Holidays: Best Time To Collect Memories

Okay, the holidays have arrived. Since the end of October we have celebrated Halloween, Day of the Dead, and Veteran’s Day. In the immediate future, we have Thanksgiving, followed by Hanukkah, Kwanza, Christmas, and News Year’s Day. This is truly the time for the family to gather and share memories.

This is truly the perfect time for collecting more information for family history and genealogy. With the family visiting, now is the time to sit down and collect the details about missing members of the family tree. Who out there remembers Aunt Molly? Where did she live? Where is she buried? In addition to the details for the lineage charts and genealogy, we can also collect the family history stories. Who remembers how we celebrated Christmas in Grandma’s House? What were the traditions of the holidays in the 1940s? Did you really receive just a pair of socks and an orange?

So many of these traditions and family stories can be lost if we don’t take the time to record them now. The opportunity is perfect, it is right in front of us. So, bring out the digital recorders and the DVD cameras and interview family members; record their memories and feelings. Someday these memories will truly be the most valuable gifts of the holiday season.

And, remember, once these memories are recorded, be sure to make duplicates of the tapes and the digital recordings. In addition, be sure to transcribe these tapes so that the memories, if not the actual voices will last forever.

If collecting oral history is not in the cards, maybe identifying old family photographs or filling in details on lineage charts might bring the family together. Now is the perfect time to reminisce and share family memories. Bring out the photo albums, or set up the tape, and digital, recorders and ask questions about the family. This may prove to be the best opportunity to collect and save, or build on to, the family history.

DNA Technology At Its Best

Although many people would accuse me of being a Luddite, a person that hates technology simply because it is new technology. I would suggest that too often technology is misused and abused. CNN.com published an article that points to the true value of technology and using it to aid in Family History research. This is the type of research and technology that excites me.

Be sure to read this at:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/11/09/dna.families/

This is a fine example of how best to use technology.

More Bad Economic News

The nightmare continues as two more state institutions have suffered significant budgetary cuts. It seems as though more and more states are looking to save money by eliminating their history. To say the least, this is a short sighted idea that only serves to harm the states in their long term.

Earlier this week, the State Historical Society of Missouri announced cutbacks in staff and hours as a result of budget with holdings of 25 percent for the 2010 budget. In the future the hours of the Historical Society will be from 8 to 4:45 Monday through Thursday. Researchers will no longer be able to work on Fridays or Saturdays. The change in hours will have enormous consequences on students and professional researchers. Genealogists traveling to conduct research will particularly suffer.

This announcement comes on the heels of the Governor of Massachusetts announcing the closing of the State Library. This institution has been open since 1826 and houses some of the more important documents in New England and Colonial American History. There is still hope to save the Massachusetts State Library, the friends of the library are circulating an electronic petition to present to the Governor. Simply go to the website to add your name to the petition to stave off the closing of the Massachusetts State Library.



http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/saveyourstatelibrary/?e



Please sign the petition and help save our history, and our libraries.

Memorial for Cremains

With the increasing popularity of cremation, a major concern for family historians has been the documentation of our ancestors. When a body is cremated, there are not many opportunities to create a memorial for the departed. Now, a new method of memorializing our ancestors, the individuals who have been cremated, is being introduced.

Read on, this is very cool.

http://www.deltacountyindependent.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11519:riverside-cemetery-now-offers-a-final-resting-place-for-those-cremated&catid=35:north-fork&Itemid=345

This is courtesy of the Delta County Independent newspaper, and thanks to Leland Meitzler and Genealogyblog.com for bringing this to my attention.

Cemeteries as Tourist Spots

Here is an interesting piece in cnn.com.

Cemeteries are being recognized as resources to document the culture and history of communities in the United States.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/TRAVEL/10/30/graveyard.tourism/

Chinese Genealogy and Architecture: An Interesting Combination

Here is an interesting article from the Wall Street Journal about the centrality of genealogy and ancestry worship in China. It is eye-opening the extent of the respect and honor held for ancestors in China.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125618375973500731.html?mod=googlenews_wsj#project%3DSLIDESHOW08%26s%3DSB125618809736100797%26articleTabs%3Darticle

Thanks the Laura Carter, Tom Kemp and the Genealib list for bringing this article to my attention.

The Shame of the Southern Cemeteries

A few years ago, I was traveling through the counties of North Georgia in search of a grave for a client. A long lost uncle had been buried in a Georgia county whose name will remain anonymous. At one stop in the County Clerk’s Office, an employee of the office suggested the grave may have been plowed up and become part of a farmer’s field of corn. At the time, I disregarded the comment as a simple attempt at sarcastic humor. But now, after several years of work in exploring and documenting cemeteries in Georgia, I realize this comment has more than a little bit of truth to it.

It seems as though Georgia cemeteries are often regarded as inconvenient hindrances to developers and urban expansion. Too many times I have encountered stories of cemeteries, some abandoned, some not, that are getting in the way of real estate development and the developers are working with county, or local officials to disrespect the final resting places of our ancestors.

A recent case in point: an African-American cemetery in the ritzy, Atlanta, neighborhood of Buckhead is being threatened by a developer. The cemetery has been abandoned for some time. It is, however, clearly a cemetery. At least one large tombstone is visible from the road. As abandoned property, the city took control of the land because of unpaid taxes. The developer then bought the land with the intention of building high rise condominiums on the property. Descendents of the cemetery residents are currently suing to stop the development. Yet, the simple fact they have to resort to litigation to stop the development is a truly shameful statement about the respect for the dead in the State of Georgia.

Disrespecting the dead is not a recent phenomenon in Georgia. An example from the not too distant past also comes to mind. In the 1970s, Georgia was developing the interstate system through the city of Atlanta. In the construction of the off-ramp for Cleveland Avenue in South Atlanta a cemetery was uncovered. At first, it was believed this cemetery was the remains of an historic slave cemetery. Later it was determined this was the neighborhood cemetery most often referred to as the Gilbert Cemetery with burials as early as 1847. It was an African-American cemetery. After more investigation, archeologists determined the cemetery was a relatively large burial ground; an estimated 700 to 1000 graves existed at one time. With development in the area in the 1960s, portions of the cemetery had been paved over for a liquor store parking lot. And, with the construction of I-75 the remainder of the cemetery had been uncovered.

Today, a memorial plaque, with some stones has been erected in the green space in the clover leaf exit of Cleveland Avenue. The memorial has made an effort to document some of the internments in the Gilbert Cemetery. But most of the dead will forever remain unknown. More than a memorial to the dead of Gilbert Cemetery the plaque at Cleveland Avenue more appropriately highlights the shameful treatment of the dead and the cemeteries in Georgia as they compete with development in the urban south.