The History Hare - 9/23/2010

“Unearthing A Cemetery History”

by footnoteMaven

When writing a family history and including death ephemera and/or tombstone photographs, consider researching the cemetery itself for some interesting information.

Many, if not all cemeteries, have a history and your ancestor may have played a prominent role in that history. For some families a cemetery connection may be obvious. A burial. Such is the case with my husband's Great Great Uncle George Palmer who was wounded on the field of battle at Gettysburg and succumbed to his wounds five days later. He is buried in the National Cemetery at Gettysburg. But there is a good deal more to the story of the cemetery at Gettysburg, more surrounding a soldier's original burial on the battlefield, his disinterred, and reburial. All fodder for a great family history.

The information that surrounds the creation of the cemetery at Gettysburg is rich with details that could add interest to the family history you write. Did you know:

the grounds are laid out in State lots, apportioned in size to the number of marked graves each State had on the battle field. This number was obtained by having a thorough search made for all the graves, and a complete list taken of the names marked on them. Great care was taken to identify the bodies of the dead. In most instances the names of the occupants of graves were written upon small rough boards with a lead pencil. In others they were identified by letters, papers, receipts, certificates, diaries, memorandum books, photographs, marks on the clothing, belts or cartridge boxes, etc. In this manner, out of 3,564 bodies interred in the Cemetery, the names of 2,585 were ascertained, while 979 remain unknown.

Part of your research into a burial in Gettysburg may be an attempt to ascertain how your ancestor was identified. Were there personal possessions and were they returned to your family?

Too easy you say, Gettysburg is a famous cemetery? This methodology holds true for rural, family, municipal and corporate cemeteries.

Was your ancestor the driving force in the procuring of land and building of a cemetery? The Allegheny Cemetery has a published history of its creation that includes the names of those that worked for its creation. The history of the cemetery lists many who were prominent men, perhaps one of your ancestors.

as early as 1834 an attempt had been made by Dr. J. R. Speer, Stephen Colwell and John Chislett, Esqs., to establish a rural cemetery in this neighborhood. The three persons named were connected at that time with the Third Presbyterian Church of Pittsburgh, of which Dr. D. H. Riddle was pastor, and the congregation not having procured a burying ground, their attention was drawn to the subject, and it was proposed at one time to purchase the lot then belonging to the heirs of Judge Roberts.

Even some small family cemeteries have a written history just waiting to be unearthed. I found such a history for my Campbell ancestors' family cemetery in papers at the University of Missouri. While I am told the land is now owned by someone who will not allow access to the graveyard, I have the names of those that are buried there.

Did the cemetery association, corporation or municipal entity restrict the appearance of the cemetery which might account for the layout of your ancestors final resting place? Here are some suggestions by Mr. Strauch in 1891:

In order to prevent the unsightly crowding of tombstones, which gives many of our best cemeteries the appearance of a stone-cutter's establishment, only one monument may be erected in the centre of each lot, so that the graves of the family can be located around the monument, thus saving the expense of head- and foot-stones to each grave. When, however, grave-marks or index-stones are desired, they are to be placed at the foot of the graves, and not project above the surface of the grounds more than the usual height of the grave-mound (about three or four inches), with the name of the deceased on the top of the stone.

Graves Behind An Iron Fence

A wealth of cemetery history information can be found online. Information that makes for great additions to your family history. Search and you just may unearth that curious piece of information to add interest to your family history.

Online resources: Google Books, Heritage Quest, Find A Grave, Ancestry.com [$], Footnote.com [$], The Library of Congress, University Archives, Family Search and historical newspapers. They all contain a variety of histories and information for many cemeteries.

Sources:

Bartlett, John Russell. The Soldiers' National Cemetery At Gettysburg. New York: Ballantine Books. 1891.
McCandless, William. Alleghany Cemetery History. Pittsburg: Bakewell and Marthens. 1873.

Photographs:

Cemetery. Unknown. Privately held by the footnoteMaven, WA.