contents
Features
Columns
The Year Was . . .
The Year Was 1871
Appealing Subjects
Death Upon The Record
pg. 6 pg. 18
A Revolutionary Pursuit
pg. 12
Celebrating Dead Fred
pg. 26
In The Gloom & The Gleam
pg. 46
Photography & Mourning
pg. 50
Behind The Camera
pg. 66
MoĂses Rojo of Sinovas, Spain
pg. 78
Maureen Taylor Joe Bott
The Future of Memories
pg.. 32
Captured Moments
pg. 62
Saving Face
pg. 82
Penelope Dreadful
pg. 86
Heather Wilkinson Rojo
In2Genealogy
pg. 92
In Every Issue
At The Cabin
Record and Share
Professional Development
A Dreadful Coincidence
The Evidence Of Life
On The Cover
Photographs In The Cemetery footnoteMaven
Post-Mortem Photography
From My Keyboard
pg. 4
The Exchange
pg. 5
Letter from the editor Your comments
The Last Picture Show
Back Cover
The graphic image on the back of a carte-de-visite or cabinet card
Download The Magazine Thank you to Thanatos Net for allowing Shades to use this thought provoking photograph as the cover photo for the morning issue. Take a moment to visit this site and become a member. Amazing!
contributors PENELOPE DREADFUL
VICKIE EVERHART
GEORGE GEDER
Penelope Dreadful is the alter ego of Denise Levenick. Denise authors the blog, The Family Curator and gives us something “Dreadful” every month.
Vicki is the author of Creative Moments. She also authors the blog BeNotForgot.
George is the author of The Healing Brush Column. He also authors the George Geder blog.
DENISE OLSON
SHERI FENLEY
CAROLINE POINTER
Denise is the author of The Future of Memories Column. She also writes the blog Family Matters and experiments with her iPad
Sheri writes The Year Was . . . Column. She also authors the blog The Educated Genealogist.
Caroline is the new In2Genealogy Columnist. She is also the author of the Family Stories blog.
REBECCA FENNING
CRAIG MANSON
FOOTNOTEMAVEN
Rebecca authors the Saving Face column. She also writes the blog A Sense of Face.
Craig authors the Appealing Subjects column. He also writes the blog Geneablogie.
Maven edits Shades Of The Departed The Magazine. She also writes the blog footnoteMaven and Shades of the Departed.
from my keyboard fOOTNOTEMAVEN
THE MOURNING ISSUE It is a sad irony that with the publication of the Shades Mourning Issue we must say good-bye to two beloved Shades contributors. Grief, it is said, is the price we pay for love. And we did love them. Suzanne Mercy Winsor Freeman 1933-2010 Twice Told Tuesday Suzanne was a terri-ic woman who had such curiosity and zest for life. Penelope Dreadful (Denise Levenick) her daughter has asked that donations be made to the Suzanne Winsor Freeman Memorial Student Genealogy Fund at any Wells Fargo Bank c/o Wells Fargo Bank, Green Valley, Arizona 520/625-1222. For more information, or contact Denise Levenick via Contact the Curator. William Terrance Thornton 1939 ‐ 2010 The Graveyard Rabbit Terry was the -irst columnist at Shades, developing The Graveyard Rabbit Column, which became an entire association. In a note from Terry’s wife Betty, she asked, “Who knew death would come so fast?” None of us! Join Shades as we explore the Mourning Issue.
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Thank you so much! From your keyboard to the DMA judges eyes. fM
THE YEAR WAS . . .
the year was 1871 QUEEN VICTORIA IS EVERYWHERE!
BY SHERI FENLEY "Late one night When we were all in bed Old Mother Leary Left a lantern in the shed And when the cow kicked it over, She winked her eye and said, There’ll be a hot time In the old town, tonight." On October 8, 1871, a -ire began on DeKoven Street in a barn owned by Catherine and
Courtesy of Stanford University
Patrick O'Leary. Fueled by a gale‐force wind, this blaze grew into the Great Chicago Fire.
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Dr. John Maynard Woodworth is appointed the -irst Surgeon General served under General William Sherman and on the "March to the Sea" he was in charge of the ambulance train. John Maynard Woodworth remained in the position of Surgeon General until his
http://www.historic-uk.com
death in Washington, D.C., on March 14, 1879.
www.surgeongeneral.gov
by President Ulysses S. Grant on March 29, 1871. Woodworth
November 10, 1871 – Henry Morton Stanley locates the missing explorer and missionary Dr. David Livingstone in Ujiji, near Lake Tanganyika, and greets him by saying "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?"
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The beginning of the end for "Boss" Tweed began on July 8, 1871 when cartoonist Thomas Nast received information about the corruption at Tammany Hall. Nast who was working for Harper's Weekly, joined forces with The New York Times who had started a series of articles exposing the corruption of Tammany Hall. In his cartoons, Thomas Nast used his talents to depict Tweed as a thief which were published week after week in Harper's Weekly. Tweed is -inally indicted on criminal charges in December and expelled from
brarie
s
"The Brains," Harper's Weekly, p. 992, October 12,
Tammany Hall.
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The O
hio S
tate U
nivers
ity Li
[Thomas Nast Self-caricature] Harper's Weekly, December 2, 1876, cover.
The card game of Poker is introduced to Queen Victoria at a royal party in Somerset, England in 1871 by U.S. Ambassador to Great Britain Robert Cumming Schenck causing a minor diplomatic scandal. After showing Her Royal Highness how to play it is said that she
What has footnoteMaven done to the Queen?
enjoyed the game so much, she requested the rules be written down for her private use.
The National Ri-le Association is granted a charter by the State of New York on November 24, 1871. Founded by former Union Army of-icers to encourage marksmanship and gun safety, the -irst president was former Senator and Union Army General Ambrose Burnside.
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By 1871, fullness in the skirt had moved to the rear, anchored and supported by a bustle. Day dresses had high necklines and draped overskirts to produce an apronlike effect from the front. Hair was pulled back at the sides, exposing a lady's ears.
Opposite Page: The well dressed man, September 1871, from the Gazette of Fashion, and Cutting-Room companion [afterw.] Minister's Gazette of Fashion.
and that was the year 1871 10 Shades MAGAZINE | Memento Mori 2010
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A REVOLUTIONARY PURSUIT Maureen Taylor The Photo Detective
Maureen Taylor asks, “Did you know that many of the men and women who lived during the American Revolution lived into the age of Photography?” Almost a decade ago I began researching, The Last Muster: Images of the Revolutionary War Generation (Kent State University Press); a project that would, at times, consume all my spare time. It all started when a gentleman at a genealogy conference showed me a daguerreotype of his loyalist ancestor, Jonathan Leonard, who’d spent the Revolutionary War in Bermuda. As I looked at it I remember pausing and thinking there must be more photographs of 18th individuals out there. I didn’t want to only represent veterans, like the Reverend Elias Hillard did in his book, The Last Men of the Revolution (N.A. and R.S. Moore, 1864) reprint. Barre, Massachusetts: Barre Publishers, 1968); I wanted to show the pictures and tell the life stories of the men and women who lived during a signi-icant period in American history. It took my background as a picture researcher, genealogist and photo historian to locate photographs, dig for facts and interpret the photographic images. At times, I despaired of -inding enough images and information to -ill a book. Individuals that lived during the American Revolution and lived after 1839, were generally between 80 to 100 years of age at the time of the photograph. There were many supporters of this project. Among them, David Lambert, Online Genealogist at the New England Historic Genealogical Society who joined the search and contributed several images from his private collection. Eric Grundset, Library Director of
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the Daughters of the American Revolution Library sent us nineteenth century publications about “last men” and offered guidance. The big question was “how many people who lived during the Revolution actually lived after the advent of the age of photography in 1839?” The 1840 Census of Pensioners provided a list of names of individuals who collected pensions and their ages, but I didn’t know how many of those had Revolutionary War pensions. It was a Pension Of-ice report published in the December 10, 1852, New York Times that mentioned speci-ic numbers of individuals still living. That report mentioned that the total number of soldiers who still received pensions under the Acts of 1818, 1828 and 1832 was 1,876. Also according to that report 6,258 Revolutionary War widows and orphans who applied under the Acts of 1836, 1838 and 1848 were still collecting in 1852. To search for each individual separately could easily take a lifetime. A broader approach was necessary. I promoted the project by writing articles for magazines and online websites, distributed -lyers at every genealogical event, published information on my website www.Maureentaylor.com [Link] and spoke about it at every lecture. The images trickled in. Using photo speci-ic terms such as daguerreotype and ambrotype and narrowing the search by decade yielded results on online databases. For instance the Library of Congress, had images of several notable men, but I really wanted to locate some previously unpublished images. Newspaper databases contained large numbers of obituaries as well as lists of veterans and articles on the last living Revolutionary War widows. In some instances, articles included pictures of those mentioned, but no amount of searching ever found those original photos. The -inal seventy images in the book represent a cross‐section of the generation that experienced the war. There are men who served, women who married pensioners, Quakers who remained neutral, African‐Americans and Native Americans. There are famous men and women like President Andrew Jackson who served as a young teen, and First Lady Dolley Madison who was a child. Both left voluminous records of their lives. Then there are
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folks like John Williams, a former slave from Rhode Island, who only appears in census records and a newspaper obituary. While the 1852 pension report mentioned that thousands more women than men collected pensions, only 14 out of the 70 pictures depict women. Did fewer women go to the photo studio to pose for pictures? Given the scarcity of photos of women from the period, it seems likely. Those that were included range from Molly Ferris Akin, whose participation was an oral tradition until a 20th descendant wrote it down to Elizabeth Cutler who raised a family and kept the family tavern solvent while her husband served the cause. The last living Revolutionary War widow didn’t die until 1906—there was quite an age gap between her and husband. Many of the individuals were well‐known for other reasons than their participation in the war. Nikonah fought on the side of the British under General Brandt, but had his picture taken for an ethnographic reason—he was the last living member of the Tutelo tribe. Several men recalled their Revolutionary War experiences as young children. Thomas Handasyd Perkins saw the frozen blood in the street after the Boston Massacre. Samuel Fay’s father took his -ive year old son to the Battle of Bennington. The national title “Last man of the Revolution” passed from man to man, but each town also
had their own. In 1869 Daniel Frederick Bakeman was proclaimed the “last Revolutionary War soldier,” but research on the book discovered a man who saw minor service, but outlived Bakeman. John Kitts of Baltimore, who posed in uniform died in 1870. There may be other contenders out there hidden in public and private collections. Now that the Last Muster is in print, more images are coming to light. If you have a picture of an individual who lived during the Revolutionary War, I’d love to see it. Volume two is underway.
A sneak peek video of The Last Muster is available on Vimeo [Link].
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Maureen A. Taylor is the author of several books on photography and family history including Fashionable Folks: Hairstyles 18401900 (Picture Perfect Press) and Preserving Your Family Photographs (Picture Perfect Press). Follow her photo identiQication work through her free e newsletter (signup [ Link ]on www.maureentaylor.com), Facebook, Twitter and Vimeo.com.
F a s h i o n a b l e F o l k s : H a i r s t y l e s 18401900 (Picture Perfect Press) [Link]
Preserving Your Family Photographs (Picture Perfect Press) [Link]
APPEALING SUBJECTS
death upon the record THE DEATH OF THE PRINTED OBITUARY? CRAIG MANSON
Mrs. Susan Francis Birdsong died with the full assurance and triumph of a living faith in the blessed Savior, on the 19th of April 1892, having professed a hope in Christ when quite young. She was the wife of George L. Birdsong, who proceeded her to the grave several years ago. In early life she became a member of the Methodist church living a consistent member of that church until 1868, when for some cause, unknown to the writer, she joined the Missionary Baptist Church at New Harmony where she remained a member until her death, and where she rarely missed a service, nearly always being in her seat.
A Newspaper Obituary from Upson County, Georgia, 1892 The Albuquerque Tribune died yesterday [February 23, 2008] after a long illness. It was 86 years old. The Tribune was born in 1922 as Magee's Independent, a weekly sheet. Its midwife and -irst editor was an Oklahoma City transplant named Carlton Cole Magee (1873‐1946). Magee was a lawyer who later invented the parking meter.
A Newspaper's Obituary The [Denver] Rocky Mountain News breathed its last breath on Friday, February 27, 2009. It was less than sixty days shy of its 150th birthday, having -irst appeared on April 23, 1859.
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checking the obituaries
The Rocky's demise comes almost exactly a year after the end of its E.W. Scripps Co. sibling, the Albuquerque Tribune . . . .
Another Newspaper's Obituary A long long time ago, there were printed publications known as the daily newspapers. As the name implies, these products were made of paper and printed with ink, and contained information about what was new in a community. Newspapers could be delivered to one's home, and frequently were either morning or afternoon; or they could be purchased at places known as newsstands or news agents. Adolescents often had their -irst entrepreneurial experience as a "newspaper carrier." Newspapers contained information about politics, about war and peace, about sport and leisure, and community events. Newspapers gave communities their very identity in some cases. Newspapers acted as the voice of the community it or the conscience of the community in other cases. Short of having a personal correspondence, abroad, reading the newspaper was the only way to -ind out what happened beyond one's community. Newspapers were said to contain the -irst draft of history. Great communities had great newspapers and great newspapers made great communities even greater. Some newspapers claim to be "the paper of record" for their community. That was more than just a slogan in many cases. Most states and local jurisdictions have rules that require that certain acts of public agencies, as well as certain types of legal notices, be published in "a newspaper of general circulation." Where there are several newspapers in a jurisdiction, the paper of record is selected by competitive bidding. The
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newspaper runs these notices not as a public service, but for remuneration just as they would classi-ied ads. [Oh yes, classi-ied ads: these were advertisements arranged by category, in alphabetical order. Usually brief, they could be used to offer for sale or or offer to buy products or services. Some were called "personals" which were usually messages to individuals, who chose this medium over the mail service. (Sometimes the the personal ads were also used to offer for sale or offer to buy certain services, though not in the so‐called family newspapers!)]. Newspapers served an important societal function as well: they told us who had been born and to whom, who had wed and to whom, who divorced and why, and who among us had died. At the height of the newspaper industry, these notices were carried as a public service, or as important news. With respect to who got married, for example, this would often appear in two places in the newspaper: -irst among the general public notices, and a select few on the so‐called "society pages." This section of the newspaper was sometimes called the "women's section." The wedding notices which appeared on the society pages or in the women's section often were paid for by the couple or friends of the couple. They were often written by the friends of the couple. If, however, the couple were prominent in the community, then their marriage would be handled as a regular news story; that is to say, it would be written by a reporter, edited with the other news, and not paid for by any interested party. Just as important as the marriage notices, perhaps more so, were the obituaries or death notices. Research in the late 20th century showed that people often read the obituaries -irst. The obituaries were so important that many larger newspapers had obituary editors, just as they had news editors, sports editors and feature editors. At an early point in the newspaper business, obituaries or death notices were viewed as part of the public service provided by newspaper, like the weather or the crime blotters. Some newspapers viewed obituaries as news, particularly if the decedent had been an important member of the community, or if in a small town simply a member of the community. Later newspapers
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dropped their public‐service obituaries and death notices became a service for a fee. These obituaries were handled by the classi-ied ads department. In the mid‐20th‐century, the newspaper industry began to ail, starved for suf-icient revenues and unable to keep pace with emerging technologies. Many strategies were were attempted to improve the health of the industry, but by the end of the 20th century, hundreds of the best newspapers in America newspapers had gone the way of the 78 rpm record [what's this?] and the VCR. Some were not missed. What happens to the record when the paper of record has passed on? This is an important question for historians, genealogists, anthropologists, cultural observers, political scientists, demographers, and, indeed, each of us. The answer increasingly is that the public record is held by the government, under strict conditions of secrecy, allegedly to protect our privacy and to protect us from criminals and foreign enemies. So, the other death here is public access to public records which ought to be public knowledge. New technologies have taken over; surviving newspapers have adapted to changing times and habits. Many newspapers now have online editions, and many of these run obituaries. And newspapers collaborate with websites like ObitsArchive.com [Link], and Legacy.com [Link]. Obituaries from participating newspapers may be found on both of these sites. However, at Legacy.com, family and friends of the deceased may create memorial pages, complete with guest books, to honor the deceased. In a similar, but slightly different manner, the site Footnote.com [Link] encourages the creation of "person pages," which need not be, but frequently are posthumous. Social networking sites like Facebook.com [Link] permit the maintenance of memorial pages as well. Many funeral homes also have online memorials; see for example, a site called RememberTheirStory.com [Link], the online presence of French Funerals & Cremations in Albuquerque. But as a recent correspondent to the Proprietress of This Very Publication noted, these types of obituaries or memorials or eulogies, because of their digital nature, are not 22 Shades MAGAZINE | Memento Mori 2010
necessarily permanent. They can be ephemeral or they may migrate from location to location in cyberspace, making it dif-icult to -ind them. [T]hese digital postings may only be as permanent as that company maintains a server or database; there may not be a durable future library collection of online newspapers, our correspondent wrote. He then wondered if there exist any practical guidelines for how to collect this "digital memorial history" into personal documents and how to create the correct evidence citations that will be of use to the future researchers who inherit our family history -iles? The writer posed the question of how to capture the facts and the scope of th[ese] "meta‐ document[s]"? As to the possible loss of valuable information that is only online, we take some solace in the fact that The Internet Archive [Link], a 501(c)(3) non‐pro-it, is building a digital library of Internet sites and other cultural artifacts in digital form. Like a paper library, we provide free access to researchers, historians, scholars, and the general public. From About the Internet Archive, [Link], retrieved 17 July 2010. The IA, which includes the "Wayback Machine," has already archived more than 150 billion pages since 1996. The Archive is searchable. Most importantly, the Archive provides methods for creators of content to add it to the Archive. The Archive can be linked to and referenced. We can be certain that this technology will get better as time passes. Nonetheless, a couple of issues exist with this sort of system. First, content owners can keep their content out of the Archive either electronically (by using a robots.txt -ile) or by simply requiring the Archive to remove the content. Second, it is not clear how far the copyright doctrine of "fair use" will go to sustain individual use of the copyright‐protected materials in the Archive's collections. But to answer the question of how web obituaries and memorials get collected into useful documents, creators of such "meta‐documents" will need to allow their content to be archived. Presumably, they want a memorial which will be enduring.
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Recently the afore‐mentioned Proprietress of This Very Publication ran a feature in our namesake blog on an enterprise called Historypin. She noted that they aim to become the largest user‐generated archive of the world's historical images and stories. This would appear to be another way in which to preserve the memorial records. Read the full story (and see a video demonstration) at [ Link ]. The next question is how to cite digital memorials so that they are accessible. If for genealogical purposes, then the same standards set forth in sources like Evidence Explained! should apply; if for other purposes, the standard style manual for the discipline or individual publication will dictate. Though the death of the daily newspaper has been unsettling for some of us, there’s no reason for anything but optimism for the future of important records and documents. As the e m i n e n t t e c h n o l o g y a n d g e n e a l o g y commentator Tamura Jones wrote recently, "The eventual future is that all vital sources will be online, and that's vitally different." Read his full forward‐looking article [Link] The Future of Genealogy.
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Advertisement Life Magazine April 8, 1966
Congratulations Dead Fred On Your
100,000th Record !! Mary Beach, Rhinebeck NY Photo #72575 Last Name: Beach First Name : Mary Middle Name: Deyo Subject's City: Rhinebeck Subject's State: NY Subject's County: Dutchess Subject's Country: United States Date: 1901-1920 Photographer: Photographer's City: Photographer's State: Nee: Comments: Mary Deyo Beach (Nee: ) | Rhinebeck NY United States | 1901-1920 | Comments: married name Mary (Mamie) Burroughs, married to Dexter Burroughs
you’ve got to love a woman wearing glasses
Ever wonder how Dead Fred’s Genealogy Archive got its start? Joe Bott, Dead Fred’s creator, takes us on a fascinating journey into Fred’s history. While in Downtown Newport, RI, during the summer of 1965, I got caught in a rainstorm, and I quickly ducked into an antique store. Waiting for the storm to subside, I browsed around the store and found on a table a family photo album. This was the first time I had ever entered an antique store in my life and the first time I had seen old photographs. I was 19 years old and in the Navy. Antique stores and photo albums didn't exist to 19-year-old sailors. Trying to stretch my time I started looking through the album, and I was somewhat taken aback by the album’s inhabitants and the mystery surrounding them. On impulse, I decided to buy the album, which was priced at $19.00. This was a lot of money to me. Navy pay at the time wasn’t good for a lowly seaman, but I had the amount needed and made the purchase. Thank goodness for an impulse purchase! This was the beginning of my photo collection and the birth of a healthy obsessive-compulsive personality, which would eventually lead to my 17,000-photo collection today and DeadFred.com. Let’s fast-forward to June 1998 in Springdale, Arkansas. When I was 52 and working for Tyson Foods, I came down with an illness that had me bedridden for 4 months. I couldn’t get around much, so my wife Laurie bought me a computer. Once acclimated to the World Wide Web, I set out surfing for my family history. It was during this time, while filing photos, that I noticed a photo of a woman and a baby. On the back was written, “David James Robb Grigson 3 mos born July 16, 1908.” Also written was “Mrs. Richard Grigson and son.” Using my newly learned web surfing expertise, I was able to ferret out the particulars regarding the baby. In the Social Security Death Index I found this David, now dead, listed with place of death as Fort Lee, NJ. Using a Yahoo! People Directory I was able to find the son of the baby. I
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contacted him by phone, told him about the photo, jotted down his address and sent him the photo (What a rush!) This photo reunion would eventually lead to DeadFred.com. Having orchestrated the Grigson photo reunion, I started sorting my collection, separating those that were identified from those that weren’t. The identified photos numbered about two thousand. I realized that my searching online to find the rightful descendants with whom to reunite that many photos would be impossible. I realized, too, from my online family research that there weren’t any comprehensive genealogy photo sites with posting capabilities. Everyone, it appeared, had family photos online, but you had to go to each family site to look at them. With this epiphany I started placing photos on my American Online website in an attempt to get some faces with names out there. The site was limited, as AOL could hold only a very small number of images. I finally realized after a few months that I needed to have a professional website company build a site that would hold all two thousand photos. To my great luck I found Vulcan Creative Labs, a small local startup company that had very talented people. These folks realized my ideas, and in March 2001, after the design, database and internal photo uploading function were operational, the official Dead Fred Genealogy Photo Archive was launched. We anticipated a very slow traffic buildup over the first year or so, but to our incredible surprise, we were getting thousands of visits and hundreds of emails asking about family photos. One question in particular was, “How can I post my own photos?” At the time we didn’t have a public photo uploader, so DeadFred’s Code Poet (Database Designer) Amanda installed one. Immediately visitors began to upload photos. Getting this much traffic in so short a time created a happy dilemma: How was I to manage this kind of traffic all by myself? I wondered. I had a full-time position, and I was spending 30-40% of my time traveling. I found resolution by asking the folks at Vulcan Creative Labs to become partners. Happily, they accepted. Vulcan Creative Labs eventually closed its doors in 2006, so the partners could begin other endeavors related to their individual talents and also help with managing DeadFred.com.
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Eric Huber of Mighty Creative performs all the design work and manages our blog. Jeannette Balleza of Scribe Marketing, Inc. works on public relations efforts and copywriting. Amanda Shertzer of Code Poetry, Inc., is our database designer. All are experts in their specific fields and volunteer their expertise to keep DeadFred.com alive and kicking. Not to be left out is Tamara Burlingame, who has moderated DeadFred’s Yahoo! Discussion Group for over two years and is well respected by the 1,700+ group members. Today DeadFred.com is getting daily over 5,000 sessions and on average 125,000 page views. Pretty nice statistics for a specialty niche website! The single purpose behind DeadFred.com hasn’t changed since 1998—reuniting rightful families with their ancestor’s photographs. Getting to this point has been rewarding and hard work, but we didn’t get here by ourselves by any means. Much support comes to us from genealogy’s top experts. Maureen Taylor, The Photo Detective, has helped us immeasurably over the years with her articles in Family
Tree
especially
29th, 2008, when she
on
August
m e n t i o n e d Today Show! There is Smolenyak of Honoring
In addition to being heirlooms that need to be reunited with their families, these photographs
Magazine
and
DeadFred.com on The also Megan Smolenyak Our Ancestors who gave
us a much needed grant
are also a collective living
in November 2002; she
has been an invaluable
pictorial remnant of history.
supporter
beginning.
Colleen
since
the
Fitzpatrick, The Forensic
Genealogist, has helped in many ways, and Lisa Alzo graciously has written several very nice articles about us in Genealogy Online & Family Chronicle Magazine. DeadFred.com is very much alive because of all these wonderful people, who likewise want to help return orphaned photos back into the hands of their families. I’m guessing that most of you hate to see these photos lying around and gathering dust. I can’t count how many times I’ve received emails from people telling me how sad they are to see these photos stuffed in boxes in antique stores, in flea markets or tossed into the trash because the owners didn’t know what to do with them. It is sad, but the happy part is that there’s a place now to put them where they can be reunited and also enjoyed by future generations.
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fun captured almost 100 years ago In addition to being heirlooms that need to be reunited with their families, these photographs are also a collective living pictorial remnant of history. They capture a nano-second in time that are now years past, keeping that moment in front of us to enjoy or ponder. My favorites are those to which I can personally relate: Above are unidentified photos from an album I acquired, comprised of photos taken in the early 1900s near Shenandoah, PA. My grandmother was from Shenandoah, PA. Maybe she knew these children? I like to think so. Perhaps she passed them on the street on occasion. Regardless, what I see here is fun captured almost 100 years ago. I absolutely love it! I hope some or all of what I said above interests you enough to visit DeadFred.com and possibly submit a boxful of your photos. They don’t have to be orphaned photos; they can be images of your own ancestors that you might like to share with unsuspecting cousins you have yet to meet! Who knows? Maybe you have a photo of my brick-wall Grandmother Mary (McIntyre) Bott who died in Philadelphia in 1919, and maybe I am one of those unsuspecting cousins ‹fingers crossed›! Article & Photographs Joe Bott DeadFred's Genealogy Photo Archive DeadFred's relatively speaking Blog
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THE FUTURE OF MEMORIES
at the cabin A PHOTO ALBUM RIGHT IN MY LAP BY DENISE BARRETT OLSON
Recently I attended a reunion of military families who served in the same unit. This is a very special unit in many ways, but because unit members spend a lot of time away from home in strange ‐ and often dangerous ‐ places, families are also very close, supporting each other through good times and bad. As a result, this reunion was very much a family reunion where family photos were shared along with "ops" photos. Children and grandchildren were celebrated as much as memories of deployments and wild parties. My iPad attracted a lot of attention in this geeky crowd, but what delighted them most was the photo gallery. Not only are the photos big enough to view, but it's also easy to zoom in on details like an adorable smile in a group shot. As we ladies sat there oooh‐ing and aaah‐ ing over the photos, I was reminded of earlier days when a family photo album was shared with visitors. Other than the technology, the one thing missing from my photo album was the handwritten captions describing who, what, when and where. Later, after I got back home, I started looking for options to create an iPad version of that old family album ‐ one that could be shared far beyond the limits of my device. My original plan was to create something on my desktop that could then be moved to the iPad, but it dawned on me that I already had everything I needed right on my iPad. The challenge now became to create an album with photos, captions and design elements using only my iPad. The results were surprising. Not only did I create a photo album right in my lap, but it was both easy, affordable and fun. One of my favorite Mac applications is Keynote, the presentation application that is part of Apple's iWork of-ice suite [Link]. Apple has built iPad versions of each app in the suite and
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they can be purchased in the App Store for $9.99 each. The iPad version of Keynote can import presentations from the desktop version and from Microsoft's PowerPoint software. It also connects with the photos stored on my iPad, making it easy to include them in a presentation. It's a great tool for building digital albums and slideshows! There are a couple of issues with imported presentations. First, Keynote on the iPad doesn't have all the whistles and bells included in its desktop cousin ‐ or PowerPoint for that matter. The most likely issue you will face is missing fonts. The iPad version supports about 30 font styles and there is no facility to add more. Unless you already have a project underway, it's just as easy to start from scratch on the iPad. Keynote on the iPad includes 12 design themes. I chose the Photo Portfolio theme because it reminded me of the old family albums I remember. Each theme has several slide types available to include in your presentation. You choose which you want by touching the plus sign (+) at the bottom of the navigator pane on the left then touching the slide type you want. I’ve chosen the title slide with image type to get started.
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The -irst thing I need to do is change the title text. I just double‐tap anywhere in the default text included with the theme to bring up the iPad keyboard so I can start typing.
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Touching the information icon at the top of the screen displays several useful formatting options with the -irst being Style. You can choose any of the styles included in this theme to format your text or you can scroll to the bottom and choose Text Options to make your own font choices.
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! As you can see here, you can change the size, color, and font style from this pane. Once -inished, touch the back arrow in the header to return to the previous pane.
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In this example, the photo on the title slide is from the template. Notice the image icon at the bottom right corner of the picture. Just tap that icon to replace it with your photo. Keynote will open your iPad photo gallery so you can browse your photos and select the image you want from its album. If the photos aren’t already on your iPad, you’ll need to -irst add them to your iTunes sync list and re‐sync to move them over.
! Yes, you can easily adjust the image within the frame by pinching in and out to zoom and sliding it around within the frame until it looks the way you want. You can also do a two‐ -inger twist to rotate it like shown here. The blue dots you see in this example means the image is selected and you can drag any of those dots to resize the image as needed. Also, when the image is selected, touching the information icon presents a style pane with photo‐ speci-ic style options so you can change frame style, -lip images and re‐arrange their stack order.
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Since Keynote themes have a limited number of photo slide options, I often choose the blank slide type and build my arrangement from there. The steps are simple, just add the photos you want to the slide and experiment with their placement u n t i l y o u h a v e t h e arrangement you want. Now choose the frame style you want or create a custom design yourself. If you want to stack one photo over another as shown here, use the Arrange pane to move the images to the front or ! back. Shades MAGAZINE | www.shadesofthedeparted.com 37
Don’t forget your captions. Those names, dates and places insure that future generations will know the details about these images. While many of your theme's slide types include some text boxes, the blank slide does not. You can easily add a text box by tapping the Insert button on the toolbar. Not only can you insert media (photos), tables and charts, but all kinds of shapes too. Notice that text is included here in the Shapes pane. To add a text box, just tap the T icon.
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One thing to note about the objects added from the Insert menu is that they are all styled to support your selected theme. Notice the dots at the bottom of the Shapes pane displayed in the example above. Tapping on each of those dots will display the same set of shapes only in a different style. You can use any of these styled options, but you can also customize them yourself by selecting the shape once you’ve placed it on your slide then tapping the
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Information icon. The formatting properties displayed in the pane will now be associated with your selected shape. As you continue to add slides to your presentation, they will appear in the navigator pane on the left. You can drag slides up and down the navigator to rearrange their order and you can duplicate slides by copy/pasting them in the navigator. The diamond icon on the toolbar is used to set transition effects on the selected slides. Your project is automatically saved regularly as you work. Once your album is -inished, you have several options. You can play your presentation on your iPad by touching the Play icon (triangle at the right of the toolbar) at any time. Tapping a slide moves to the next. You can forward the album by email as either a Keynote -ile or in PDF format. Using Apple’s iWork.com service, you can upload your presentation to your work area there and share it with anyone you wish. This is also a handy way to move
! -iles from your iPad to your desktop. And, you can choose the Export option to export it in either Keynote or PDF format back to your desktop via iTunes sync.
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To learn more about Keynote on the iPad, just open the Get Started with Keynote presentation you’ll -ind when you open the app. It only takes a couple of minutes to learn the basics and you’ll be working on your own presentation in no time. Up to this point, we’ve ignored the other side of building a digital photo album ‐ editing your photos. This is especially important if you’re creating your album from images you just imported to your iPad from your camera. There are several photo editing apps available for the iPad and I found that Photogene suits my needs nicely at a very reasonable price ($3.99). Using Photogene, you can crop, straighten and sharpen your photos, adjust color and exposure, remove red‐eye, resize to any resolution and add any number of special effects. You can also upload your -inished masterpiece to Facebook and Twitter. While digging into the details of Photogene is a topic for another article, you can easily pick up the editing basics in a matter of minutes from their tutorial [Link]. In addition to the editing tools, this app would be very handy if you’re building a photo album of old family photos and want to insure each was the same level of black and white ‐ or if you choose to display them as sepia prints.
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These two apps mean you don’t need to drag your laptop to events just to deal with the photos you take. For an investment of less than $15.00, you can edit your images, build spectacular presentations and share them either as slideshows on your iPad or as downloads sent via email or iWork.com.
I’m holding the future of my photo memories right here in my lap.
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AT THE CABIN
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View The Video
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In The Gloom And The Gleam While the craze for the cartedevisite was at its height, the little pictures settled like snowQlakes over every corner of life; in due course they drifted into the graveyard. ‐ Heinz K. Henisch ‐ Below: A superb tombstone photograph in the form of a collodion positive on glass. Two stone angels watch over it, and an inscription immediately below the photograph reads "OH DEATH WHERE IS THY STING?" Reproduced from one of my favorite photography books, The Victorians by Audrey Linkman.
Right: The Hopkins Memorial Stone in the Parish of St. John, Bedwardine, Worcester, England. Right Inset: Photograph on Tombstone of 12 year old John G. Hopkins, son of T.M. Hopkins, a local hop and seed merchant.
While we may think of photographs mounted to tombstones as a rather recent practice, it is not. As you can see, the daguerrotype and patent shown on page ??? date from 1853 and 1859.
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If on every tombstone there could be seen the life‐likeness of the sleeper, as with sparkling eye, and noble mien he walked "a man among men;" or of some gentle lady, whose kindly and generous impulses could be read in every feature of the "face divine;" or of the angel‐child, whose joyous laugh, and innocent smile speaks of the loss to its bereaved and loving parents‐‐and of its passage from earthly to heaven to be the guardian‐spirit of the wandering and the disconsolate upon earth‐how much more inviting would then be the last resting places of the departed,‐‐could we thus seek the "living" among the "dead," and on every tombstone see the living representative of the sleeper. May, 1857 issue of "Hutching's California Magazine" (San Francisco, Vol.1, No. 11)
From the earliest times, daguerreotypes were created for mounting on tombstones. Standard monuments were personalized by attaching a photographic portrait of the deceased. These memorials took the form of a dauguerreotype, ambrotype, tintype, or wet collodian positive on glass and were placed in a sunken niche in the stone and covered with glass. The purpose of the glass was to protect the image from moisture. Several patents for such mounting devices were issued in the 1850s. Morteotype was one of the names applied to this new application of the daguerreotype. It was imbedding the likeness of the form and features of the departed on the tombstone, and making it impervious to the ravages of time by the use of a peculiar kind of cement; which, it was claimed, made the pictures as durable as the marble itself. The invention of the Morteotype was claimed by a New York, Baltimore, Richmond, Lynchburg, Petersburg daguerreian named Jesse Harrison Whitehurst, famous for his portraits and his entrepreneurship. While many companies held patents for devices to attach photographs to headstones, calling them indestructible; sadly they were not indestructible, many falling victim to decay Shades MAGAZINE | www.shadesofthedeparted.com 47
Your duty to your beloved friends and relatives remains unfulfilled without having placed one of these beautiful cases upon their monument, so that you and your friends might often see them as they were known on earth. Advertisement for "the Indestructible Patent Aluminum Monumental Photograph Case," by the World Manufacturing Company of Columbus, Ohio.
Above: A U.S. Patent for a similar process for securing photographs to monuments.
Above: An example of a daguerrotype that was set in a tombstone. It was inset under glass with a lead seal which helped to preserve it. Courtesy The Library of Congress. Mary Gideon, half plate daguerrotype, ca. 1853. Also referred to as a morteotype.
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and vandalism. Very few examples remain today of what was once in vogue. Here are references to photographic headstones that are believed to be in existence today. The Boston Journal of Chemistry and Pharmacy, Vol. 2426, 1890, spoke to the Endurance of a Daguerrotype: A remarkable example of tho durability of the daguerrotype is to be found in the old graveyard at Waterford, Conn. In the headstone that marks the grave of a woman who died more than forty years ago, her portrait is inlaid, covered with a movable portable shield. The portrait is almost as perfect as when it was taken. Worchester, Massachusetts: On Main St., just south of the Center, the old Burying Ground (1750), now called Bay Path Cemetery, contains three Photograph Stones ‐ headstones provided with small glass‐covered niches in which were placed daguerreotypes of the deceased. Few of these curious stones remain. Massachusetts: A Guide to its Places and People, Federal Writers' Project, 1937. Nevada City, Montana
Auguste and Lillie Hermsmeyer, who both died in December 1876 and were buried in the Nevada City cemetery in Montana. "The photograph has deteriorated badly, but part of a little girl is still visible and the heavy beveled glass cover remains intact." Pioneer Cemeteries, Annette Stott.
If you know of any nineteenth century or early twentieth century headstones containing a photographic representation, please share them in the comments.
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The three most common types of photographic mourning cards are (1) the obituary notice, printed in gilt, on a black card mount, with or without a portrait; (2) the memorial card, usually with a portrait, surrounded by a printed wreath, generally with the name of the
deceased and dates of birth and death containing a religious verse; (3) a portrait mounted on a card with a rectangular or scroll frame printed in black, occasionally with the name of the deceased. Mourning cards were published by several national companies. H. F. Wendell of Leipsic, Ohio, who entered the mourning card business in 1888, was the largest producer in America within three years. The method used by Wendell to obtain the names and addresses of the families of the deceased created a cottage industry for women working in their homes. Wendell placed small ads in local newspapers recruiting women to clip obituary notices and send them to the him, being paid a penny per notice. Wendell then printed a single memorial card on speculation and sent it to the family with his catalog and a note: This Cabinet Memorial Card is sent to you for inspection. Should you conclude to keep it, the price is 20 cents. In naming this price we do not mean to intimate that you are compelled to keep it. You are under no obligation whatever to keep it, but in case you do not send us the money for it, kindly return the card within twenty days.
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In the collection of the author.
Photography & mourning Mourning cabinet cards T
Recently sold on eBay. Unable to locate owner.
Above: Publisher not identified. Miss Mary Ella Morgan Departed This Life August 6, 1900 Aged 17 Years 8 Months Above: Publisher Wendell 1898. Amanda F. Smith Died March 26, 1899 Age 29 yrs. 10 mos. 17 days
In the collection of the author.
In the collection of the author.
In the collection of the author.
Above: H.F. Wendell son and daughter double memorial cabinet card.
Above: Publisher Wendell 1902. Emmett Kennedy Born Dec. 10, 1879 Died Feb 5, 1905 Aged 25 yrs. 1 mo. 20 days
Right: The Angel Of Peace - A memorial card by H.F. Wendell of Leipsic, Ohio. Cabinet card design borrowed from the painting above without attribution. The moon has been replaced with a round frame ready to receive a photograph.
Some Publishers of Memorial Cards In The United States Art Memorial Co. of Baltimore, Maryland E.C. Stark & Co. Memorial Cards, 706 Chestnut, Philadelphia, Pa. G.S. Utter & Co. Memorial Cards, Times Building, Chicago. Cor. 5th Ave. and Washington Sts. George Mitchell Manufacturer Fine Memorial Cards of Green-ield, Indiana H. F. Wendell & Co. of Leipsic, Ohio National Memorial Co. of North-ield, Vermont The Cabinet Memorial Company, P.O. Box 549, Baltimore, Maryland
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In the collection of the author.
Above: The Guardian Angel ‐ A painting by Wilheln Von Kaulbach ‐ allposters.com.
Those wishing to include a photograph were given the following instructions: When ordering the photograph style, send a picture (any size or kind) with your name on the back, from which our expert photographer will make duplicates. The picture will be returned without injury or defacement. Any head in group pictures can be copies by our expert without allowing other heads to show. Wendell Catalog. The photograph on the mourning card of Amanda F. Smith appears to have been taken from a group photograph.
Information mailed by Wendell Company. In the collection of the author.
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Wendell Testimonials: I am more than pleased with memorial cards. The picture is an exact likeness of the one copied from - Mrs. Bessie Prescott, Hartford Conn.
In the collection of the author.
The cards with photograph received. Accept my sincere thanks. They are really better than the photograph you copied from - H.J. Denbow, Parker S.D.
Above: A page from the H.F. Wendell catalog showing verse selections. Wendell offered thirty verses, as well as verses in German, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish and French. For an extra 25 cents a short obituary could be printed instead of a verse. 54 Shades MAGAZINE | Memento Mori 2010
Above: Wendell mourning card, verse no. 8, no photograph. Read the story of Dicy Cannon [ LINK ].
In the collection of the author.
Mamie Kelly Mary Elizabeth Kelly First Communion Photograph ca. 1885
J! M! J! MAMMA! RELATIVES! FRIENDS! ALL YE AGONIZING HEARTS! FORGIVE MY SLAYER As I do! and pray for Mamie Kelly of 22 Hayes Street Born , 23 September, 1873 S. F. CAL. Shot, 10 November, 1886 N. E. Cor. POLK STREET AND ASH AVE. Truth Justice Mercy
This is the most interesting and unique memorial cabinet card I’ve ever seen. I purchased the cabinet card mainly for the intriguing information contained on the reverse of the photograph. Little did I know that this would lead me to an incredible story of murder, an attempted lynching, courtroom antics, lies, a hanging, and misappropriated body parts. Not to mention this cabinet card and the part it may have played in the story. The photograph is of Mamie Kelly, a twelve year old girl who was murdered in San Francisco, California in 1886. The incredible story is here [LINK ]. Shades MAGAZINE | www.shadesofthedeparted.com 55
pre-mortem mourning cabinet cards Below are pre‐mortem (prior to death) portraits mounted on cabinet cards with a scroll and oval frame printed on a black or dark background that do not contain the name of the deceased. This was widely promoted by photographers in an effort to use portraits contained in their archives. It should be noted that not all cabinet cards containing a scroll are mourning cards. When this style was -irst introduced it was widely used for commemorative and celebratory portraits. Clues to look for in determining if you have a mourning card are black backgrounds, -loral decorations and symbolism such as wheat (long life), weeping willows
Both cabinet cards in the collection of the author.
(sorrow), etc.
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floral tribute photographs Photographs of -loral tributes were taken in the photographer’s studio as well as the home, church, and at the gravesite. Some of t h e m o r e i n t e r e s t i n g - l o r a l t r i b u t e photographs contain a cabinet card or photograph of the deceased within the
Both cabinet cards in the collection of the author.
photograph.
An example of a floral tribute photograph in the home. This wonderful photograph belongs to John Van Noate, who owns the Memorial, Mourning and Remembrance set of photographs on Flickr. [ LINK ] This is a must see!
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Examples of mourning brooches and buttons pictured in cabinet cards - authors collection.
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photographic mourning jewelry I can put them in Rings, in Keys, or in Lockets; Or in nice little Cases to slip into your pockets; In a word, I've Cases of all kinds, single and double, Lockets too, of all sizes, which saves you all trouble Of looking any farther than my Daguerrean Gallery. ~ Willard Ellis Geer ~ Advertisement Forget Me Not: Photography and Remembrance
Below: Magazine Ad for purchasing inexpensive photo brooches.
Right: Brooch of three small children, probably not a mourning brooch.
Augustus Washington, an African‐ American daguerreotypist working in Hartford, Connecticut, advised his customers in April 1853 that "he has also on hand 100 -ine Gold Lockets, from six different manufacturers, of every size and variety, suitable for one, two, three, or four pictures, which he will sell cheaper than they c a n b e b o u g h t a t a n y o t h e r establishment." Forget Me Not: Photography and Remembrance
Again, we thank Queen Victoria, who had mourning brooches made that contained photographs of her late husband, Albert. The advertisements above demonstrate that photographers were offering photographic jewelry from the developing of the -irst photographs. Originally the jewelry may have been purchased as a sign of affection, later to become a keepsake of mourning and remembrance. Some created speci-ically for mourning. The advent of photography put the working class on the same level as the rich in mourning their loved ones.
LOC: Unidentified soldier in Union uniform with saber and revolver in oval locket with chain of braided hair.
A family outing at the cemetery.
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Strange & Unusual
Our cover photograph - Weeping Women. The symbolism is hard to miss. This photograph is owned by Thanatos Net. Thank you so much for allowing Shades to use this unique photograph as our cover.
Another version of the weeping women photograph. Can you explain the hands? If you have a thought, leave it in the comments. Sold on eBay, owner unknown.
A group of female pall bearers taken by Frank Kelly, South Whitley, Ind. Read their story here [ LINK ].
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CAPTURED MOMENTS
record and share A SIMPLY CHARMING WAY TO CAPTURE YOUR COLLECTIONS BY JASIA
One of the best ways to record and share a collection with family members is to photograph the items and create a digital scrapbook page incorporating the photo(s). You can have multiple prints made of the scrapbook page to share with family members and you’ll have plenty of space to record information about each item in the collection. Here’s an example of a page I created for one of my charm bracelets. The -irst step in creating this page was to photograph the charm bracelet. I shot roughly a dozen photos of the bracelet on various backgrounds with natural lighting. After previewing the photos, I chose the one I liked best and moved on to previewing digital scrapbook kits. I have amassed a nice collection of kits so -inding one that would work well with the photo I chose was no problem. If you don’t have a collection of kits to choose from you can -ind many, many kits on the Internet. If you’re so inclined, you can also create custom backgrounds and elements yourself. Using Photoshop Elements, I -irst started with the photo of the bracelet. I adjusted the color to my liking and used the “Cookie Cutter Tool” to crop the part of the photo I wanted to use into a round shape with scalloped edges. Why that shape? It suited the shape of the charm bracelet in the photo. Next I created a new blank -ile, 12”x12” (standard scrapbook page size), and dragged the background paper of my choice into it. I found a crocheted doily element I liked and that
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came in next. I topped the doily with my scalloped photo image and with that I had the basic elements of my page in place. For the information tags that point to the individual charms I once again used the “Cookie Cutter Tool”. I selected a word balloon shape that would allow me to neatly add text and pulled the light blue color from the background paper for the tag color. Adding the text for each individual tag came next. I deliberately kept my info brief but you could easily add more information, like the date the item was received/purchased, the occasion for which it was given, etc. and resize the tags accordingly. I -inished the tags with a leaf image created once again with the “Cookie Cutter Tool”. The last element I added was the page topic tag in the lower left corner. That tag came from the same kit as the background paper. I adjusted the color to make it harmonious with the other colors on the page and added my text to it. The last task I completed, and the most challenging to make look natural, was adding drop shadows to each of the elements to give them depth. The key is to make sure the shadows you add match the direction of the lighting/shadows in the photo. It’s a bit tricky and requires a bit of trial and error to get it right. To make your shadow more natural, sample the color of the shadow in the photo and use a shade slightly darker than that for your other items. The default color of drop shadows in Photoshop is black, but natural shadows pick up the colors of the items around them. So your shadows will always look more natural if you use a custom color. I -inished the page by adding the title, “Simply... Charming!” and saving my work in a number of formats, native .PSD in case I want to edit the page in the future, .TIF for lossless data compression used in high quality printing, and .JPG for electronic display and distribution. If you’ve got a collection of mementos, souvenirs, collectibles, etc., consider creating a digital scrapbook page of your collection to document them and share them with others.
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Mourning And Gone With The Wind "I have always thought that the system of mourning, of immuring women in crepe for the rest of their lives and forbidding them normal enjoyment is just as barbarous as the Hindu suttee."
Ellen
~ Rhett Butler ~
Scarlett
Melanie
Mourning costume drawings by the famous costumer Walter Plunkett for Gone With The Wind. There had been some criticism since the movie premiered that Plunkett had played fast and loose with history in his costume designs. Not the case with the mourning costumes, as they were such an integral part of the Civil War and the lives of the characters. Shades MAGAZINE | www.shadesofthedeparted.com 65
Behind The Camera Post-Mortem Photography
ADVERTISEMENT
Southwork & Hawes Boston 1846
We make miniatures of children and adults instantly . . . and of Deceased Persons either at our rooms or at private residences . . . We take great pains to have miniatures of Deceased persons agreeable and satisfactory, and they are often so natural as to seem, even to Artists, in a quiet sleep. A daguerreian studio in a "For Sale Ad" made post-mortem studies its major selling point: Daguerreian Gallery for Sale The only establishment in a city of 20,000 inhabitants, and where the pictures of deceased persons alone will pay all expenses.
Photographs of a deceased loved one were a comfort to the family of the deceased. Families who could not afford to commission painted portraits could arrange for a photograph to be taken cheaply and quickly after a death. This was especially important where no photograph already existed. The invention of the Carte de Visite, which enabled multiple prints to be made from a single negative, meant that many images could be produced inexpensively and sent to distant relatives who could not attend the funeral. The deceased was commonly represented as though they were peacefully sleeping rather than dead, although it was not unusual for the body to be posed to look alive.
The owner of a photographic studio advertised that “I also hold myself in readiness to make pictures from Corpses if desired.
What a comfort it is to possess the image of those who are removed from our sight. We may raise an image of them in our minds but that has not the tangibility of one we can see with our bodily eyes. Flora A Windeyer, in a letter to Rev. John Blomfield, November 1870
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How was the photographing of the dead actually accomplished and were dead bodies transported to the photographic studio? I have spent a good deal of time researching old photographic magazines looking for articles written by photographers detailing their experience photographing the dead. If you're not squeamish read on. The Photographic and Fine Arts Journal of 1854 published an article regarding photographing the dead which commented: "All likenesses taken after death will of course only resemble the inanimate body, nor writ there appear in the portrait anything like life itself, except indeed the sleeping infant, on whose face the playful smile of innocence sometimes steals even after death. This may be and is oft‐times transferred to silver plate." In “Taking Portraits After Death” the photographer N. C. Burgess discussed the methods for giving the impression of a sleeping rather than a dead infant: “If the portrait of an infant is to be taken, it may be placed in the mother’s lap, and taken in the usual manner by a side light, representing sleep. For an older child, Burgess recommended placing the body on a table and using a sheet as a re-lector, “and very soon a good picture (is) produced.” Corpses already in their cof-ins can still be taken but not quite so conveniently, nor with so good results.” He recommended placing the cof-in near a window (so that the shadows appear below the nose and eyebrows) and insisted that “the cof-in should not appear in the picture,” but rather be concealed by a shawl or piece of drapery.
Eyes of the young child have been added by the photographer.
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A Philadelphia photographer in an article titled, “Ghastly Photographic Experiences,” gave examples of his experiences photographing the deceased: "I once photographed two children – sisters – who had died the same day of diphtheria. They were posed with their arms about each other’s necks. An Irish family, living in the southern part of the city, called on me about two years ago to take a picture of their dead son – a young man – with his high hat on. It was necessary to take the stiffened corpse out of the ice‐box and prop him up against the wall. The effect was ghastly, but the family were delighted, and thought the hat lent a life‐like effect. Sometimes, and at the suggestion of the family, I have -illed out the emaciated cheeks of dead people with cotton to make them look plump. The eyes are nearly always propped open with pins or mucilage, but when people can afford to engage an artist it is an easy matter to paint the eyes afterward." The British Journal of Photography, 19 February 1904, suggested that to increase the lifelike appearance of the corpse a few drops of glycerine should be injected into the eyes with a syringe. The effect was said to be astonishing: “The lids open wide and remain so.” Also, the lips were colored with carmine: “The transformation of appearance is then complete, and the photograph of the corpse will resemble that of the living person.” Victorian Postmortem Photography: A How To Guide Philadelphia Photographer Charles E. Orr 1877 The following is an article showing the steps taken by the postmortem photographer from notiQication by the family to turning the eyeballs to the proper direction. I warned you! My mode of procedure is as follows: where the corpse is at some distance and cannot be conveyed to the [studio], my -irst step is to secure proper conveyance, select and carefully prepare a suf-icient quantity of p l a te s , p a c k n e c e s s a r y i n s t r u m e n t s ,
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implements, chemicals, etc., being careful not to forget any little thing necessary. Proceed at once to the cellar or basement of the house, that being most spacious, and generally affording better opportunity of shutting out the light than any other room, set up the bath, have your collodian and developer in readiness, your -ixer, etc., handy, secure suf-icient help to do the lifting and handling, for it is no easy task to bend a corpse that has been dead more than twenty‐four hours. Place the body on a lounge or sofa, have the friends dress the head and shoulders as near as in life as possible, then politely request them to leave the room to you and your aides.
Place your camera in front of the body at the foot of the lounge, get your place ready, and then comes the most important part of the operation ‐ opening the eyes. This you can effect handily by using the handle of a teaspoon. Put the upper lids up; they will stay. Turn the eyeball around to its proper place, and you have the face as nearly as natural as life. Proper retouching will remove the blank expression and the stare of the eyes. Such with me has proved a successful experience."
All photographs inn the collection of
If the room be in the northeast or northwest corner of the house, you can almost always -ind a window at the right and left of a corner. Roll the lounge or sofa containing the body as near into the corner as possible, raise it to a sitting position, and bolster -irmly, using for a background a drab shawl or some material suitable to the circumstance. By turning the face slightly into the light, you can produce a -ine shadow effect if so desired.
Now, you have a glimpse behind the camera of the postmortem photographer.
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The widow’s weeds Mourning Costume She wears the widow's weeds, She gives the widow's mite. At home a while, she in the autumn -inds The sea an object for re-lecting minds, And change for tender spirits; there she reads, And weeps in comfort in her graceful weeds.
They were called Widow's Weeds, the dress of the recently widowed. Many have, incorrectly, ascribed the name to the fact that no bright colors were worn and the dark hues were closer to the weed than the -lower. Weed or weeds, the outward woe which women had been condemned to wear, was in fact the word for dress, attire, or clothing. Weed had previously been used to describe all manner of garment including the armor of a knight. The only remnant of this word remaining in modern English is the phrase, a "widow's weeds," the funeral attire of a recently bereaved widow. A heartless wife who, instead of being grieved at the death of her husband, is rejoiced at it, should be taught that society will not
Half-Mourning
respect her unless she pays to the memory of the man whose name she bears that "homage which vice pays to virtue," a commendable respect to the usages of society in the matter of mourning and of retirement from the world. Harper's 1878. Thanks again to Queen Victoria, Victorians A young Civil War Era Widow Deep-Mourning
had elaborate sets of rules concerning mourning. For a widow in 1886 there were three stages of mourning lasting for a period of
eighteen months. The three stages each carried a requirement of very speci-ic garments and lengths of mourning time. The -irst stage was called deep mourning and lasted for six months. This -irst stage of mourning required that the widow be gowned entirely in black crape. Crape is a crinkled fabric referred to modernly as crepe. It is correctly referred to in Victorian times as crape. The widow was expected to wear gowns of black crepe, Bombazine or Henrietta cloth. Both Bombazine and Henrietta cloth were a silk and wool blend. Bombazine was worn by the middle and lower classes. Henrietta cloth could be used by the upper classes as long as it was covered by crepe. During deep mourning the widow was required to wear black down to her stockings and under clothing. A woman's head had to be covered in a crepe veil known as the weeping veil. This veil was a health risk causing irritation to the nose and eyes that could result in disease and
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blindness. Women were cautioned to wear a tulle patch over their faces to prevent contact with the crepe. Still, widows wore them. All kinds of black fur and seal‐skin were worn in the deep mourning stage. Dull jet ornaments or jewelry made of the deceased's hair were worn for the entire eighteen months, diamonds set as mementos or in wedding rings were allowed to be worn. The widow was to appear as dull and unadorned as possible in her weeds. Kid leather gloves in black were worn. Long full cuffs of white linen or muslin, know as weepers, were worn at her wrists. It was believed the purpose was for wiping away her tears. Black mourning bonnets were also worn. The widow was given a choice of a black bonnet or a white crepe cap similar to that worn by Queen Victoria. The widow’s cap came to a peak on her forehead; this is where the term widow’s peak originated with regard to a V‐
A widow wearing jet jewelry.
pointed hairline. While wearing deep mourning, a widow did not go into society, nor did she receive visitors. Thankfully, after six months of mourning the heavy crepe veil could be removed. At the end of twelve months of deep mourning the cap or bonnet was removed and the widow moved into the second stage of mourning. The dress remained a dull black and shiny jet jewelry could be worn. This stage normally lasted for nine months. At the end of the nine month second stage, the widow moved into the third stage of mourning referred to as half‐mourning. The weeds could be of any fabric and the black
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color was not required to be lusterless. A veil was no longer required to be worn and there was a return to wearing her regular every day jewelry. During half‐mourning the widow eased herself back into more fashionable dress. This included the addition of color into the wardrobe. As the mourning period drew to a close the widow could add grey, mauve, purple, lavender, lilac, white and even at one point in history, dark red. With the death of Queen Victorian the elaborate rituals of mourning died in Europe. In America the massive deaths attributed to the Civil War ended elaborate rituals here, although many mourning customs still survived. Books regarding the etiquette of mourning were written well into the 1900s.
The mourning stycostume of Queen Victoria mimicked in the United States.
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Library of Congress
children and mourning dress
The custom of putting mourning garments on small children is a barbarous one, and should be tabooed. ~ Godey's Magazine 1896 ~ From the beginning of the dictates of mourning etiquette, black was always considered far too severe for infants and children. The mourning for children under twelve years of age was white in summer and gray in winter, with black trimmings, belt, sleeve‐ruf-les or bonnet‐ribbons.
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Photographs Opposite Page L to R: Left: Albert de la Nux Aged 7 months - 1890 S. Williams 102 FortStreet, Honolulu
Albert wears a white dress indicative of summer with black ribbons at the sleeves.
Right: Young Girl on her father’s lap. She wears mourning fabric, white, with a grey ribbon.
Center: "Little Warren Mather" H.L. Bingham Photographer
Warren wears a white dress of summer and a white bonnet with black mourning ribbons. Children under twelve were not required to be dressed in mourning, though they often were. When children were required to observe the mourning period, parents would sometimes shortened the time considerably for the very young. Children wore mourning garments for a year when they had lost a father, mother, brother, or sister; but white and black were so combined in their costumes that the little ones were not too deeply saddened by their attire.
A young girl and the symbolic empty chair.
A young girl and her brother in mourning.
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Six months was the correct period of mourning for a grandparent; three months for an uncle or aunt, although some felt that mourning was "not obligatory except for nearest relatives." Much depended, however, on the degree of intimacy or affection that had existed. Neither children nor dogs were taken out when making formal calls. Mourning calls were against the rules of strict etiquette, therefore it was not proper etiquette to take a child to a funeral, to the house of mourning, or to the cemetery.
Sources: Duffey, E. B. The Ladies' and Gentelemen's Etiquette: 'A Complete Manual of the Manners and Dress of American Society. New York : Henry B. Ashmead, 1877. Green, Walter Cox. A Dictionary of Etiquette: A Guide to Polite Usage For All Social Functions. New York : Brentanos, 1902. Learned, Ellin Craven. The Etiquette of New York Today. New York : Frederick A. Stokes, 1906. Ruth, John A. Decorum: A Practical Treatise On Etiquette and Dress Of The Best American. Chicago : Union Publishing House, 1883. Longstreet, Abby Buchanan. Social Etiquette of New York. New York : D. Appleton and Company, 1883. Photographs: All photographs in the collection of the author.
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Left - Full Mourning Right - Half Mourning Godey’s Lady’s Magazine 1871
Mourning In The Magazines
A photo of Moises and Anacleta Rojo with their children, but Moises's face was pasted in after the Spanish Civil War
MoĂses Rojo of Sinovas, Spain
The family farmer captured during the Spanish Civil War is pasted into the family photograph. by Heather Wilkinson Rojo When I -irst married my husband, a -irst generation American, he took me to Spain to meet his extended family. There was a family photograph hanging in several homes and someone pointed to the father -igure and told me that was Moíses, my father‐in‐law’s father. I knew that Moíses had been killed before the birth of the youngest child in the photograph. That’s when I noticed that Moíses had been pasted into the family group. Sometimes modern history can be more interesting than something that happened in the 1600s. The events of the 20th century certainly have more impact on us than the doings of our May-lower forebears. However, recent history can be painful, and even hard to write about. My father‐in‐law was born in Spain, and grew up during the Spanish Civil War. Any civil war is a horrible experience. If you watched Ken Burns’ PBS special, you know the emotions of hearing about brother versus brother, cousin versus cousin, neighbor versus neighbor. This Civil War in Spain was no different than our own American Civil War, or any other civil war. When my father‐in‐law was only about four or -ive years old, in 1936, his father
was arrested along with other men from the area and imprisoned in the wine cellars beneath the town of Aranda de Duero, in Burgos. The Spanish Civil War ran from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939 after an attempt at a coup by some generals against the government of the Second Spanish Republic. The Republican monarchists, known as the Carlists, fought against the militaristic Nationalists, or Fascists. The Fascists won the con-lict, which gave rise to the dictatorship of General Francisco Franco. The Nationalists were supported by Portugal, Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany, whilst the Soviet Union supported the Republican side. Almost two thousand Americans volunteered on the Republican side, too. Even on subsequent trips to Spain, and visits with my father‐in‐law here in New Hampshire, no one spoke about Moises Rojo, the farmer captured during the Spanish Civil War. Silence reigned over this family. Over 25 years of marriage I learned small facts: - Moíses had been executed and buried in a mass grave,
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-
-
his wife was still placing -lowers in the forest at Monte Costajan where the execution was supposed to take place, My father in law was given to the Jesuit fathers‐ who took him to South America for an education away from the Civil War. .
Then, about -ive years ago, when I Googled the words “Monte Costajan” images of the recently uncovered graves appeared on my computer monitor. 81 bodies were found, and the researchers at the University of Burgos had catalogued each one with surprising detail. They measured the approximate height of each man, listed the approximate age, and described the clothing, coins and buttons. Most were
wearing the rubber soled cloth shoes still worn by farmers in the area, and were between 20 and 35 years old, except for one boy about 16 years old. Executed by Fascists, the head wounds were detailed and the positions of the bodies look, well, like something out of the archeological excavations of an ancient Roman war zone. It’s hard to remember that these men were the fathers and grandfathers of living people.
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As a genealogist I found it hard to understand the silence. I’m hungry for any detail surrounding my family history. However, many decades, many centuries separate me from the uglier details of my own family tree. I grew up in the Salem, Massachusetts area, and no relatives ever mentioned the witch trials in our b a c k g r o u n d , e ve n t h o u g h w e a r e descended of several victims, a judge, a jailor, and many witnesses for and against the accused. I wondered why Moisés was pasted into his photo, and now I realize it was just a tender gesture to reunite the family, if only for a moment in the world of photography. Moises Rojo was the son of Higinio Rojo and Brigida Torres, born 25 November 1902 in Sinovas, executed in 1936 at Monte Costaján, near Aranda de Duero, Burgos, Spain; married to Anacleta Benito in Quemada, Burgos, Spain. Anacleta was the daughter of Gregorio Benito and Jacoba Alvaro, born on 26 April 1909 in Quemada, died on 30 December 1998 in Aranda de Duero. Three children all born in Sinovas. -
Heather Wilkinson Rojo is the author of the blog Nutfield Genealogy.
The full University of Burgos report can be found here. Photographs of the buttons, shoes and bones are all from the report. The text is in Spanish.
SAVING FACE
professional development LEARNING NECESSARY SKILLS REBECCA FENNING
My great‐great‐great grandfather Friedrich Hoffer died in Klosterneuburg, Austria in 1875 at the age of 75. He left behind a wife, a mother‐in‐law, 3 children, several grandchildren and property in both Klosterneuburg and his hometown of Senica, Slovakia. His death produced a small pile of probate and estate -iles, which now resides in the Archives of Lower Austria (Niederösterreichische Landesarchiv), a page of which is reproduced here. When I received the photocopies of these documents in the mail, my reaction was best described as dismay. While my German is rudimentary at best, I know enough words to generally make sense of genealogical records, and hours spent with 19th‐century micro-ilms of Viennese Jewish vital records have given me a respectable facility with the Suetterlin [ LINK ] handwriting of the period. These pages, though, made me feel as if my skills were completely useless. All of the internet resources and practice in the world can’t bring my 19th‐century German up to snuff – I need someone to really teach me this stuff. University or cultural institute classes are one way, of course, but there is one other avenue of education that I’d like to explore here: professional development opportunities in the information studies -ield. Because family historians often need to learn to use the same kinds of records and documents for their research that librarians and archivists need to understand to do their jobs effectively, library professional development activities can be great places for non‐librarians to learn necessary skills.
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Summer is usually the busy time for library professional development of all kinds, especially conferences and institutes. Conferences in particular may not always be the most helpful for non‐professionals, but serious collectors and amateur historians won’t leave them completely empty‐handed. The various sub‐groups of the American Library Association (ALA) – such as the Rare Books and Manuscripts Section (RBMS) of the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL), a division of the ALA – will probably have at least one or two sessions at their conferences of that would help build skills helpful for personal research. At the RBMS conference in Philadelphia this July [LINK], which I attended, pre‐conference workshops like “Building Collections: Acquiring Materials and Working with the Antiquarian Book Trade” or “Reference Sources for Rare Books” could be just as helpful to non‐librarians. Even more technical discussion sessions during the conference, like “Progressive Bibliography: Catalogers, Curators, and Crowdsourcing” could be at least of potential interest to non‐librarian researchers, just in terms of keeping them abreast of the developments in the institutions in which they may want to look for resources. Big summer conferences like the Annual Meeting of the ALA [LINK] or the Society of American Archivists (SAA) [LINK] also may be good places to look for topics of interest. The registration and travel fees for attending these professional conferences as a non‐professional, non‐member may not be feasible for all, but it’s worth seeing if any national, regional, or local library or archives conferences may be planned for your city. Other great resources for non‐information professionals can be found in the classes and institutes run by organizations like the Conservation Center for Art and Historic Artifacts (CCAHA) [LINK] and the University of Virginia’s Rare Book School (RBS) [LINK]. Classes I’ve attended, like the introduction to architectural records that CCAHA offered several years ago, or the “Understanding Photographs: Introduction to Archival Principles & Practices” course I took through SAA [LINK] would probably be of interest to the wider world of researchers. Rare Book School is a slightly different animal altogether. RBS offers weeklong classes throughout the summer at UVa in Charlottesville, Virginia (plus some other courses during the rest of the year in other east coast locales) on topics like English Paleography, 1500‐1750 (which I took this July), The Identi-ication of Photo Print Processes, Provenance: Tracing Owners & Collections, and other topics related to rare
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books, manuscripts, and all things bibliographic. Their usual audience is special collections librarians, book dealers, independent scholars, professors and PhD students (my class was 4 professors, 2 librarians and 2 doctoral students), but genealogists, family historians and collectors would be a welcome addition to any class, as the diversity of backgrounds and aims in RBS classes is part of what makes them so interesting. UCLA hosts a California Rare Book School [LINK] and other similar institutes are held throughout the Unites States and around the world. [LINK] In a future Saving Face column, I plan on writing about my paleographic experiences and newfound quasi‐expertise in early modern handwriting, and you’ll be able to judge for yourself how much it seems like I’ve learned from my professional development experience.
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PENELOPE DREADFUL
a dreadful coincidence THE MOURNING BROOCH BY PENELOPE DREADFUL
Clarissa Stevens had two weaknesses, her eyesight and an obsession for tag sales. Ironically, her keen eye had led her to some extraordinary treasures, while her farsightedness had also led her to purchase a few cleverly disguised fakes. But now, after six years in the business, Clarissa’s experience and patience were formidable assets. She was known throughout the New England circuit as a savvy collector with a knack for discovering the next “hot” trend. Vintage toys, charm bracelets, and wooden hand tools had all passed through Clarissa’s barn. This week, she was combing the Connecticut countryside searching for mid‐century eyeglasses made popular by a recent hit television series. Two of her favorite wayside thrift shops had little to offer other than canine collectibles and smoking accessories, leftovers from the last fad frenzy. Now the summer day was beginning fade and dark clouds rolled over the horizon. Clarissa shifted gears in her old Land Cruiser and pulled back on to the highway. She wanted to make one more stop before the rain hit. The road ran straight through late summer -ields, rolling over the next hill to continue on out of sight. Occasional farmhouses and outbuildings dotted the landscape. Abruptly, a crossroad appeared and Clarissa slowed to turn and follow a new course where more and more trees and small houses -lanked the asphalt. In a few minutes she was at the village outskirts, turning to park beside a tiny, trim, white Cape Cod cottage where a neat sign marked A. Treasure.
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Clarissa parked the car and walked around the house to the side where a bright red door stood ajar in the late afternoon sun. She stepped over the threshold, her dark hair catching the afternoon light as she passed inside. “Hello,” she called out. “Hellooooo.” Her greeting chimed into the room. There was a -luttering of paper, and a small pewter‐haired woman moved into view, packing paper and scissors in hand. “Why, Clarissa,” she trilled. “So nice to see you, my dear. Come in, come in.” “And hello to you too, Mrs. T, the shop looks absolutely packed. What have you been up to lately.” The older woman nodded in agreement. Setting aside her tools, she walked briskly to Clarissa and hugged her affectionately. “Busy, busy, busy,” she replied. “I’ve just been unpacking more bits and pieces, and was ready for a break. Will you join me?” Without waiting for a reply, Mrs. T moved to a small table set with crystal glasses, a pitcher of cold iced tea, and a plate of homemade sugar cookies. Ice clinked in their glasses as the women surveyed the room. Clarissa accepted a cookie and thoughtfully took a bite. She didn’t know what it was, yet, but there was something here for her today. She could feel it. Like a well‐trained hunting dog, Clarissa had caught a scent of something rare. The older woman glanced at Clarissa’s face. She felt it too. The electric charge of anticipation. But for now, both women talked about the weather, the upcoming sale season, and inquired about mutual acquaintances. “You look wonderful, as always, my dear,” Mrs. T said approvingly. Her gaze took in Clarissa’s casual, yet purposeful, attire. Knee‐length khaki skirt, low canvas shoes, and white cotton blouse with the always‐present antique gold brooch. Clarissa could, and did, -it in anywhere.
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The dealer had watched Clarissa blossom from a studious, tentative novice to a seasoned professional. Clarissa was known for playing fair in a business where “cutthroat” was a common adjective. She sought items that other dealers had passed over, and used her considerable Manhattan contacts to build on upcoming trends. She was the best of the old collector with all the advantages of the modern market, and Mrs T was one of her biggest fans. For her part, Clarissa loved the older woman since a chance meeting at Brim-ield years ago. Mrs. T had saved her from making more than a few costly and embarrassing mistakes in her early days as a dealer. Nothing spectacular, just a gentle comment, “Oh, I shouldn’t go any higher on that, my dear,” or a -irm shake of the head if she saw Clarissa’s hand linger over an item in a stall. For her part, Clarissa let drop little suggestions as to what kinds of stock might be good to have on hand for the upcoming season, and Mrs. T managed to turn a small pro-it each year. Small talk shifted to shop talk and the older woman gave Clarissa a nudge with her elbow. “Well, dear,” she began, as usual, “you won’t believe what I have for you today.” “A few pair of 50’s eyeglasses, I hope.” “Those silly things,” Mrs. T was barely interested. “Just like we all used to wear. Hard to think of them as anything very special, but yes, I do have a few for you.” Clarissa was soon examining a tray over-lowing with heavy lens and classic cat‐eye frames. She selected six pair bedecked with rhinestones and another dozen assorted men’s styles. “The guys seem to be more adventurous with these than the girls,” she commented. “Can’t say I blame them. It’s a lot easier to coordinate black or tortoise shell than fuschia.” As Clarissa continued to shuf-le through the box she brushed against a few odd pieces of jewelry, glittering old holiday brooches, broken earrings, scuffed watches. “What’s all this stuff?” she asked. “Was it all the same lot?”
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“That, and more,” came the reply. Two more trays were brought forward, but it was a chipped wooden box, obviously handmade, that caught Clarissa’s attention. The box was small and -it easily in her hands. She could feel a slight weight, nothing too heavy. There was no hinge, the lid -it over a carved groove and came away smoothly from the bottom of the box. Clarissa set the lid aside and turned back to the box. Inside, Clarissa saw a shallow tray with three compartments, each empty but lined with the remnants of once‐-ine velvet. Someone had taken great care with this box, she thought. Each detail spoke of the labor of love. Her -ingers grasped the carved divider rails and Clarissa carefully pulled out the tray revealing a roll of faded jet velvet tightly tied with a narrow length of black silk ribbon. Clarissa gently teased the knot open and carefully began to unroll the fabric. Six inches wide with the raw edges folded back to make a narrow band of ink‐rich velvet, just long enough to tie around an arm. As the last bits of fabric fell open, and Clarissa saw the gold brooch inside, she gasped and her hand went to her mouth. “Alice,” she cried, “Alice, did you unwrap this brooch?” The older woman hurried over from the boxes she had been examining and peered at the item now resting on Clarissa’s palm. She raised her eyes, and the two women looked at each other, stunned. For the image framed in delicate gold -iligree was an exact duplicate of the brooch worn on Clarissa’s blouse. It was a treasure passed down from woman to woman in Clarissa’s family. A visual remembrance of her ancestor, known only as MariMam, her maiden name unknown. “No, dear,” Alice replied carefully. “I haven’t had time to look in the box. It was included with all these trays at Art’s sale last week. I was bidding on the eyeglasses for you and just happy
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to get them all. I can see it is just like your own mourning brooch, but look, there’s something else in the bottom of the box.” Indeed, Clarissa looked past the loose velvet and saw the back of a cabinet card photograph. She pulled it free and sat stunned. In beautiful script, someone had written, “Clara Jane Hammond, age 23, Class of 1895, Connecticut Teacher’s College, May 24.” And in another hand, “Mother would have been 92 years old at my graduation. She was with me in sprit, as always. R.I.P. Marissa Jane Hammond, Mother.” “ I can’t believe it,” Clarissa exclaimed and she turned over the photograph. “This must be Great‐Great Grandmother Clara. I’ve never seen a picture of her, but look she’s wearing the brooch, and . . .” “My dear,” interrupted Alice, “my dear, girl. You are a twin for your Great‐Great Grandmother. Just look!” And, pulling Clarissa to a mirror, Alice held the photograph next to the young girl’s face. Looking back from the glass were three nearly identical women, each breathing life in a different century. Marissa, memorialized in a delicate gold frame; Clara, standing tall and proud in a portrait image; and now, Clarissa, their namesake, wearing the brooch that linked all three. copyright 2010 Denise Levenick
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IN2GENEALOGY
the evidence of life A CAUTIONARY TALE BY CAROLINE POINTER
“...but in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” ~Benjamin Franklin Memento mori is Latin for “remember you must die," according to Dictionary.com. Pretty morbid, isn't it? At -irst glance, maybe it is. But is it really referring to the act of death itself? Or perhaps, as historians have suggested, it means not to gloat over your conquest. That it easily could have been you on the other side of that conquest. That you may have won this time, but that your death will come too. But maybe the reminder of this certainty of our mortality is a term of caution to us of how we live our lives. To think about what we will leave behind. Or perhaps it's a mixture of the three. To realize that we are mortal, that to believe otherwise is foolish, and that what we do while we are living will be passed on to future generations. In this sense, memento mori is quite relevant to us as genealogy and family history researchers. Because in this reminder of death is a reminder of life with each ancestor that we discover. With each story that we uncover.
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And, yes, Benjamin Franklin's reminder about the only two certainties in life being death and taxes may make us chuckle. It's what he doesn't mention that's important to us as researchers – all the paperwork that surrounds these two certain events in a person's life, especially death. Paperwork and documents that along with giving us details of our ancestors' deaths, provides for us details of their lives. Evidence of their lives. Following is a listing and some examples of the types of paperwork and/or documents with some tips on where to look for them that can provide ‐ if not direct evidence ‐ then clues of an ancestor's death and their life. Emphasis has been placed on, of course, death certi-icates, but there are many other types of documents that should be searched for that can yield information on both an ancestor's death and their life, and these are touched upon as well. DEATH CERTIFICATES Death certi-icates can be very helpful in your search for clues about both your ancestor's life and their death. Below are three examples of death certi-icates or records from my own family research. The -irst one is my 2nd great‐grandfather's, Daniel Rook Vaughan's, and the second is his and Annie O'Brien's oldest child's, Henry Lewis Vaughan's, death certi-icate. They are both from the state of Texas, and illustrate just what kind of information can be gleaned from a death certi-icate. The third example is from the death record of one of my 3rd great‐grandfathers, Nelson Martin, from Johnson County, Illinois. Example #1: Life and Death On Devine Street According to his death certi-icate, Daniel Rook Vaughan passed away 26 Dec 1909 in San Antonio, Texas from “cardiac valviular [valvular] disease” and from a “chronic ulcer of the stomach”. Prior to his death he had resided at 201 Devine St. in San Antonio, Texas and had been at this residence for three months. He had also resided in the state of Texas for 8 years according to the death certi-icate. Having been born in Michigan, Daniel was 62 years, 1 month, and 14 days old, was married, and was a contractor by trade at the time of his death. His parents are listed as Benjamine Vaughn and Susiana Rook, both born in Michigan. He was buried at the K.P. Cemetery, and the undertaker is listed as Shelley Undertaking
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Company located on Military Plaza. So, according to his death certi-icate, a search for Daniel's birth in Michigan would be logical. In addition, looking up his burial place, K.P., and the undertaking company in San Antonio just might be helpful in learning something more about Daniel. Not to mention taking a photo of his tombstone and looking up his residence on 201 Devine Street to see if his and Annie's home is still standing might be informative. His tombstone might have additional information on it, and he might be buried next to or nearby relatives. However, not everything is correct on his death certi-icate, and this is why we must be careful in how this information and all information is dealt with concerning our ancestors. Daniel's birth date is listed as 26 Dec 1909, which is impossible because that's his date of death. It's an obvious error. What happened? I don't know. I would suppose that “life happened.” Maybe Dr. Wein-ield was in a rush. Maybe he had another patient to attend to. Maybe he was on his fourth donut, 5th cup of coffee, and bleary‐eyed from working 18 hours straight. Basically, I don't know, but I do know that it's incorrect. Does this mean everything else is wrong? No, not necessarily. It just means that I need to follow‐up each and every clue on here to the best of my ability to check the validity of each piece of information. A daunting task? Maybe, but I'm sure to -ind out more about Daniel along the way. And that's
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a good thing. In fact, as genealogists, -inding out more about our ancestors is what we're always trying to do, is it not? Example #2: One Mile North of Utopia The second example of a death certi-icate and the kind of information that can be obtained from it is from Daniel's and Annie's oldest child, Henry Lewis Vaughan. I'm not going to list all the details like I did for Daniel, but I would like to point out a few. First of all, his death certi-icate is from a much later time period than his father's was – 1956, and there is more information listed. Under occupation, it's listed that he was a “retired master mariner of ocean shipping”, and that he had participated in the Spanish War, which tells me there's paperwork lying somewhere waiting to be found, primarily military and occupation records. Additionally, an informant is listed, and this is the person who was giving the information for the death certi-icate. This is usually a loved one or someone close to the family. In this case, further research suggests that it was his son H.D. (Henry Daniel) Vaughan. One thing that could be said about these informants is that they were human, and thus, subject to making errors due to grief or simply not knowing all the facts, which is understandable given the circumstances, but it does underscore the very reason why it is so important to check the validity of the information stated on a death certi-icate Further, Henry died from a head‐on automobile collision instantaneously, and instead of a doctor signing off on his death certi-icate, a coroner did. Though an autopsy was not performed, it's quite possible that the rural coroner in Bandera, Texas had to -ill out a report of some kind in addition to the death certi-icate. Perhaps there was a police report and/or a newspaper article of the accident in a local newspaper. There's de-initely more paperwork to be found on how Henry Lewis died. And perhaps how he lived right before he died. He was 78 years old at the time of the accident. Had he been speeding? Drinking? Fighting with his wife? Had there been another car and driver involved on this rural road? Or had he hit a tree? If there was another car, had the other driver been speeding or drinking? I could go on, but I think you get the picture. Following up on these leads just
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might help me -ind out if Henry's life lived up to his rural address, “one mile north of Utopia”. Example #3: The Crossroads of Life and Death My 3rd great‐grandfather, Nelson Martin's death, which occurred 7 Jul 1887, was recorded in the Register of Deaths for Johnson County, Illinois. Though there isn't as much information listed on it compared to the death certi-icates above, there is some that lead to more information about Nelson's death and his life. According to the entry, he had been a farmer, and at the time of his death, he had been 65 years, 4 months, and 8 days old. Born in North Carolina, Nelson had lived in Illinois for 34 years and had suffered for 18 months and ultimately died from a debility due to a malignant tumor. Nelson was buried in Reynoldsburg Cemetery 9 Jul 1887, and the undertaker had been Carter Harwick from Vienna, Illinois, which is located nearby where he lived. So, in a brief death register entry, clues that might lead to more information, such as the cemetery and undertaker information and maybe the physician's records as well, are given. Also, the length of time he'd lived in Illinois could point me to land and tax records for Nelson. In addition, considering the time period, the only way his family and physician would've known that he had been suffering from a tumor would have been through his symptoms. Visible ones. Probably painful ones. And his road of life those last 18 months there in Cross Roads, Johnson County, Illinois were possibly quite bumpy for Nelson and his family. WHERE TO FIND DEATH CERTIFICATES Some death certi-icates can be found online and even more can be found of-line, but access to the of-line death certi-icates might prove to be dif-icult, if not impossible, depending on privacy laws. However, don't let this stop you from looking for or trying to obtain them. You won't know if you don't look. Actual digital images of death certi-icates can be found in the following places online. I'm not even going to
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attempt to list states that these sites encompass because, just like everything else on the internet, they're ever‐changing. Your job is to explore the sites and determine if the state that you need is included, and to keep checking back to those sites every once and awhile to see what's been added. •
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FamilySearch.org's Record Search – Before typing in the name of your ancestor, choose to browse the collections that are available for the U.S. This will let you know if there are digital images available of death certi-icates in the state you are researching. In addition, some of their digitized death certi-icates are actual links to archive databases within a particular state, such as is the case with the state of West Viriginia. In the example above, Henry Lewis Vaughan's death certi-icate was found using FamilySearch.org's Record Search. [ LINK ] Footnote.com – [$$] Again, browsing their collections by location would be the best way to determine if they, indeed, have digital images of death certi-icates for the state you are researching. In the example above, Daniel Rook Vaughan's death certi-icate was obtained using this database. [ LINK ] Ancestry.com – [$$] While they don't have images of death certi-icates, they do have indexes. [ LINK ]. They also now allow you to search by location [ LINK ]. Just scroll down to the map and click on a state to see what collections are available.
So what do you do when it's not online? Some states' archives have digitized their death certi-icates (like West Virginia mentioned above), some have indexes of death records that are available in their archives, and some have no death certi-icate information online. So how do you -ind them? • • • • •
Consult a reference book such as The Family Tree Resource Book for Genealogists edited by Sharon DeBartolo Carmack and Erin Nevius, Consult Cyndi's List for death/vital information [ LINK ], Consult Joe Beine's Online Searchable Death Index [ LINK ], Consult FamilySearch.org's Research Guides [ LINK ], Perform a Google search for the particular state you're interested in and the phrase “state archives” (e.g., “Illinois state archives”), or try the name of the county, state, and the term “death certi-icates”. Sometimes Google can be your best friend.
In the death record example above for Nelson Martin, I consulted the Illinois Regional Archives Depository (IRAD) [ LINK ] and veri-ied that for the possible year of death a death record might be in their archives, and then I wrote them a letter of inquiry. After several weeks, I received photocopies of the page that Nelson's death was recorded on. Cost? $1 for
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the photocopy plus the postage for my letter. Sometimes “old school” can be your best friend, too. (And sometimes it's your only friend.) OTHER PAPERWORK DOCUMENT BOTH ONLINE AND OFFLINE •
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Tax Rolls/Records – When looking at tax records, if suddenly one year instead of your ancestor being listed, his widow is listed (and sometimes the title “widow” is used), then obviously he passed away sometime in the previous year, narrowing the time frame for his death a little more. Where to -ind them? Libraries, archives, genealogy and historical societies, courthouses, etc. Again, survey the repositories in your target research state, county, and/or city. Some transcribed and/or abstracted tax lists can be found on USGenWeb.org [ LINK ] under the corresponding county as well as on other sites. However, even if you -ind the information this way, you still need to try to -ind the original tax records if they still exist. I don't trust myself to abstract and/or transcribe information accurately 100 percent of the time. Why would I trust anyone else? You can also use the Family History Library's online catalog to do a “place search” in order to determine if they have what you need on micro-ilm [ LINK ], and Ancestry.com [$$] has some tax lists and indexes as well [ LINK ]. Military Service & Pension Records – Military records can yield many genealogical clues about your ancestor, including information about an ancestor's death. These are located at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. and more information concerning obtaining these records can be found here [ LINK ]. In addition, the military pension index cards can have the date of death listed on them as well. Images of these index cards can be found on Footnote.com and Ancestry.com. The example shown here is for Daniel Rook Vaughan's Civil War pension index card found on Footnote.com [ LINK ]. Some military records are available on micro-ilm for rental through the Family History Library. You can use their online catalog to do a “place search” in order to determine if they have what you need on micro-ilm. [ LINK ] •Land Records – Land records are chock full of genealogical data about our ancestors due to the particular requirements in purchasing land from the government. If your ancestor died in the middle of the process, his widow and/or heirs were still allowed to complete
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the process, and this information would have been recorded in the land case -ile for the purchase. Land case -iles are located at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. and information to obtain copies is located here [ LINK ]. If it was an individual‐ to‐individual land transaction, let's say in a particular county, and your ancestor died in the process, it's quite possible that his or her estate may have completed the transaction after his or her death. So looking up county land transactions may be helpful in determining death information, such as date of death and/or the name of the executor or executrix of the will and who may have completed the land transaction. They could've been a family member or close friend. Most of these transactions are not online, so you'll need to determine what local government entity has these records or locate the archives that has them either by looking online or simply calling. In my own research, my grandfather's estate (Joseph Marshall) had some property that his estate owned, and it was sold after his death and the transaction was executed by the executrix of his estate in Bexar County, Texas. Fortunately for those doing research in Bexar County, Texas, historical land transactions have been indexed and digitized, and they are available for free online through the Bexar County Clerk's Of-ice [ LINK ]. How did I -ind this out? Well, according to my reference book, Bexar County's land records beginning in 1736 are handled by the County Clerk's of-ice. So I went to their website, created a free account, and searched their database. If they hadn't had them available online, then I would've followed the county's listed online guidelines for inquiring, which would have probably meant doing it “old school” ‐ writing a letter of inquiry. Books where land information has been abstracted from original records can be found at local libraries, archives, and/or genealogy and historical societies. Obtaining this information is just a -irst step though. You must then use this information to locate the original records, if possible. Again, I don't even trust myself to abstract and/or transcribe information accurately 100 percent of the time. Why would I trust anyone else? Also, a “place search” of the Family History Library's online catalog may yield land records in your target research area. Ancestry.com [$$] also has some of these types of records [ LINK ]. Municipalities ‐ Some municipalities and counties started recording vital information before the state required registration. For example in Texas, state‐ required birth and death registration began in 1903, and every source online or of-line will indicate this as well. However, the city of Houston started recording births much earlier than this, and the records are available in the book, City of Houston Births 1874 through May 1900, at Clayton Library Center for Genealogy Research in Houston, Texas [ LINK ], which can be found using their online catalog.
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Therefore, it would behoove you to dig deeper than just the state vital registrations and locate the county and city recordings. You just might get lucky. Newspapers & Obituaries – Death notices and obituaries are the most common articles that we are looking for concerning an ancestor's death in newspapers. They can have many tidbits of information of your ancestor's death and their life. However, don't forget the news articles. If your ancestor's death was questionable, or if they had been killed or murdered, then it would have been newsworthy, especially in smaller communities. Yes, there are many historical newspapers available online through Ancestry.com [ LINK ], Footnote.com [ LINK ], GenealogyBank.com [ LINK ], and NewspaperArchives.com [ LINK ]. But there are many that aren't available online. Let me repeat that. Not all historical newspapers are available online. As with other records, you need to -ind where these newspapers are located in your target research area by inquiring at the closest libraries, archives, etc. in that area. Don't forget university libraries either. For example, in the Houston area along with what can be found in the usual places online for historical newspapers, certain local newspapers can be found at Clayton Library Center for Genealogy Research [ LINK ], at the Houston Metropolitan Research Center [ LINK ], in the Houston Public Library's Texas and Local History Collection (a.k.a. the Texas Room) [ LINK ], and at the local university libraries. But an extensive collection of local and Texas historical newspapers can be found at Rice University located in Houston [ LINK ]. So, don't be afraid to search university online databases, email the university libraries, or simply call and ask around. Coroner's Reports – If there was anything questionable about your ancestor's death, an autopsy was probably performed and that would mean a coroner's report would have been -iled. These type of reports could be very eye‐opening about your ancestor's death and maybe their life as well. Where to -ind these reports? Probably in the county that it was -iled in or wherever they have archived this information. Dae Powell on his website, Shoestring Genealogy [ LINK ], has a wonderful article that explains all about coroner's reports and how to use them in genealogy research. Cemeteries, funeral homes, bodies in transit, burial permits, monument companies – Like most life events, there is a process, and if that life event involves a city or county government, then you can (usually) be guaranteed there was paperwork involved. When someone
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passes away, there is a process that is followed by hospitals, funeral homes, and cemeteries in order for the funeral service to occur. George G. Morgan has written a very informative article that explains this process and the paperwork that is generated that you might -ind useful in your research, Using Burial Permits As Resources [ LINK ]. Some other relevant places to look online are Cyndi's List [ LINK ], Tennessee's GenWeb site [ LINK ], Daddezio.com [ LINK ], Obituarieshelp.org [ LINK ], and FuneralNet.com [ LINK ]. Hospital Records – These might be hard to -ind, let alone obtain, but a call to the hospital (if it's still open), a talk with the local librarian or archivist, and a thorough search at the local or state archives just might yield the records you are looking for. Additionally, some records have been micro-ilmed by the Family History Library and are available for rental through your local Family History Center. Also check with the local genealogy and historical societies. They may have in their collection the Family History Library micro-ilm on inde-inite loan for the area, as is the case for the Geneaogical Society of Washtenaw County, Michigan [ LINK ]. The local Family History Center is located in the same building as the society, so the society provides an online index of the over 2000 frequently used -ilm for Washtenaw County on their website, and they offer look‐ups of their complete library (not just the micro-ilm) for a small contribution. Church Records – Each type of church, denomination, and place of worship is going to handle the archiving of their records differently. If you know the church your ancestor attended and it's still open, then call the church and inquire about their records. If the church is no longer open, but there is another church located near there of the same denomination, then call that church. You can a l s o l o o k o n l i n e f o r t h e denomination, and inquire about the archiving of records by phone, email or snail mail. For example, the archives for the Episcopal Church in the United States is located in Austin, Texas and their website is located here [ LINK ], and it includes a listing of their holdings as well as their digital archives.
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Insurance Policies / Records – O.K. so, this is probably going to be dif-icult to -ind as well. But not impossible. GenealogyToday.com [ LINK ] has a collection of insurance records that can be searched for free, but an annual subscription is needed for detailed information. However, a listing of surnames is included as a part of the free information. Ancestry.com has some insurance records online too [ LINK ]. In addition, there are many people out there (myself included) who collect ephemera from antique stores, both online and of-line. Just what is ephemera? According to Dictionary.com [LINK ], the second de-inition reads “items designed to be useful or important for only a short time, esp. pamphlets, notices, tickets, etc.” Well, it may have been designed to only be important for a short period of time, but to a genealogist or family historian, this is paperwork that is useful for a long period of time. At least we hope it is. AncestorsPast.com [ LINK ] is a company that sells ephemera, books, photos, etc., and can be searched by keywords that include surnames, locations, etc. It's a virtual antique store, if you will. Another place to look would be eBay. You can also Google to -ind places that sell speci-ic types of ephemera, such as postcards. Orphanage Records ‐ The local librarian in the area that you are researching might be able to point you in the right direction for the history of orphanages in the area and if the records still exist, where they might be archived. A child was not necessarily orphaned because both parents had passed away, but may have been orphaned because their family was too poor to take care of them. However, if one or both parents had passed away, it's quite possible that their death information might be listed in their child's orphan records. The Orphan Train Heritage Society of America may be of some help as well [ LINK ]. Family Bibles – While not always accurate, they can be useful in -inding out the date of death of an ancestor. Don't have a family bible? Then search online at virtual antique stores and on eBay. You never know until you look. County Histories – These also may not be accurate, but still are a source for information concerning the life and death of your ancestor. These can be found sometimes transcribed on the county sites on USGenWeb.org [ LINK ]. Some of the books have been digitized on Google Books [ LINK ], and a portion of those are out of copyright so you are able to read the full version online. If your library participates
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in Heritage Quest Online, with a library card you can access from home their book collections which are searchable by person, place, and/or title. Many county histories can be read, saved to your hard drive, and/or printed from this site. Funeral Programs/Cards – This would be considered ephemera too, but there is a Facebook group called Funeral Cards and Genealogy [ LINK ] and a blog named Funeral Cards [ LINK ] concerning (You guessed it.) funeral cards both by Dee. Speci-ic funeral cards are researched, written about and discussed, and if it's your ancestor, they can be gifted to you. Mortality Schedules – If you are researching census records (And who isn't?), then mortality schedules should not be overlooked. If someone passed away in the 12 months preceeding a census in the following census years 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880, or 1885, then they were to be listed on these shedules. Ancestry.com does offer a free index of these schedules, and as part of their subscription, more detailed information, including the digital image, is available as well [ LINK ]. The following link is a listing of all items in the Family History Library for mortality schedules: [ LINK ]. A “place search” could have been done as well, then a search for mortality schedules in that particluar place. Of course mortality schedules are kept and are available through the National Archives in Washington, D.C. [ LINK ]. SSDI – Social Security Disability Index can be accessed many places online, such as SteveMorse.com [free & searches multiple databases at once] [ LINK ], FamilySearch.org [free] [ LINK ], Ancestry.com [$$] [ LINK ], GenealogyBank.com [free] [ LINK ], and Rootsweb.com [free] [ LINK ] Probate (wills) – Wills and probate records can be rich with information about an ancestor's life and death. Sometimes even relationships with certain family members or associates can be ascertained in an ancestor's will. These can be found transcribed and/or abstracted in books at the library, and in books at local genealogy societies. However, to -ind originals, consult a reference book, like The Family Tree Resource Book for Genealogists edited by Sharon DeBartolo Carmack and Erin Nevius, to determine where these are archived in your target research area. Ancestry.com [$$] has some records as well [ LINK ]. Fraternal Orders – Fraternal Orders are pretty easy to locate online. The most recognizable would be the Masons or FreeMasons. CyndisList.com has a web page dedicated to fraternal orders and societies located here [ LINK ]. In the example of
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my 2nd great‐grandfather's (Daniel Rook Vaughan's) death certi-icate above, I Googled the term “K.P.”, and I didn't -ind anything. However, on his wife's (Annie O'Brien Vaughan's) death certi-icate, it was listed as “K of P,” which turned out to be the Knights of Pythias cemetery. The Knights of Pythias [ LINK ] is a fraternal order which was started in 1864 to help heal the country even before the Civil War had ended. I contacted the order through their website to get con-irmation of his membership in the San Antonio Chapter of the order. They were able to provide me a copy of the minutes to two different business meetings for the San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas chapter. The -irst was where his transfer of membership was accepted in 1902, and the second was the recording of his death in 1909. So, not only did they indicate Daniel's membership in this order, but it narrowed down the time period in which he came to San Antonio and con-irmed his date of death. In addition, it also gave a complete listing of members he quite possibly knew as friends, acquaintances, and/or fellow veterans of the Civil War. Because they only do look‐ ups by chapter and they are not digitized, I will have to trace where else he had been a member of this order by his residences to hopefully -ind where he signed up and to obtain a copy of his application. Eulogies – These might be dif-icult to -ind. One place to look online is here [LINK], but these are of famous people. However, if the church where the funeral was held is still open, try calling and speaking to the church secretary to -ind out if copies are kept, if they are archived, and where you might -ind them. It may be that the church does not keep a copy, but perhaps the priest, minister, or other person who delivered the eulogy retained a copy. The church might be able to help you locate them and their records. If the church is no longer open, try contacting a church of the same denomination nearby to locate their archives for that denomination as a whole. Why try this long‐shot? Eulogies can be intensely personal giving a deep glimpse of what kind of person our ancestor was. A good example of this is when my father passed away. His good friend and priest, who we had asked to deliver his eulogy, requested that my brother, sister, and I write down what we had learned from our father so that he could include our words in his eulogy. We had no clue what the other had written down about our father, but to our surprise we found out at the service we had essentially written down the same thing. (Albeit, mine was a bit wordier.) Could you imagine our descendants down the line getting a hold of a copy of that eulogy? Unquestionably, they would know a whole lot about how he led his life and what kind of person he was. Online Memorials – There are several websites that are online memorials or virtual tombstones/cemeteries. Most notably is FindAGrave.com [ LINK ]. However there are others such as Interment.net [ LINK ] and HeadstonesGenealogy.com [ LINK ].
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The information available on these sites can include photos of tombstones, transcriptions of the tombstones, and transcriptions of obituaries. SOME AFRICAN AMERICAN DEATH RECORD HELPS • •
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AfriGeneas.com [ LINK ] ‐ This database boasts almost 23,000 African American death records that include obituaries, funeral cards, and cemetery records. Freedmen's Bank ‐ These records can inlcude death information, especially if the original passbook had been lost and a new one was applied for. These are located at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. More information about them can be found here [ LINK ], and information about obtaining them can be found here [ LINK ] An index for the records can be found on Ancestry.com [$$] [ LINK ] Freedmen's Bureau – These records can include death information for African Americans as well as for caucasions. These are located at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. More information about obtaining them can be found here [ LINK ]. Ancestry.com [$$] has digital images of the -ield of-ice records here [ LINK ]. Southern Claims Case Files – These records can include death information for African Americans as well as for caucasions. More information about them can be found here [ LINK ]. They are located at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. More information about obtaining them can be found here [ LINK ]. RootsTelevesion.com – There is a video called African American Research – Part 2 of 2 that covers the speci-ic problems and strategies for African American research, including vital records. [ LINK ].
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I've mentioned the Family History Library's online catalog and the “place search” of it several times. Actually their library can contain just about any of the above mentioned records. Therefore, this should be one of the -irst places you look, especially if you are doing long‐distance research. To determine the closest local Family History Center to you for renting micro-ilm, visit this page on their website [ LINK ]. RootsTelevision.com also has a video about researching death records called Tracing Your Family Roots Records of Death with Arline Sachs and Charles “Chuck” Mason, Jr. that is very helpful [ LINK ]. Yet another site to offer an index of death records is Daddezio.com [ LINK ] Daddezio.com also offers a directory for genealogy societies here [ LINK ]. Old Causes of Death – So what did it mean when someone died of consumption? Find out here [ LINK ].
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Tombstone Calculator – Need to calculate date of birth from age at death and date of death that are listed on a tombstone? You can do it here at SearchForAncestors.com [LINK]. Age Calculator – Need to calculate the age of an ancestor? This too can be done at SearchForAncestors.com [LINK]. diigo.com – [ LINK ] This is a bookmarking site where groups are formed based on a common interest and members share their bookmarks with the other members of the group. There are quite a few genealogy‐based groups, but the one that I participate in the most is called “Genealogy Research Resources”. As each member surfs the net for any type of genealogy websites, they bookmark the site, apply certain keywords that they think describe the site, choose to share it with the group as a whole, and then save to their own bookmark library at diigo.com. It sounds like it takes a while to do this, but in all actuality, it only takes a minute or so. Then, when you go to research a speci-ic topic, like for example death records, then you can search your library as well as the group's library for links with this keyword or phrase. It can be very bene-icial to your online research work-low. Twitter.com – [ http://twitter.com/ ] This is a online micro‐blogging social network that more and more genealogists are beginning to use for their research. I use Twitter in many ways, but research‐wise, if I can't -ind what I'm looking for both online or of-line, I usually tweet a research question to my Twitter followers, and there's usually someone out there who can help me with research in a particular area, types of records, etc. in real‐time. Diane Haddad wrote a blog post on Family Tree Magazine's blog “Genealogy Insider” [ LINK ] that lists more ways Twitter can be very useful to genealogists. (Oh, and if you're not already following me on Twitter, please feel free to do so: @FamilyStories.) One Could Say... Night is the evidence of day. Dark is the evidence of light. Cold is the evidence of heat. Sadness is the evidence of happiness.
And death? Well, it's the evidence of life. A life -illed with family stories. Stories that allow us a glimpse of our ancestors. But they are also a reminder to us of what we, ourselves, will leave behind. Our legacies. Our histories. Our stories. For we know full well the meaning of memento mori. We know that like our ancestors we, too, shall die. But we also know that our death will be the evidence that we lived.
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“If I had my life all over again I should form the habit of nightly composing myself to thoughts of death. I would practise, as it were, the remembrance of death. There is no other practise which so intensiQies life. Death, when it approaches, ought not to take one by surprise. It should be part of the full expectancy of life. Without an everpresent sense of death life is insipid. You might as well live on the whites of eggs.” ~Muriel Spark (b.1918), British Novelist. Henry Mortimer in “Memento Mori”, ch. 11 (1959) Sources and Credits: "Our_new_Constitution_is_now_established_and_has." Columbia World of Quotations. Columbia University Press, 1996. 25 Jul. 2010. <Dictionary.com http://quotes.dictionary.com/ Our_new_Constitution_is_now_established_and_has>. "Memento mori." Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. 27 Jul. 2010. <Dictionary.com http:// dictionary.reference.com/browse/memento mori>. Wikipedia contributors. "Memento mori." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 20 Jul. 2010. Web. 7 Jul. 2010. Tertullian, translated by Alexander Souter. Apologeticus. http://www.tertullian.org/articles/mayor_apologeticum/mayor_apologeticum_07translation.htm : 2010. “Texas Death Certi-icates.” Database and Images. Footnote.com. (http://footnote.com/ : accessed 6 May 2008). “Texas Deaths, 1890‐1976.” Database and Images. FamilySearch.org. (http://search.labs.familysearch.org/ recordsearch/start.html?..#p=collectionDetails&c=fs%3A1320964 : 26 Jan 2010). Martin, Nelson. Death Register Entry. 7 July 1887, Johnson County, Illinois. Photocopy of page from Death Records loacted at the Southern Illinois University's Illinois Regional Archived Depository (IRAD) for Johnson County. Supplied 25 Feb 2009 by Paul Skonberg, IRAD intern. "If_I_had_my_life_over_again_I." Columbia World of Quotations. Columbia University Press, 1996. 25 Jul. 2010. <Dictionary.com http://quotes.dictionary.com/If_I_had_my_life_over_again_I>.
©2010 Caroline Martin Marshall Pointer
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Genealogy Gems Podcast LIVE Show You始ve heard it on your computer and iPod, and now you can see a free live presentation of the popular Genealogy Gems Podcast Show at the Family History Expo in Pleasanton, CA! Genealogy podcaster Lisa Louise Cooke will be chatting with the audience and a captivating line-up of guests on: Friday, October 8, 2010 TIME: 6:30 pm Cost: $14.95 (Dessert Bar) LOCATION: Ag Building at the Fairgrounds Enjoy tasty treats and sit in on a rare opportunity to see a podcast production in action. Lisa始s special guests include authors from the popular Shades of the Departed online magazine who will be sharing stories of genealogical inspiration:
Craig Manson The GeneaBlogie Blog
Sheri Fenley The Educated Genealogist Blog
PRIZES WILL BE GIVEN AWAY THROUGHOUT THE PODCAST! www.GenealogyGems.com
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December March
THE LAST PICTURE SHOW
The Imprint Or Logo - This represents the many photographic competitions won by Allen & Rowell. Edward L. Allen and Frank Rowell were active as photographers in Boston from 1874-1892. For many years they were the leading photographers in the city of Boston. The work of this firm was distinguished for the greatest technical skill and refined artistic excellence, and commanded the highest prices. Most of their portraits were printed in carbon, of which process Mr. Rowell was a noted expert. Mr. Rowell made the sittings, while Mr. Allen managed the business-affairs and the office, although active in the workrooms when required. Every person of note in Boston was photographed by Allen & Rowell - Emerson, Sumner, & Alcott to name a few. “They do everything in photography and kindred branches. They make every size of a photograph, from the small heads required for faces of ladies' watches, to enlarged life sizes. They make every variety of photograph. They do all kinds of photographic copying. They produce exquisite crayon portraits. They execute artistic oil portraits. They make exterior views. They make interior views. They make instantaneous photographs. They do all the work of printing and developing negatives made by amateurs. They manufacture dry plates for sale to amateurs and photographers. They manufacture all the materials needed for carbon prints. They are almost the only firm in New England making a specialty of the permanent carbon prints, because photographers as a rule avoid this work, as it involves more skill, more cost, more time, and gives less profit.” From an 1884 Advertisement in Wilsons’ Photographic Magazine.