More on the Family of Isaac and Rebecca (HEWITT) LUKE

Click photo to enlarge
The Family of Isaac and Rebecca (Hewitt) Luke, c. 1888. Unknown location, possibly Avon, Bon Homme Co., South Dakota. Original photograph privately held by Dennis R. Luke, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Oregon.

This wonderful photograph I posted yesterday on Wordless Wednesday was sent to me via email by a distant cousin of my children, on their paternal grandmother's side of the family. It features their 3rd-great-grandparents, their 2nd-great-grandmother, and her siblings.

Isaac LUKE was born 1 April 1831 in Mt. Vernon, Wayne Co., Ohio. His wife, Rebecca HEWITT, was born 2 May 1836 in Meadville, Crawford Co., Pennsylvania. Married 20 February 1851 in Sun Prairie, Dane Co., Wisconsin, they had 14 children, two who died as toddlers, and one who died at about 18:

1. William Alonzo LUKE (1852 - 1919); the ancestor of the cousin who shared this photo
2. Robert Thomas LUKE (1853 - 1932)
3. Orville Isaac LUKE (1855 - 1943)
4. Melissa Rachel LUKE JENNINGS (1856 - c. 1937)
5. Lydia J. LUKE (c. 1859 - c. 1877)
6. Orin Azel LUKE (1860 - 1932)
7. Julia Elizabeth LUKE  LUKE (1862 - 1916); yes, she married a cousin!
8. Simeon Wesley LUKE (1863 - 1947)
9. Angelia Rebecca LUKE MARTIN (1866 - 1941) - my children's 2nd-great-grandmother
10. Mary Amanda "Mandy" LUKE McDONALD (1868 - 19e8)
11. Clara LUKE (c. 1870 - 1877)
12. Lucy LUKE (c. 1872 - 1875)
13. Eunice Rebecca LUKE CARSNER (1874 - 1918)
14. Alice Viola LUKE HAWKEY JONES (1878 - 1955)

The eleven children who survived childhood are pictured with their parents, who sit on either end of the front row. Seated in the front row from left to right, and numbered in birth order are: Isaac (father), Mandy (10), Simeon (8), Alice (14), Eunice (13), and Rebecca (mother). Standing in the back, left to right are:  Alonzo (1), Melissa (4), Robert (2), Julia (7), Orin (6), Angelia (9), and Orville (3).

This photograph was probably taken about 1888, likely in Avon, Bon Homme Co., South Dakota, the LUKE family's home at that time. Isaac was a private in the 16th Wisconsin Infantry during the Civil War. He outlived at least three wives (out of four) and six children of his 14 children, dying 18 January 1920 in Avon. Rebecca died 4 July 1911 in Brookings Co., South Dakota. They are buried in Hitt Cemetery, in Avon. Their children lived and died in South Dakota, Washington, Oklahoma, Texas, California, and Wisconsin.

Wordless Wednesday: The Family of Isaac and Rebecca (HEWITT) LUKE, c. 1888

Click photo to enlarge
The Family of Isaac and Rebecca (Hewitt) Luke, c. 1888. Unknown location, possibly Avon, Bon Homme Co., South Dakota. Original photograph privately held by Dennis R. Luke, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Oregon.

Wordless Wednesday: MARTIN Twins, Mother Angelia R. MARTIN, and Grandfather Isaac LUKE

Left to right: Isaac Luke, Leona Mary Martin, Angelia Rebecca (Luke) Martin, Lee Joseph Martin. C. 1915. Unknown location (possibly South Dakota). Original photograph privately held by Karen Coro, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE], Connecticut. 2013.

Wordless Wednesday: Rebecca (HEWITT) and Isaac LUKE

Rebecca (Hewitt) and Isaac Luke. Probably Avon Twp., Bon Homme Co., South Dakota. 1908. Copy privately held by Miriam Robbins Midkiff, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE], Spokane, Washington. 2010.

Surname Saturday: LUKE

The LUKE family is my mother-in-law's maternal grandmother's line. I haven't done much research on this line, except for early on in when I first started genealogical research and found the births of the children of Isaac LUKE and Rebecca HEWITT in the International Genealogical Society...how excited I was! I also recently located, visited, and photographed the graves of Angelia Rebecca LUKE and her husband, Joseph Franklin MARTIN. I think this line would be an interesting one to research in depth with its somewhat unique surname and the prolific family tree!

Stories and History:

There is a genealogy book that I will be ordering via Inter-library Loan which discusses this family: The Wilcox-Luke Genealogy: Descendants of Joel Wilcox and Catharine Randall of Connecticut, New York, Michigan and Indiana, and of John Luke, Revolutionary War Soldier of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan by Dyane Monroe Dye Wood. Printed by the Genealogical Publishing Service, 1996.

Ahnentafel #960 - Nathaniel LUKE (b. c. 1670) - earliest known LUKE ancestor

Ahnentafel #480 - Hendrick "Henry" LUKE (b. c. 1700) - still knowing next to nothing about this ancestor, but wondering with a name like Hendrick if he was from what is now Germany

Ahnentafel #240 - William LUKE (b. c. 1730) - possible immigrant ancestor? Possibly married to Catharine MUNDY.

Ahnentafel #120 - John LUKE (1761 - 1835) - born in Woodbridge Twp., Middlesex Co., NJ and died in Wooster, Wayne Co., Ohio. Married Margaret [--?--] (b. 1762): nine children. He may have served in the Revolutionary War.

Ahnentafel #60 - Azel Isak LUKE (1791 - 1874) - born in Woodbridge Twp., married Annabel MITCHEL (1793 - c. 1850), probably in Pennsylvania. Removed to Shamokin Twp., Northumberland Co., PA; Mt. Vernon, Wayne Co., OH; Vema Twp., LaGrange Co., IN; and finally Necedah, Juneau Co., WI, where he died. Seven children.

Ahnentafel #30 - Isaac LUKE (1831 - 1920) - born in Mt. Vernon, Wayne Co., OH; married Rebecca HEWITT (1836 - 1911) in 1851 in Sun Prairie, Dane Co., WI: 14 children. Served as a private in Company U, 16th Wisconsin Infantry during the Civil War. Removed to Avon, Bon Homme Co., South Dakota while it was still Dakota Territory. After Rebecca's death he married three more times to: Florence SUMMERS, Eliza HURD, and Maryann (BEST) SPERB

Ahnentafel #15 - Angelia Rebecca LUKE (1866 - 1941) - born in Summit Twp., Juneau Co., WI, she married John Franklin MARTIN in 1883 in Avon, Bon Homme Co., South Dakota: 12 children. John worked for the railroad for much of his life, which may have been the reason why they lived all over the Northern Plains and Pacific Northwest. After John's death in 1928, Angelia apparently moved to California to live with one of her two daughters that lived in the area. She died in Berkeley, Alameda Co., CA and is buried with John in Forest View Cemetery, Forest Grove, Washington County, Oregon.

Ahnentafel #7 - Leona Mary MARTIN (1906 - 1993) - youngest of 12 children and a twin, she was my husband's maternal grandmother. Her fantastic cooking provided for her family during the Depression through a diner she and her husband, Forrest Lyton CHAPLIN, owned.

Ahnentafel #3 - my mother-in-law, living

Ahnentafel #1 - my children's father, living


More about the LUKE family:

1. Online database (I update this at least once a month): LUKE ancestors and relative (no info on living persons available)

2. Posts about LUKE ancestors and relatives on this blog

3. Some scanned LUKE photos


My husband's LUKE immigration trail:

Middlesex Co., NJ > Northumberland Co., PA > Wayne Co., OH > LaGrange Co., IN > Juneau Co., WI > Bon Homme Co., DT (now SD) > Ransom Co., ND > LaMoure Co., ND > Kootenai (now Boundary) Co., ID > Franklin Co., WA > Multnomah Co., OR > Washington Co., OR > Clark Co., WA > Yakima Co., WA > Pierce Co., WA > Clark Co., WA > Spokane Co., WA

My Husband's Maternal Line

Three years ago, I published "Eight Generations of Mothers," which highlighted my matrilineal line. For this Mother's Day, I'd like to post my husband's matrilineal (maternal) line. I have to add that I am very blessed to have the mother-in-law that I do. She's got a wicked sense of humor, is generous to a fault (can't remember when I have visited her and didn't go home with something she gave me), and is a wonderful cook...a heritage that must have been passed on from her mother and her maternal grandmother, both of whom owned restaurants.

This is my mother-in-law, Alice Carol CHAPLIN, at around the age of 2 1/2. Isn't she a cutie? This photo was taken the summer of 1935, and may have been taken in Clark County, Washington.

This photo was taken the same day as the one above. It is of Alice's mother, Leona Mary (MARTIN) CHAPLIN (in front), at about age 28, with her mother, Angelia Rebecca (LUKE) MARTIN, about age 69, in the background. I love this shot for a number of reasons. There are very few family photos from my mother-in-law's family that I have been able to find. I also like this because it shows a young, very pretty, Leona. I only met her once, at my wedding, and she was quite elderly and wheelchair-bound. There's only one other photo I know of her, and that's with her twin brother when they were babies. I also like this because it's the only photo of Angelia that I have in which you can see her face. I recently visited Angelia's grave in Oregon last weekend.

Here is Angelia's mother, Rebecca (HEWITT) LUKE. This portrait, the original of which includes her husband, was taken in 1908, probably in Bon Homme County, South Dakota. She was about 73 in this photo.

Addendum:

I have information on one more generation in this line: Hannah (MILLER) HEWITT was born about 1803 in Pennsylvania and died between 1860 and 1870 in Wisconsin, probably in Dane County. I do not have any photographs of her.

Tombstone Tuesday: John Franklin and Angelia Rebecca (LUKE) MARTIN

Grave of John Franklin Martin,Lot 458,Grave 2,Fir Section,Forest View Cemetery,Forest Grove,Washington County,Oregon.Photographed and privately held by Miriam Robbins Midkiff,[ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE], Spokane,Washington.2010.



Grave of Angelia Rebecca (Luke) Martin,Lot 458,Grave 1,Fir Section,Forest View Cemetery,Forest Grove,Washington County,Oregon.Photographed and privately held by Miriam Robbins Midkiff,[ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE], Spokane,Washington.2010.

This is my very first Tombstone Tuesday post! Last weekend my family and traveled to the Portland, Oregon area to visit my in-laws. My sister-in-law is a huge FindAGrave fan and together we had tracked down where her great-grandparents were buried. While at the cemetery, we each took several hundred grave photos to add to the cemetery's FindAGrave pages.

These graves are of my mother-in-law's maternal grandparents. You can read more about the MARTINs and LUKEs by clicking on the links.

The Grave of Orville Isaac LUKE (1855 - 1943)

Source: Gravestone of Orville Isaac Luke, Park Hill Cemetery, Vancouver, Washington. Digital photograph. Privately held by Miriam Robbins Midkiff, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Spokane, Washington. 2004.

A number of years ago, before I was a member of the Eastern Washington Genealogical Conference, I attended one of their annual October workshops, and noticed a three-volume set of books for sale on their auction table. Excitedly, I realized that it was Park Hill Cemetery (Vancouver, Washington) published by the Clark County Genealogical Society, and although I really couldn't afford it at the time, I purchased the set, because I knew many relatives of my husband were buried there. After I got it home and started looking up his various surnames, I began to realize just how many of his family members were interred at Park Hill. Many names of collateral relatives--siblings of some of my children's father's great-grandparents who actually were buried in other cities altogether--were found listed in the books. These transcriptions are now available online, so I have passed on the volumes.

We try to visit my children's paternal grandfather at least once a year (it's a 360-mile one-way trip), and four years ago, we visited on Memorial Day. I thought it would be a perfect time to visit area cemeteries and we made the most of it that weekend, visiting three cemeteries within 55 miles. While we were mostly recording my children's paternal family's burials, one cemetery held the graves of one set of my great-great-grandparents; two of only four ancestors of mine buried west of the Mississippi River.

This grave of Orville Isaac LUKE, although surrounded by others, is "alone" as far as not having other apparent family members' graves nearby. Orville was the third of 14 children of Isaac LUKE and Rebecca HEWITT, and an older brother of my children's father's maternal great-great-grandmother, Angelia Rebecca (LUKE) MARTIN. I have not researched Orville nor his family, but what little information I have shows that he was born 17 March 1855 in Wonewac, Juneau Co., Wisconsin; that he was married first to Laura JOINER on 23 September 1883 in Ironton, Sauk Co., Wisconsin; that he later married Chloe May SMITH and had at least one child, Homer Oscar LUKE, b. 10 May 1892 in Bon Homme Co., South Dakota.

When Orville died 23 March 1943, he was buried in Section D of the cemetery. Homer was the lot owner, but he and his wife Jennie were buried in Section V. Chloe, whose cemetery information states that she was born in Minnesota in 1871, died 21 April 1937 (probably in Vancouver) and was buried in Section C. There are also three other Luke family members buried in two other sections of the cemetery, and until more research is done, it is not known if they are related. I find it curious that this family did not have a central plot, but perhaps they could not afford to do so, and bought each plot as needed, based upon what was available and what they could afford.

Wordless Wednesday: The Grave of Orville Isaac LUKE (1855 - 1943)

Source: Gravestone of Orville Isaac Luke, Park Hill Cemetery, Vancouver, Washington. Digital photograph. Privately held by Miriam Robbins Midkiff, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Spokane, Washington. 2004.

The CHAPLIN - MARTIN Marriage Certificate

Source: Chaplin - Martin Certificate of Marriage. Washington. Clark County. Marriage Certificates 1889 - 1977. Digital image. Washington State Digitial Archives. http://www.digitalarchives.wa.gov/ : 2008.

Yes, I realize that Wordless Wednesday is supposed to be about displaying a photograph, not a document. Inspired by George Geder's posts of posting ancestral photos on Wednesday and then a biographical sketch on Thursdays, I started doing WW back in February, based on a pattern of showing ancestral photos from my father-in-law's, father's, mother-in-law's, and mother's family trees, in that order. The problem was, I don't have access to many photos from my mother-in-law's family, and I don't believe she does, either. Unless I can come in contact with some of her relatives and obtain scans of ancestral photos (if there are any), I'm relegated to displaying photos of tombstones and images of documents. So be it!

I did want to feature this document, however, for a variety of reasons. My husband's family (both parents' sides) has lived in this state since the early 1900s, and Washington State has a wonderful open-record policy, perhaps one of the best in the nation. In addition, the Washington State Digital Archives and FamilySearch Labs are featuring both indexes and images of county, state, and federal records for Washington residents. I'm waiting impatiently for FamilySearch to release the images that have been indexed on their pilot site, and decided to help them along by doing some indexing on that specific collection. That in itself has been a lot of fun...to see records from Stevens County (where my parents live), Spokane County (my residence), and Klickatat County (which we pass through on the way to visit my in-laws). I recognize all these little towns which certainly helps in determining messy handwritten locations on death certificates!

Besides featuring a document with personal sentiment from the fabulous digital archives site, I thought this record was unique because it contains the signatures of four my husband's direct ancestors. John Franklin and Angelia Rebecca (LUKE) MARTIN were Leona Mary MARTIN's parents. Forest "Frank" L. CHAPLIN and Leona were my mother-in-law's parents. I've always seen Forest's name spelled with two Rs, but here he signs it with one. Hmm... I had the privilege of meeting the widowed Leona once--at our wedding--and then attended her funeral in 1993. I've mentioned Leona and her twin brother Lee before in one of my earlier Wordless Wednesdays.

A Civil War Soldier: Pvt. Isaac LUKE (1831 - 1920)

How Related: My husband's 2nd-great-grandfather

Born: 1 April 1831 in Mount Vernon, Wayne Co., Ohio

Parents: Azel Isak LUKE (1791 - 1874) and Annabel MITCHELL (1793 - c. 1850)

Siblings: William (1818 - 1894), Lydia (1821 - 1913), John (1823 - 1864), Margaret (b. c. 1825), Mary (b. 1827), and Charlotte LUKE (1833 - 1910)

Married: first on 20 February 1851 to Rebecca HEWITT (1836 - 1911) in Sun Prairie, Dane Co., Wisconsin; after Rebecca's death, he married three other women, outliving at least two of them: Florence SUMMERS, Eliza HURD, and Maryann (BEST) SPERB

Children: Isaac and Rebecca (nice Biblical names!) had 14 children!:

• William Alonzo (1852 - 1919)
• Robert Thomas (1853 - 1932)
• Orville Isaac (1855 - 1943)
• Mollisia Rachel (1856 - c. 1937)
• Lydia J. (c. 1859 - c. 1877)
• Orin Azel (1860 - 1932)
• Julia Elizabeth (1862 - 1916)
• Simeon Wesley (1863 - 1947)
• Angelia Rebecca (1866 - 1941) - my husband's ancestor
• Mary Amanda "Mandy" (1868 - 1938)
• Clara (c. 1870 - 1877)
• Lucy (c. 1872 - 1875)
• Eunice Rebecca (1874 - 1918)
• Alice Viola (1878 - 1955)
  

---

Drafted: 26 September 1864 in Co. U, 16th Wisconsin Infantry; private

Side served: Union

Mustered Out: 13 May 1865

---

Biography or Information of Interest: Isaac has been difficult to research; the 16th Wisconsin Infantry's Civil War Pension Index Cards have not yet been uploaded to Footnote, and I don't find one for him at Ancestry, so I'm not sure if he collected a pension. Other than many names, dates, and locations that have been passed on by other Luke researchers for this family, I haven't found any detailed information that gives me a flesh-and-blood portrait of the man. I did find a message at Genforum from a descendant who has a photograph of Isaac and Rebecca's family, but the e-mail address I wrote to is no longer valid. One item of note: it appears his brother John was also a Civil War soldier who died at Memphis, Tennessee. This is the second time since starting this series that I've discovered new information on a brother of an ancestor that also served.

Died: 18 January 1920 in Avon, Bon Homme Co., South Dakota

Buried: Grave 6, Lot 15, Block 3, Section 3 of Hitt Cemetery, Avon, Bon Homme Co., South Dakota

Twins Leona Mary and Lee Joseph MARTIN

(click photo several times to enlarge)


(reverse of photo)

Source: Martin, Leona Mary and Lee Joseph. Photograph. C. 1907. Original photograph in the possession of Michael Midkiff, Spokane, Washington. 2008.

Isn't this a darling photo? The little girl on the arm of the sofa is Leona Mary "Sis" MARTIN, about a year old, and her twin brother, Lee Joseph "Mick" MARTIN, is on the sofa back. Leona was my husband's maternal grandmother. This photograph was sent to the children's maternal grandparents, Isaac LUKE and Rebecca HEWITT, as evident by the message on the back: "for Grandpa & Grandma". The children's paternal grandparents, Francois Joseph MARTIN and Rachel HUBBY, had died in 1887 and 1892, respectively, so they could not have been the recipients of this photographic gift, perhaps sent as a Christmas gift when the children were a year old.

Lee and Leona were the youngest of twelve children born 17 December 1906 to John Franklin MARTIN and Angelia Rebecca LUKE. A large Catholic family of French, Scottish, and English roots, they were living in Bonners Ferry, Bonner (now Boundary) County, Idaho in 1906, where Frank worked for the railroad (probably the Northern Pacific). At the dinner after Leona's funeral in 1993, Mick's daughter, cousin of my mother-in-law, told me the story she had heard about the day the twins were born. Apparently, no one knew that Mama Martin was pregnant with twins. The family at that point consisted of five sons and five daughters, and there was a competition on as to whether the next baby would be a boy or a girl, since Mama had declared that there would be no more babies. According to the family story, the children, ranging in age from 21-year-old Gertrude (who was married) down to five-year-old Steve, were waiting outside the house to hear the news (seems somewhat inaccurate, given the fact that it was December in Northern Idaho--brrr! Perhaps instead they were waiting in the front room.). The doctor came out and announced, "It's a boy!" to the rousting cheers of Frank Jr., Clarence, Isaac, John, and Steve. He went back in to the house/bedroom and returned not much later to announce, "and it's a girl!" to the delight of Gertrude, Maude, Jane, Agnes, and Viola.

True or no, it's a fun story. When Lee grew up, he settled in Eastern Washington. He was married three times and fathered five children. Leona also lived in Eastern Washington, but spent her latter years in Vancouver, Clark County on the southwest side of the state. She and her husband, Forrest "Frank" L. CHAPLIN, had three children, the youngest of whom is my mother-in-law. Leona was present at our wedding, along with our other three grandmothers, my paternal grandfather, and our two step-grandfathers. This was the only time I got a chance to meet her, as her health was poor and she lived on the other side of the state. Lee died in 1984, before I knew my husband or his family. Interestingly, his Social Security Death Index information states he was born 17 December 1907, rather than 1906, while Leona's has the correct birth date. I spoke with my mother-in-law to verify their birth year (Idaho didn't record births until 1908), and she told me that an error had been made on Lee's birthdate, either by the Social Security Administration (or perhaps by a surviving family member after his passing) but no one in the family wanted to go through the paperwork to correct it.

As an aside: we know that giving birth to fraternal twins is a genetic female trait, usually appearing every other generation, while giving birth to identical twins is not genetic (it's a "mutation" in the development of the embryo, where one splits into two complete embryos). Leona's oldest daughter had twin fraternal daughters. I imagine that eventually one--or both--of them may have twin grandchildren someday.

Connecting with Cousins on Memorial Day

Three years ago, my husband, children and I traveled across the state of Washington to spend Memorial Day weekend with my in-laws in Vancouver, Washington, which lies just across the Columbia River from Portland, Oregon. I always enjoy this cross-state visit, as the longest leg of it--driving along the Columbia River on the Oregon side--follows both the Lewis and Clark trail and the Oregon Trail. I enjoy imaging the explorers and pioneers traveling the same route, and seeing Mt. Hood towering in the distance.

While in Vancouver, we went with Norm's parents and sister to Park Hill Cemetery in Vancouver, to visit and photograph the MIDKIFF, TOLLIVER, DAVES (step-ancestor), LUKE, and CHAPLIN graves. The following year, 2005, we made the same trip, and I insisted that we were going to travel down to the Willamette Valley to visit and photograph the grave of one of Norm's great-great-grandmothers, Rebecca Catherine (SNOOK) WESTABY, buried in Salem, as well as the graves of my great-great-grandparents, Charles Frisbe STRONG and his wife, Mary Lucy WRIGHT. Charles and Mary are two of only four of my ancestors buried west of the Mississippi River, and the other two are nowhere near my home! My paternal grandfather, Robert Lewis ROBBINS is buried at Ft. Sam Houston National Cemetery in San Antonio, Texas, and a 4th-great-grandmother, Lura Ann (JACKSON) PECK CRAPSEY, is apparently buried in St. Paul, Minnesota. So to actually be able to be within a few hours of an ancestor's grave is a big deal to me, and I wanted to take advantage of the opportunity.

When we arrived at Belle Passi Cemetery in Woodburn, Marion Co., Oregon, where Charles and Mary are buried, we found that the graves had already been cleaned and decorated. They were surrounded by other graves, obviously of the family of their daughter, Ethel Melissa (STRONG) HASTIE, who is buried there along with her husband, the Rev. Ezbon Roy HASTIE. I remember visiting the widowed Aunt Ethel in 1979, when we first moved to Washington State, and remembered meeting her son.

We were rather rushed on that visit, and so I didn't have time to try to find out how to contact the family. But on the way home, I had a couple of ideas that could work for you to help you connect with cousins on Memorial Day. Obviously, I could have looked up the Hastie family in the phone book in Woodburn, or on Dex Knows when I got home. But what if you are looking for descendants of an ancestor, yet you don't know your cousins' surnames?

First off, you need to know where your ancestor is buried. If their grave is in your hometown or nearby, you're in luck. If you are like myself and live far from your ancestral cemeteries, it's important to obtain death certificates and/or obituaries of your ancestors to determine their final resting places. I use Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness quite frequently to get obituaries of ancestors. They're easier and less expensive to access than death certificates. Once I have the name of a cemetery in hand, I use Find A Grave, Interment.net, Dex Knows, or Cemetery Junction to find an address and telephone number (check out Cyndi's List of Cemeteries as well).

My next step is to cold call the cemetery office during local business hours. I have had so much luck with this! You would be amazed at how helpful cemetery employees are! From phone interviews I have discovered the names of other ancestors and relatives buried in the same cemetery, the names of the funeral homes that provided services (I'll post more about this in the future), the names and addresses of the lot owners (which may be obsolete, but may provide relatives' names). I always try to obtain the lot number of the grave(s) I am interested in, and sometimes the employee will mail me a cemetery map. I ask the cemetery employee if it's okay to send them an info packet that they could place on my ancestor's grave (see following paragraph). In fact, I have been so successful in this type of research, that I've created a form that I use to help me remember all the questions I want to ask when I call.

The fourth step is to write a letter explaining that I am a descendant of the ancestor buried in that cemetery, and that I am doing genealogical research on the family. I leave contact information: a phone number, mailing address and e-mail address. This letter is folded and sealed in a zip-lock bag and then placed in an envelope which is addressed either to the cemetery office or to a volunteer in the area that I've contacted through the local genealogical society or Random Acts. The cemetery employee or the volunteer can then place the info packet (my letter in a zip-lock bag) on the grave, hopefully weighted with a small rock or wedged into a crevice of the headstone, so it won't blow away. If this is done about a week before Memorial Day weekend, there's a chance that I could connect with another descendant of that ancestor who has come to the cemetery to clean and decorate the grave! If the cemetery doesn't allow an info packet left on the grave itself, ask if your letter could be placed in your ancestor's file at the office.

So what's the purpose of this? To hopefully connect with other relatives of a common ancestor and exchange information...photos, documents, stories, etc. It's likely that the two of you have missing information that the other may be seeking. Perhaps you'll break down a brick wall! Memorial Day weekend is only two weeks away, so I hope you'll take advantage of this tip. Good luck to you!

Research Log - Obits for Norm's Ancestors

Requested obituaries though various RAOGK volunteers for Norm's ancestors:

Peder Johnsen LERFALD
Regina LERFALD
Clark Pleasant R. TOLLIVER
Senna COLLINS
Emma Alice LYTON
John Franklin MARTIN
George Rice WESTABY, II
Reuben Wohlford SNOOK
Elizabeth NEARHOOD (step-ancestor, second wife of Reuben Wohlford SNOOK)
Angelia Rebecca LUKE.