It Pays to Revisit
As genealogists, we know that it pays to revisit the online repositories every so often to see if anything new has been posted. This week, I had a very pleasant surprise when I visited a cemetery that I go to regularly. This week, I am lucky enough to be able to spend time with my Aunt Terri. She lives in California and our visits are not regular. The last time I saw her was three years ago. This past Tuesday, I picked her up from the airport and we had a great evening together. She brought with her a photo album from the Springer (Fontaine) line of our family, the photo’s are dated between 1898-1899. There are many great photo’s there, and if we are friends on Facebook. You probably got a peek of them already. If we are not friends on Facebook, be patient they will be posted here throughout the month (well thats my plan anyway). But, I digress. On Wednesday, we visited 6 different cemeteries!
When you live out-of-town your visit home will usually bring you to a cemetery or two. Hehehe, not when you are related to me. I take you to see all the family members I have found, and maybe to see a few who I think might end up being family. And, I will tell you the story that goes along with the maybe family members.
Our visit to the first few cemeteries went without notice. Drive in, pull up to the graveside area, find grave, have a small discussion and move on. When we got to the third cemetery, we visited the first two graves in one section and once done cleaning the sites up a bit we moved on to the next section over to find Nanny, or for those of us who did not know her, Rose (Springer) O’Connell – McAvoy. I have blogged about Rose in the past, and you can find it here. Buried next to Rose, is her daughter Theresa. When I originally found the graves of Rose and Theresa I was sad that Theresa’s grave was unmarked. I know, things happen and sometimes the money is not there to handle all the expenses that go along with death. There had been many visits to the cemetery where I thought about trying to save some money to mark her grave. Theresa’s grave is the only one I had come across that was unmarked. I visit this cemetery at least once a year to check on the family graves and multiple times to do look ups in the office.
Well, on this day I was in for a large surprise. As I went looking for Rose’s grave I was looking for the empty spot next to her. I find it easier to find a grave when I know what is around it. Someone thought they would have a bit of fun with me this year (thought they did not know it). When I found Rose’s grave, I was excited to see that Theresa’s grave was finally marked.
