to researchers looking for documentation on former slaves. These papers include enlistment papers, correspondence, orders, prisoner-of-war memorandums, casualty reports, or final statements. Unique to the records of the USCT are deeds of manumission, proofs of slave ownership, and bills of sale. 

Starting in October 1863, a slave owner could offer his slave for enlistment in military service and be entitled to compensation up to $300 upon filing a valid deed of manumission and release, and making satisfactory proof of title. These forms offer researchers rare information and document the life of a slave person in the absence of other vital records. 

Edmund Delaney was a slave who served in Company E of the 117th USCT Infantry. He was 25 years old when he enlisted in August 1864. Delaney’s owner, Harvey C. Graves of Georgetown, Kentucky, filed a compensation claim for his military service in December 1866. Graves stated that he “purchased [Delaney] at private sale when he was quite a small boy and owned him at the time of his enlistment.” 

The claim form was accompanied by a proof of ownership form to which Graves attached a rare “likeness,” or photo of Delaney, and several of Delaney’s letters written to him while serving in Brownsville, Texas. The letters offer us a rare glimpse into his lonely soldier’s life, especially when he laments that no friends have written back to him: 
“somehow most of them seem to be very much afraid of their pens and ink.”  
 

The USCT service records also reveal the social issues faced by free blacks, such as the story of Fortune Wright, a soldier of the 96th USCT Infantry. Wright was a free black man before the Civil War began, and he enlisted in Louisiana in July 1862.

On October 23, 1865, a white doctor and another man thought they observed Wright beating a black woman on a street in Jefferson, Louisiana. When they attempted to reprimand Wright, a fight ensued. Wright—fearing for his life—stabbed the doctor, who was beating him with a cane. The doctor died.    

Wright pleaded not guilty at his court-martial trial but was found guilty of murder and sentenced “to be hanged by the neck until dead” on January 5, 1866.

The accused offered his explanation while in prison in New Orleans. He stated that he was approached by an “immoral colored woman” who put her hand on his shoulder and was “acting her willingness to prostitute her person.” The woman told him to give her a dime. Wright said that he didn’t have a dime, and that if he did have a dime, he would give it to his wife. Wright stated that he was angry with the woman for her insulting conduct and language. If she repeated her language, Wright told her, he would slap her. She did repeat herself, and Wright slapped her. 

The two white men appeared on the scene at this point without knowing how the argument began. As Wright walked away, the doctor followed and struck Wright on the head with a walking cane. Wright reeled around and grabbed the stick while the doctor cursed at him to let go. The doctor grabbed Wright by the collar of his coat and then punched him in the face. The second white man yelled to “kill the damned black yankee [since] there is no law for him.” Wright warned that if they both jumped him, he would cut one with his knife. When he was attacked, Wright stabbed the doctor with his knife.

Wright’s captain and his attorney sent pleas for a postponement of the sentence to Maj. Gen. Edward Canby of the Department of the Gulf. They were hoping for time to appeal to President Andrew Johnson for a pardon based on self-defense. 

Several postponements were granted. The series of the documents leading to President Johnson’s final decision reads like the ultimate page-turner. On February 24, 1866, General Canby received a telegram from the War Department in Washington, DC, stating that President Johnson has ordered that “the [death] sentence be duly carried into execution.” A copy of this message on American Telegraph Company letterhead survives in the service record.
   

Wright was not notified of his fate until the evening before his hanging. A week earlier, Provost Marshal A.M. Jackson was warned in a letter from Eastern District headquarters in Louisiana that “Precaution must be taken that the office of hangman be confided to a capable person so that no disagreeable results may ensue, and that the body be not disturbed until the hangman has pronounced life to be entirely extinct.” 

Jackson’s report of the execution dated the next day describes quite a different scene.

The knot on the rope was not soaped properly and the knot slipped as Wright fell from the platform. Though he was suspended, his neck was not broken and he could still breathe. Wright was taken down and put on the platform a second time. It took fifteen more minutes of strangulation before death took Fortune Wright. Jackson claimed that though the circumstance was “unpleasant,” Wright did not suffer “as he remained insensible from the time of the first fall.”

The stories of the USCT soldiers will be available free to non-subscribers on Fold3 from May 22 to 31, and can be accessed for free at any time on computers at the National Archives.

Freeing the dead…

“In our culture, we memorialize the dead, but we don’t maintain relationships with them,” said Shandaken resident and spiritual teacher Glenn Leisching. “Memorial Day is the only time that we honor them, and it’s just about soldiers. But all our ancestors need to be acknowledged.”

Read More At

Memorial Day Weekend: Remembering My American Uncle

Peter Gerth. U.S. Army WW1

In honor of Memorial Day I thought it would be nice to post a photo of one of my American relatives in the Military. I have many ancestors and relatives who have served in the Military but as I am Canadian most of them served in the Canadian or British Military.

Here in Canada we tend to think about our Military Ancestors on November 11th, Remembrance Day. Memorial Day is an American holiday but I guess that's one of the great things about the Internet age. We can all get involved in each others holidays.

Peter Gerth was my Great Grandmothers sister's husband. My Grandmother spoke of him as Uncle Peter Gerth. I don't think she met him more than a few times in her life. She could only tell me that he drove a trolley in Gaylord Michigan. So with only that info and this picture I set out to learn what I could.

One of the first things that I found was the 1910 census.  This told me that his first name was in fact Lambert. I guess he did not like the name Lambert. Can't say I blame him. The census also gave me a year of birth and a Country of birth.  

GERTH LAMBERT  23 M W CANADA MI WAYNE 17-WD DETROIT 1910 Series: T624 Roll: 680   Page: 270
Gerth, Lambert, 23 b Can German, imm unkn, NA, conductor
Gerth, Katie, wife,  21 b Can German, imm unkn
Butler, Carrie, mother in law, 53 b Can German, married 30 years, 6 children, 5 living, imm unkn
Ryan, Viola, niece, 7  b Can English

I then found the WW1 Draft Registrations.

WW1 Draft Registrations
Name: Lambert Peter Gerth
City: Detroit
County: Wayne
State: Michigan
Birthplace: Ontario;Canada
Birth Date: 17 Jan 1887
Race: Caucasian
Roll: 2032763
DraftBoard: 26

Now that I know he was born in Ontario Canada I was able to find his Birth Registration and then look for him on a census as a child in Ontario. This work continued with one record leading to another. So lets just say I now know a lot more about Uncle Peter.

Happy Memorial Day Uncle Peter. Thank you for your service 

Coffin Plate Of John R Steph??

This is an interesting Coffin Plate as it names the parents of the deceased. I have only seen a few that have this kind of info. Unfortunately I cant make out the surname. It looks like Steph???

John R

Son of John N & Anne E Steph???

Died March 3 1864

Aged 11 Months 27 Days

For more coffin plates see http://ancestorsatrest.com/

Philip Davy Coffin Plate 1870

Philip Davy Coffin Plate

Philip Davy

Died March ? 1870

Aged 33 Years

See more coffin plates at http://ancestorsatrest.com/

Conrad F Kurz Coffin Plate 1896

The coffin plate of Conrad Kurz

Conrad F Kurz

Died May 23. 1896

In His 32 Year

For more Coffin Plates try http://ancestorsatrest.com/

Women's History Month: Setting My Ancestor in History - 5th Great Grandmother captured during War of 1812

Over on Olive Tree Genealogy blog there's a meme for Women's History Month  This is Number 5

We have all had many female ancestors who have lived through and perhaps witnessed incredible historical events. But like many stories most get lost to time. I remember my Step Grandmother telling me about the horrible things she witnessed during the Blitz in London during WW2. But today I am thinking about my GGGGG Grandmother Mary Jane Montgomery.

In 1812 Mary Jane and her husband were on a ship from Ireland bound for New York. They were going to start a new life in the United States but unfortunately the War of 1812 got in the way. The ship they were on was captured by the British Navy coast of Newfoundland and all on board were taken to Canada against their will. I can only imagine what that would have been like. I suspect it was not only a great disappointment but a little bit frightening.

So as prisoners of war they where taken to St. Johns, and detained four weeks. Upon their release they had to make their way to Quebec, British subjects not being allowed to travel to America during the the war they had to wait until 1816 to finally reach the USA.

RootsTech Sessions Being Live Streamed!

RootsTech 2013 announced today which of its conference sessions would be streamed online for free. Over 5,000 people have already registered to attend the popular conference in Salt Lake City, Utah, March 21-23, 2013, where they plan to learn how to find, organize, tell, preserve, and share their family's history-and make new connections. The conference will broadcast 13 of its 250+ classes live at RootsTech.org , including the daily keynote speakers. The family history conference is the largest of its kind in the U.S.  "Not everyone can attend RootsTech in person," said Dan Martinez, RootsTech conference manager. "So we give them a chance to virtually attend a free sampling of some of our most popular sessions live online." Martinez added that the live webcasts in 2012 had 50,000 views during the show. For those living within travel distance of Salt Lake City, Martinez said it's still not too late to register for RootsTech 2013! From the Getting Started, Developer Day, and the Story@home tracks, the 3rd annual RootsTech conference has something for everyone, whether you are an avid genealogist, just beginning, or simply want to discover the latest technologies and solutions to better connect with your family. For registration details and costs, go to RootsTech.org.   Following are the RootsTech 2013 Streaming Sessions and when and where to find them.

Mountain Standard Time "Best of RootsTech" Live Stream on RootsTech.org Thursday, March 21  8:30 a.m. Keynote speakers: Dennis Brimhall, President and CEO, FamilySearch International, Syd Lieberman, Nationally Acclaimed Storyteller, Author, and Teacher, and Josh Taylor, Lead Genealogist at findmypast.com and President, Federation of Genealogical Societies 11:00 a.m. The Future of Genealogy-Thomas MacEntee and panel 1:45 p.m. Tell It Again (Story@Home)-Kim Weitkamp 3:00 p.m. The Genealogists Gadget Bag-Jill Ball and panel 4:15 p.m. Finding the Obscure and Elusive: Geographic Information on the Web-James Tanner Friday, March 22  8:30 a.m. Keynote speakers: Jyl Pattee, Founder, Mom It Forward Media, and Tim Sullivan, President and CEO, Ancestry.com 9:45 a.m. Researching Ancestors Online-Laura Prescott 11:00 a.m. FamilySearch Family Tree-Ron Tanner 1:45 p.m. Google Search... and Beyond-Dave Barney 3:00 p.m. From Paper Piles to Digital Files-Valerie Elkins Saturday, March 23  8:30 a.m. Keynote speakers: David Pogue, Personal Technology Columnist, The New York Times, and Gilad Japhet, Founder and CEO, MyHeritage 9:45 a.m. Using Technology to Solve Research Problems-Karen Clifford 11:00 a.m. Digital Storytelling: More Than Bullet Points-Denise Olson

NGS Conference Early Bird Registration Ends Today

Early Bird Registration Discount Ends

 2013 Family History Conference

Las Vegas, Nevada, 8–11 May 2013

Building New Bridges

ARLINGTON, VA, 18 March 2013: The NGS 2013 Family History Conference will be held 8–11 May 2013 at the Las Vegas Hotel and Casino (LVH), Las Vegas, Nevada. The early bird registration discount ends  Tuesday, 19 March 2013. In addition to enjoying a $35 discount, only early birds have the opportunity to order a printed syllabus. (Everyone will receive a syllabus on flash drive.) NGS members get even deeper discounts, so this is a great time to join. 


Space is still available for most breakfasts and luncheons, the NGS Banquet, and Tuesday bus tours. The BCG Education Fund Workshop is sold out. To be placed on the wait list, e-mail the NGS conference registrar, Courtney Holmes, at cholmes@ngsgenealogy.org .


All full-conference registrants will be entered in a drawing to win a seven-night stay at the Salt Lake Plaza Hotel at Temple Square, courtesy of the Salt Lake Plaza Hotel. The prize will also include a free spot on one the Ancestor Seekers Salt Lake City research trips. Be sure to attend the opening session to find out if you are the winner. The winner must be present at the opening session to claim the prize.

To register online, visit the NGS website at http://www.ngsgenealogy.org/cs/attendee_registration and complete the registration form. 

Thinking About My Irish Ancestors On Saint Patrick's Day

Like many people in North America I have a lot of Irish ancestors. In fact if asked what my heritage is I would probably say Irish. But how much do I really know about Ireland or what it means to be Irish. Sure I have reached my ancestors names but I know little about Irish history or Irish life in the past. We all know a little about the potato famine and the coffin ships but beyond that most of us don't know much . So in honor of Saint Patrick's Day and all my Irish ancestors I am going to spend this afternoon reading about the history and culture of Ireland. I may even have a Guinness. 

Black Death” plague graves unearthed in London

The Black Death

A mass grave has been discovered in London which might hold the remains of some 50,000 people killed by the “Black Death” plague in the 12th century.

Historical records described the area as a “no man’s land” which once housed a hastily established cemetery for victims of the bubonic plague which killed about a third of England’s population following its outbreak in 1348.
So far thirteen skeletons laid out in two neat rows have been discovered about 8 feet below the road.

Medieval knight’s tomb discovered under Scottish parking lot

Archaeologists were called to the scene and uncovered the grave and evidence of a 13th Century monastery under a parking lot in Edinburgh Scotland.

A sandstone slab, carved with a Calvary cross and an ornate sword, marked the grave. The symbols signal the grave belong to a knight or nobleman.

Along with the skeleton, archaeologists discovered the exact location of the 13th Century Blackfriars Monastery.

Read the rest of this story on the National Post at Medieval knight’s tomb discovered under Scottish parking lot

Court Records ledger book online for Wytheville, Wythe County Virginia

Lorine of Olive Tree Genealogy on TV

Lorine over on Olive Tree Genealogy, was interviewed by CBC yesterday for a story about WW 1 Letters found in an attic. Her blog post about this is at WW1 Soldier's Letters Found in Attic of Home

A link to the online CBC News Toronto at 6 on March 7, 2013 which has the interview with her. The story of the WW 1 letters is at mark 17:30 in the half hour segment. Go to: 

http://www.cbc.ca/player/News/Canada/Toronto/ID/2341391641/?sort=MostRecent

Women's History Month: Maternal Ancestors

Over on Olive Tree Genealogy blog there's a meme for Women's History Month

The second prompt is: Make a list of your direct line maternal ancestors beginning with your mother. So you will list your mom, her mom, her mom's mom and so on, back as far as you can. Now figure out how many children each female ancestor had. Did the females in your direct maternal line tend to have the same numbers of children each generation? Did they have more? Less? Were they prolific or are there few children born to each woman? Is there a pattern emerging?

Here's my story:

My mother: 3 kids, 2 boys and 1 girl
My grandmother Massey: 2 kids (twin boys)
My grandmother Conn: 4 kids - 2 boys, 2 girls
My great grandmother Massey: 9 children, 5 boys + 4 girls

My great grandmother DeMeulenaere: 6 children, 2 boys + 4 girls

My great grandmother Holden: 6 children, 2 boys + 4 girls

My great grandmother Elgie: 5 children, 1 boy + 4 girls

Of the total of 35 children, there were 16 boys and 19 girls so girls outweighed boys in my female ancestors. The numbers of children declined with each generation - better birth control?

Women's History Month - My Favourite Female Ancestor, Grandma Kak

Over on Olive Tree Genealogy blog there's a meme for Women's History Month

The first prompt was to pick your favourite female ancestor and write a little bio about her. So I'm choosing my grandmother, who we called "Kak"


I probably have many have many female ancestors who would have amazing stories to tell. But unfortunately most have been lost to time. I can speculate about what it was like crossing the Atlantic Ocean in the 1800s. I can read about Irish life during the famine. My Belgian ancestors would have some great stories as they lived for hundreds of years in what is probably one of the most fought over pieces of land in Europe. But I can talk about one female ancestor who I had the pleasure of knowing very well. My Grandmother.

My Grandmother Mary was born in Bridgeport Ontario in 1920.  Now my Grandmother did not have an exciting life by most people's standards. She was not rich or famous. She did not get to travel the world or discover the cure for cancer. In fact she did not do anything or go through anything that millions of other women of her generation did not experience. Yet I think that in itself is interesting. Her life story is the story of the women of her generation.

Her family was poor. They did not always get much to eat. They wore hand me down clothes and went without shoes in the summer. Her father drank too much and was not a kind man. He ruled the house with an iron hand. He was an extremely hard working man but jobs were hard to find in the 1930s. Her mother was of stern German Catholic background and had a hard life story of her own.

The great depression of the 1930s was a bad time for many and Mary found herself working in a tea room in Kitchener Ontario by the time she was 16. This job would soon lead to another many miles away in the small town that would be her home for the rest of her life.  St Marys Ontario. It was in this town while working in a Hotel that she would meet her husband who was the bread delivery man.

I never really got it straight from my Grandmother what her job was at the hotel. I know that sometimes she worked in the kitchen but I think it was more of a do everything kind of job. She married my Grandfather on a cold Winter day in 1939. The wedding was not big. She did not have a white dress or a bunch of Bridesmaids. It was just a small get together in someones house. They did not have a honeymoon. No money for that sort of thing in 1939. They settled in together in a tiny rented house to start making a life together but unfortunately the War would soon change things.

Within a few years of marriage Mary found herself  raising twin boys while her husband was in Europe with the Army. I know life was hard for her trying to look after twins with not a lot of help. But like many women she managed to do it and in fact I remember her telling me once that she found it kind of hard when grandpa came back as she felt she had things under control and had managed just fine but of course he had other ideas. She was also a tad upset as she had reason to suspect that grandpa had not been 100% faithful to her while overseas. But she was a realistic practical kind of lady and I think she soon forgave him any transgressions he may have committed in the years apart. All in all she was glad he was back.

After the war life went on. But it was at this point that one of her twin boys (my Father) took sick. He was sick for many years and spent months at a time in Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto. This was hard on the family, as one could expect, but was of course even more difficult back then as that was before universal health care. It was also before the days of nice highways so a trip to the city was not an everyday event like it is today. But the community helped out and my father pulled through.

She did catering at a local Golf Club and in the 1950s she worked for Bell Telephone as an operator. We have all seen the photos and movies of the girls at the switch boards pulling out and plugging in wires. She used to tell stories of how she and the other girls would listen in on other peoples calls although they were not allowed to. 

At some point in all this she lost a baby. I don't know much about it as she did not speak of it much. She only mentioned it to me a few times and only because I was the family Genealogist even as a child. She told me how much it upset her and that she never knew if it was a boy or a girl because back then the doctors would not tell you much. She had hoped for a girl but never had one. We don't always get what we want in life.

By the 1960s her two boys were grown and had families of their own and she was now a grandmother. And what a fantastic grandmother she was. Just the kind that every one wants. She enjoyed spending as much time with her five grandkids as she possibly could. All of us have years worth of fantastic memories. She was kind and soft spoken and loved to cook for us. And she was a great cook. Good old fashioned food was her thing. Roast chicken, mashed potatoes, corn, meat pies, apple pies, cookies. Big breakfasts of bacon and eggs every day. 

And she loved to do preserving and canning. She always had a root cellar full of pickles and jams and chili sauce and canned peaches.  Like lots of women of her generation she took great pride in her skills as a homemaker. Not only was she a great cook but the house was spotless and her gardens were beautiful. She spent hours every day cleaning and gardening. I don't think she even had a mop to do the floors she said you had to get down on your hands and knees if you wanted to get it clean. I can still see her with her bucket and an old rag scrubbing that kitchen floor. I don't know what she would say about my Roomba floor cleaning robot.

Her husband died in 1991 after over 50 years of marriage. She missed him terribly as one would expect but she kept on going doing the things she loved with the people she loved. She stayed in the same big old house puttering around. And she still had a job. Long after she probably should have retired she continued to work one or two days a week cleaning for some older women in town. I suspect it was more for the social aspect than it was for the money. She felt very close to the ladies and I know they felt the same for her. 

She never complained. She had the best attitude of probably any person I have ever met. She took great delight in the most simple things. A new kind of bird at the feeder would make her day. The flowers outside. A can of coke and a picnic lunch in the park was a great day as far as she was concerned. And as she got older and her health started to fail she still had a positive attitude said little about it. I know it bothered her greatly when she had to let the cooking and cleaning and gardening go. Yet she soldiered on with a smile and a kind word. 

She passed away just last year still living in that big old house by herself. Happy and in good spirits to the end and loved by many. I miss her