Happy 4th of July

Happy 4th of July everyone. I wish you a happy safe holiday. The pictures I am sharing are from one of hubby and my trips to New York city.

Grace

The Sadness Of Abandoned Cemeteries

Graveyards can be a beautiful place, a sad place and a lonely place but worst of all they can be abandoned and uncared for.
They can become lost for every. Tonight while doing family research I came across this listing of abandoned cemeteries.  Two have my family name of Millsap in their name.

Lets hope that some one near them does something so they can no longer be listed as abandoned.


Grace

Revisiting Forest Hill Cemetery Duluth Minnesota and the Joel and Lydia Johnson Graveside

Summer came and went and life got in the way of taking pictures to record at findagrave. We moved from one apartment to a larger one same city of Duluth. Sadly my sister in law passed away in August of this year. Life has been good, life has been sad. Winter is here in our part of the country and thought I should take a few minutes to pass by my mother and father's graves. Snow covered now but a little ways further are head stones and snow is not deep yet. That will change soon I am sure. I had my camera so snapped a few pictures of some of the grave stones.
Tonight I posted 2 names into Forest Hill on find a grave.  Decided I would share one of them with you tonight.

Tonight we are visiting the grave of Joel and Lydia Johnson. Joel was born in 1882 and passed away in 1956. Lydia was born in 1893 and passed away in 1988.

I hope that some day a family member will find this addition at findagrave. I am always happy to add that addition to my family history. Thanks for stopping by.. Grace

SPRING IS ALMOST IN THE AIR.. SNOW IS MELTING GRAVEYARD HUNTING SOON

Spring is in the air.. for some that means they can start planning their gardens. Before you know the little league baseball teams will start their practice. I love to see the kids playing as I drive by a neighborhood field.

This picture was taken at one of our local cemetery this fall.

And for us here in Duluth that means the shipping seasons starts today. Traffic will stop as the bridge goes up to let the big boats enter or leave the port..

But to me a wandering graveyard rabbit it means the snow will start to melt in the local cemeteries. I can start to full fill the http://www.findagrave.com/ requests in the area and most of all I can go to one of our local cemeteries to visit my family and to work on getting this cemetery on http://www.findagrave.com/. It is huge so is a big under taking but will work on this as time allows.

This is the Duluth Aeriel bridge. At this time we cross it every time we want to go anywhere. But the beauty of Lake Superior is worth it.



Sorry I have been gone so long from posting but we have moved to northern Minnesota and have been buried by snow.

Here is a old section of the cemetery. This is where I have to pretend I am a Billy Goat to take pictures.



See you soon with new grave yard postings.. Grace

Wishing You A Merry Christmas With A Few Thoughts From Me

Meet my great nephews and neice .. are they not adorable.. Boy do I miss seeing those faces and weekly

As this wonderful Christmas holiday approaches us I want to wish you all a Merry Christmas and pray that we all welcome in a wonderful New Year. I pray that our next year is better and more prosperous than the last for all of us.

As we share the holidays with our family and friends lets please think and pray for those that are less fortunate then us. Pray for the hungry, the homeless and those suffering from addictions , diseases and mental illness. My one thought always is " but for the grace of God there go I ".

Lets take a moment and pray for our service men and service women. And for those that are in harms way in a foreign country give them an extra thought and prayer. Pray for their families that are left here to deal with every day happenings without them. The majority of them do so much for so little.

Lets pray for our government officials that they have the wisdom to do what is best for all of us and the knowledge to do it with out fighting.

If you are still blessed to have your parents, grandparents, uncles and aunts be thankful. Take a moment to hug and kiss them. Take a few minutes and ask them to share their stories with you. Some day sadly they will be gone and you will then wish that you knew more of their history.

I am reminded of a conversation at my hubby's birthday party. I made a comment about getting married the first time and my step son and his family had never heard that story. I have been married to husband #2 for almost 22 years. We celebrate our wedding anniversary on the 30Th of December. They know very little about my history. That is probably my fault and maybe some of theirs.

This is hubby and me 10 years ago at a dinner theater on New Years eve. Guess it is time to get a new nice picture of us. He still has the tie and I probably still have that outfit. Question is can I still get into it.

So much contact today is emails and text messages. I personally detest text messages saying" happy anything " Take a moment and call your family. Here a voice and say I love you to some one. When I get one I just delete it as if it did not happen. Except for one text message from my grand daughter Kirsten. She sent me one and it is of a loud " Kiss " and "I Love You"I play it often. It was not sent for a birthday, Christmas message or any reason other than she thought of me and sent it. Grandpa got one too. Thanks Kirsten I smile when I replay it.

I am busy always searching and writing about my ancestors but I guess it is time to do some sharing of my life in writing. How I wish I had more of my parents, grandparents and past relatives stories. There are so many stories untold. As I share some of my life on my family blog site I have been printing some of them so I can give to family in the future.

Now with all of that I will leave you for now. It is time to make another pot of coffee, put on one of my favorite Christmas movies " Love Actually " with Hugh Grant and make my Watergate Salad for our Christmas eve party tonight.

I appreciate all of you that take a moment to visit my sites and to those of you who leave a message an extra thank you . Merry Christmas to you and your families .. Grace

Winter In Duluth Minnesota

It is now winter here in Duluth. The gravestones are covered with snow and there is no picture taking for now.

Every day I get more and more requests for pictures of family gravestones through http://www.findagrave.com/

I never knew of all of these cemeteries until now. I grew up with knowing of the four in my little world and now I am getting requests for cemeteries outside of Duluth and for Douglas County, Wisconsin.

All will have to wait till next spring and the snow melts. This pretty picture is from this fall and shows some of the residents of Forest Hill Cemetery here in Duluth. I need to look at this often to help forget the cold weather around me.

Wordless Wednesday In Duluth Minnesota Finding Charles Peterson's Grave

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday at Forest Hill in Duluth Minnesota is featuring my quest to find Charles Peterson.

I had a request to find a Charles Peterson through http://www.findagrave.com/ . I know other attempts had been made and messages of no luck had been posted on the request page for the cemetery.

As I am wandering looking for this Peterson I kept looking at this tombstone.

Buried here is Edith I 1896 - 1956 and Burleigh Peterson 1893 - 1995. Wrong name, I then wandered further away knowing he has to be some where here. I turn round and head back towards this tombstone and written on the bottom is my Charles Peterson 1863 - 1942. There he is just waiting for some one to notice this small inscription written at the bottom on the other side. Burleigh was the son of Charles.

This is something you see in the old tombstones, but I was not expecting it on one of this age.

Mission accomplished and a great grandson can see his great grandfather's name and knows where to find him.

Soon the snow will fall and no more graveyard hunting here in Minnesota until Spring..

Thanks for stopping by and viewing the post of this wandering graveyard rabbit...Grace

Find A Grave For Fish Family At Forest Hill Cemetery Duluth Minnesota

I am a volunteer for http://www.findagrave.com/ . There have been a few requests for pictures of graves at Forest Hill Cemetery in Duluth Minnesota. This is a big cemetery and I have never driven through it until yesterday. It was a cool windy day. Winter will be here soon, maybe as soon as Saturday. I felt it was time to find some of the requested graves.

I stopped in at the office to see if I could get a map of the cemetery and help to find the graves so I could take my pictures . I had 10 names on my list. Not many names but they are from one end to the other end of the cemetery, and not easy to find even when you find the section you want. Hubby and I spent over an hour and a half searching.

I was able to take pictures of 5 from the list plus there were family members buried near by . I added those graves to the list.

Today I am featuring the Fish Family

This is the tombstone of Elizabeth Fish born 1844 died 1916.

She is buried on the side of a steep hill. I felt like a mountain goat. The goat picture is from the National Geographic page. http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&q=picture+of+mountain+goat+national+geographic&psj=1&wrapid=tlif12895984862981&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&ei=JrbdTLXMIMOAlAell_nuDA&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CCoQsAQwAA&biw=948&bih=375

I also found the grave of a J Frances 1875 1888 buried near her.

When I went to post the picture of J Frances this is what I found written on his memorial page.

Killed while jumping from a passenger train near the west end of Duluth, Minnesota. James Francis Fish was the son of Elizabeth McMahon Fish and Francis A. Fish.

How sad that he died so young, he was a 13 year old boy probably out for an day of adventure.

Hope that you have enjoyed your time at my "wandering rabbit" ( or mountain goat) page.. please take a moment and read about some of my other trips to a cemetery and I hope you stop back again soon.. Grace

Tombstone Tuesday Duluth Minnesota Arthur Aaronson

For Tombstone Tuesday I am featuring the gravestone of Arthur Aaronson. He is buried in Forest Hill Cemetery.

Arthur Aaronson

Minnesota

Pvt 353 INF 89 Div

February 11, 1896

November 3 1938

The grass is covering the death date so not sure what it is exactly. I will have to make a drive to the cemetery to get the exact date so I can post on http://www.findagrave.com/

Rest in peace Arthur

Thanks for stopping by... Grace

Wordless Wednesday Visits Duluth Minnesota Cemetery

Wordless Wednesday (Almost) posting I am

once again visiting

Forest Hill Cemetery in Duluth Minnesota

Here buried is

Raymond Severson 1910 - 1938

son

Only 28 years old when he died, so sad.

I went to http://www.ancestry.com/ and found his death certificate this tells me when he died exactly.

If I was a family member I would order this to get his parents names. There are several Raymond Seversons listed. 1920 census found one listed as 9 years old and living in Duluth. But with out knowing his families names I have no idea if this is really him.

Minnesota Death Index, 1908-2002 about Raymond Severson
Name:
Raymond Severson
Death Date:
9 Feb 1938
Death County:
Saint Louis
State File Number:
026331
Certificate Number:
026331
Certificate Year:
1938
Record Number:
776020

So much research can be found on the Internet. That information can be a good start at finding our ancestors.

I have added his name to http://www.findagrave.com/ at Forest Hill Cemetery.

Hopefully family members searching for him will some day find my picture of his gravestone.

Thanks for visiting my wandering rabbit blog.. hope that you will take a few minutes to read some of my other postings before you hop away.