Friday, July 29, 2011

Are you related to Gengis Khan

Archaeologists in Russia have unearthed what they say are remains of a nephew of the founder of the Mongol Empire, Gengis Khan.

The remains of Isunke Khan were discovered during excavation in Russia’s East Siberian region of Transbaikalia, which were earlier initiated by the Russian Far Eastern Federal University.

The remnants’ DNA testing is yet to be implemented but if DNA can be extracted it would be fantastic for people who believe are in the same family tree as Gengis Khan.

Thursday, July 28, 2011

UK's 'oldest' open-air cemetery discovered

Recent radiocarbon dating of two skulls found at a sand quarry in Greylake nature reserve near Middlezoy in 1928 revealed them to be 10,000 years old.

Greylake

Monday, July 25, 2011

Mystery surrounds unmarked graves at Halifax navy cemetery

They are scattered throughout a small military cemetery in Halifax -- dozens of weathered headstones dating back more than a century, bearing the names of seamen and civilians associated with the Royal Navy.

The grave markers were meant to stand as enduring tokens of respect, but they also serve as a reminder of the many more men, women and children buried here whose names cannot be found on any memorial.

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Monday, July 11, 2011

Ryedale Windy Pits skeletons were 'sacrificial'

A new investigation has revealed that human skeletons discovered in caves on the North York Moors were likely to have been the victims of ritual sacrifice 2,000 years ago.

A forensic examination of their bones, for the BBC's History Cold Case series, has revealed evidence that at least one of them had been scalped.

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Ancient skeletons discovered in north Dublin

Workers laying pipes in Rush, north Dublin, have uncovered a previously unrecorded ancient burial ground. Historians believe the human remains could date back to the 9th century and belong to Vikings.



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Saturday, July 09, 2011

York mass grave skeletons were Civil War soldiers

Mass graves containing 113 male skeletons were unearthed just outside the city walls in 2008. It is thought the men had fought for the Parliamentarians during the siege of York in 1644. An investigation for the BBC series History Cold Case has concluded the men probably died from typhus fever.



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Thursday, July 07, 2011

Grave found beneath Barrie Ontario train station

Workers renovating an unused Barrie train station have discovered what may be a First Nations grave disturbed during the building’s 1905 construction.

On Monday, while digging in the crawlspace of the Allandale train station with a shovel and a rake, workers unearthed a small collection of bones buried just six inches down.

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Sunday, July 03, 2011

Dutch woman solves mystery of slain Canadian WW2 soldier

In an out-of-the-way spot in an old Dutch cemetery, there's a place that is forever New Brunswick. Anyone visiting the Gorinchem cemetery from this province could pick it out immediately: a small New Brunswick flag is there, and, at the base of the white headstone, a painted rock from McLaren's Beach in Saint John.

Buried in the grave is the body of Harold Magnusson, a 22-year-old from Saint John who was killed in 1944 in the operation immortalized in book and film as A Bridge Too Far.


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Thursday, June 30, 2011

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

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

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

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

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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Saturday, June 25, 2011

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.

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

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.

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

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

Saturday, May 28, 2011

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.

Thursday, May 26, 2011

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.