19th-century grave unearthed at Eastern Michigan University campus

Several old bones that were found on Eastern Michigan University's campus have been identified as belonging to an older man buried in a 19th century Catholic cemetery.

From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20110629/METRO/106290417/19th-century-grave-unearthed-at-Eastern-Michigan-University-campus#ixzz1Qm3Jt7Sp

Abigail K Rundel Coffin Plate

This is the coffin plate for Abigail K Rundel. Abigail died July 23rd 1866 aged 67 years.

Scientists to dig up the grave of Shakespeare

Scientists have applied for permission to exhume the body of William Shakespeare, hoping to establish how he died and use state-of-the-art computer equipment to create a groundbreaking three dimensional reconstruction of the famous writer.



Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2007037/Shakespeare-Scientists-bid-dig-grave.html#ixzz1Qfrr11yT

Found grave ends 20-year search for Civil War vet

A search that began more than 20 years ago came to fruition last week in the Peetz Community Cemetery when the final resting place of a former Civil War soldier was found.

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Montgomery County Pennsylvania, Hatfield Ledger Book 1858~1904

I have added scans of the pages from the Montgomery County Pennsylvania, Hatfield Ledger Book 1858~1904. This great old farm ledger came from New Hanover Township in Montgomery County Pennsylvania. The original owner of the book did not sign his full name (he just put Hatfield at the top of each page) however there is a loose paper from 1878 in the book that belonged to James G Hatfield. The Hatfield ledger is a great genealogy find for this area of Pennsylvania as it contains a large number of local names starting in 1858. I had a hunt for a few of the names found in this ledger in the 1860 United States Federal Census and found many of them in Montgomery County, Berks County and Bucks County.

If you want to take a look go to

Hatfield Ledger Book 1858~1904

Who Was Marie Olsen?

Do you know Marie Olsen? Her gravestone was found recently in St. Paul, Minnesota. The only clue are the dates inscribed on the stone  1879-1932

See Geneanet's Genealogy Blog for more information.

Updating My Cemetery Page

I spent an hr or or so updating my cemetery page at http://www.ancestorsatrest.com/cemetery_records/

Jennie M Sprague

I found this interesting memorial photo in an antique shop in Cambridge Ontario. It is for Jennie M Sprague 1857 ~ 1895. I have not found out who she was yet but I will keep hunting.

Cemetery Walks on Olive Tree Genealogy YouTube Channel

Join Olive Tree Genealogy and Ancestors At Rest on Cemetery Walks.

Videos of Cemetery Tombstones in North America are online at the Olive Tree Genealogy YouTube Channel.


You can also search for more death records at Archives.com

Toronto Cemeteries on FamilySearch

Family Search Labs has added the following cemetery records today

Canada, Ontario, Toronto Trust Cemeteries, 1826-1935

https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/show#uri=http://hr-search-api:8080/searchapi/search/collection/1627831

It includes the following records:

Mount Pleasant Cemetery
Necropolis Cemetery
Potters' Field Cemetery
Prospect Cemetery

The Leatherman Gets a New Burial

The Leatherman was given a new burial this week.

In 1889 this mysterious man who I've talked about on AncestorsAtRest in an earlier blog post, died and was buried at the side of the road. For years he had wandered the country from New York to Connecticut. Earlier this week his remains were dug up and what was found was reburied in a plain pine coffin in a suburban New York cemetery.

No bones remained but some earth and nails from his old coffin were put in his new pine coffin and buried with him in his new resting place.

No one knows the Leatherman's real name; he remains a mysterious figure who begged for food and slept outdoors from the 1850s to his death in 1889.

Death Records on Archives.com

This may be a new site for some of you to explore. I'm exploring it now! I hope to find an ancestor or two.

Congratulations To The Olive Tree Genealogy Blog

Congratulations to my wife. The Olive Tree Genealogy blog has been chosen as one of "11 Essential Genealogy Blogs" on Indian Country Today Media Network. Way to go Lorine.

Go Take A Look

The Grave Of Mona Lisa

Art historians are hunting for the grave of Mona Lisa.

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Where oh Where Has my Invitation Gone??

Where can it be? Prince William and Kate Middleton are getting married tomorrow in London England. And I'll be gob-smacked - my invite has not arrived!

But my family tree clearly indicates that I, Brian Massey, am the 28th cousin, 4 times removed, of Wills. So what's up with not inviting me and my spouse to the wedding of the century!! I'd give him the benefit of the doubt and say maybe it was a space issue but I just found out that the Palace revoked the invitation previously sent to the Syrian ambassador.  So... that means there's a couple of empty spots at supper!

Here's the direct royal line down to Elizabeth from William I. It's a bit confusing but here's how it works - King Henry II's mother Matilda, was the sister of my direct ancestor David, 1st King of Scotland. That's right - I've got royal blood. My family always told me I was special...

At least, I've got royal blood if the online family trees can be trusted... but if they're online, they can't be wrong can they?

The line from my 26th great-grandparent David King of Scotland, comes down several generations to Bryan Stapleton who died in 1394. My Stapleton family carried on in the male line and ended up leaving England in the early 1800s for Canada.

So there we have it. If the online royalty trees are correct, I'm Will's cousin. And I really don't get why he didn't have all this figured out. I mean the guy can afford to hire a genealogist for cripe's sake! Or if he hasn't got the money what with marrying Kate, all he has to do is ask Grandma to pony up some Euros.

My wife says I should take him off the Christmas Card list.

Disclaimer: My tongue was tucked so far into my cheek it went numb. I won't be able to lick the stamp for Will's Christmas or Birthday card at this rate!

Bedlam Bodies Found

Opened in 1247, London’s St Bethlehem Hospital was the world’s first institution dedicated to mental illness. An abbreviation of its name produced the modern word “bedlam”.

Archaeologists have now discovered as many as 1,000 bodies at the hospital’s former burial site near London’s Liverpool Street station, as part of the capital’s Crossrail development. While some of the remains will ultimately go on display in the Museum of London, Government regulations demand the bodies are ultimately reburied locally – though indecision still surrounds the exact location.

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'Pay $10,000 to keep old family graves'

As someone who appreciates the importance of preserving cemeteries I could not believe this next story. It  seems this area in England wants to dig up the older graves so they can sell them again. Relatives could be asked to pay between £1,000 and £5,000 (that's approximately $2,000 to $10,000) to keep a plot that's more than 75 years old. Remains that were removed could be placed in an unmarked common grave.

Massacre at the hillfort

Archaeologists at the site in Derbyshire found four babies, a two-year-old, a teenage boy and three adults.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1378190/Iron-Age-mass-grave-reveals-slaughter-women-children-challenges-theory-pre-Roman-peaceful-life.html#ixzz1JuZ7mb1H

Bones of Leper Warrior Found in Medieval Cemetery

The bones of a soldier with leprosy who may have died in battle have been found in a medieval Italian cemetery, along with skeletons of men who survived blows to the head with battle-axes and maces.

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Cemetery Love

OK so its not the kind of thing I normally blog about but this story is making the rounds and I just thought it was cute. And it is taking place in a cemetery so its sort of on topic.

A deer has been standing watch for several days over a female goose nesting in a Buffalo city cemetery. For at least four days, the buck has stood guard near the nest of a Canada goose as she sits on her eggs inside a large urn at Forest Lawn cemetery, home to the remains of rock icon Rick James and President Millard Fillmore.

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