Tombstone Tuesday; Capt. Horatio N. FISH

Photo by Midge Frazel, 2009

Capt. Horatio Nelson FISH
"Christ is the anchor of my Hope"

1800-1863

What better surname could we have for the first gravestone for the Summer of the Sea Captain (and their families) than this one? 

Anyone who sees this knows that this is a man of the sea as the anchor is prominent and his title of captain is carved on the stone. Douglas Keister's book, Stories in Stone mentions that the anchor symbol represents hope and that this type of anchor is the crux dissimulata (cross in disguise) and sometimes symbolizes religious belief. [p. 111]

Close up of the anchor symbol, photo by Midge Frazel, 2009

So, this anchor-cross, the words about his christian life and the title of Capt. are three separate pieces of evidence in this case.

Capt./ Horatio N. Fish/died/ April 25, 1863./Aged 63 Years./ A loving, kind and exemplary husband/ An indulgent and truly beloved parent./ A worthy and a christian man,/ For many years an officer in the Church of Christ./

We learn from this gravestone his full date of death, that he was 63 years old when he died, that he was a captain of a vessel, that he was married and she outlived him, that he was a parent and that he was a christian and officer in his church. Can you find all these clues on this stone?

The Fish genealogy lists him in the Connecticut Line #1764, p. 285. From this source we learn his middle name of Nelson, his birth date (June 18, 1800) his parents names George and Sarah, including her maiden surname of Hinchley), that he was brought up on the family farm in Groton, the maiden name of his wife (Morgan), and his date of marriage (Aug. 29, 1824). We also learn he was a deacon in the Groton Baptist Church. Listed for children is his only son's name and that he had several daughters but their names are not given. His death date is not given.

His lineage is listed as Horatio 8, (George 7, Jonathan 6, Moses 5, Samuel 4, John 3, Alice 2, John 1)

Fish, Lester Warren, A.B. M.D. The Fish Family in England and America, Genealogical and Biographical Sketches. The Tuttle Publishing Co. Rutland, VT. 1948. (purchased from the Higginson Book Company, softcover $71.00)

Keister, Douglas. Stories in Stone: A Field Guide to Cemetery Symbolism and Iconography. Gibbs Smith Publisher, Salt Lake City. 2004. (available in hardcover and Kindle and nook electronic formats)

Lower Mystic Cemetery (also known as Fishtown Cemetery) is located in West Mystic, New London, CT [Find a Grave]

Little Lighthouse

Mystic Seaport (2004), a photo by midgefrazel on Flickr.

Lighting the Way to Summer

Realizing that many of my readers do not live in New England but have New England ancestry, I looked through the photographs of gravestones I have not yet blogged about and thought about summer in New England. This little lighthouse symbolized the idea of the close-knit families of life by the ocean. (Don't miss the huge house in the right side of the background!)

Mystic Seaport offers an interesting perspective on the life and times of the seafaring men in Connecticut and Rhode Island. The popular movie, Mystic Pizza, sparked interest in this area.  I put the link here, not to the movie but to the "real" place. Not everything in movies is real but this is. (Wikipedia: Mystic Pizza)

I enjoy this area where many of my maternal ancestors lived. The Mystic River Historical Society has helped me with many of my blog posts. I didn't expect that and it is one of the pleasures of having people who are interested in my work and my ancestry.

I don't know much about the sea-faring men and their families who knew my ancestors and are "cousins" in my charts. I thought I'd keep cool this summer by learning about them. Maybe you have some too and can look for their gravestones this summer. Occasionally, I will post just a photo of Mystic Seaport to keep you interested since I am not blogging daily.

Get out your sunglasses and hat and don't forget your sunscreen because this project is to be known as:

Summer of the Sea Captain

Update: the little lighthouse

Looking Out

Oval Window, a photo by midgefrazel on Flickr.

New England Style

Before I begin a project, I like to have a period of thinking about how ideas and occupations here in New England have influenced modern life. Since it is a partly cloudy morning here, Hubs and I went up to the mailbox and got "yesterday's mail" and walked around out condo complex. I see things we haven't really noticed even though we have lived here nearly three years. 

This is a type of window at the top of the townhouse condos which we don't have in our house. It is like the windows in houses in areas near the ocean where the women looked out to see the ships that came in and sailed out in coastal areas. Many gravestones in this area have "buried at sea" or "died at sea" on them and I haven't blogged about them as yet.

I have quite a few gravestones from my adventures in the area where my ancestors lived in the Stonington and Groton areas of eastern Connecticut near the shoreline. In this area is the Mystic Seaport where many ships were built. It is a great place to visit and of course, I went with my grandparents and parents so many years ago. 

I have some photos that I took and I am going to have to find them before I can begin this summer project. 

Percent Photographed

Find-a-Grave's Percent Photographed

As part of my daily work, I use the information posted at Find a Grave to learn, not just about my own ancestors, but those cemeteries, local and distant in which I am photographing gravestones. I have not shared as many as I should since I am posting them to my blog for people to find. 

I have had great experiences with having my own gravestone requests fulfilled. I am always very thankful not to have to drive huge distances to take photographs that are meaningful to my own family work. 

This is a photograph of a family cemetery in Mystic-Groton Connecticut where I have fourth great grandparents buried. It is on privately owned land. 

I have photographed it and put those photos at the beginning of this blog. These photo were taken with permission of the family and it was with this cemetery that I started my blog because family lives next door (on the side you can't see here) and they came out of the house as I was photographing. They were very nice and allowed me to take the photos. They mailed me the plot map. They told me ONLY descendants can be buried here. It was a wonderful experience. I realize now that if they hadn't been nice, I might have been arrested for trespassing. Yikes.

I see that Find-a-Grave reports that this cemetery is 95% photographed. The names of those who took photos are not familiar to me.  They could be family, I don't know. I do know that after I took photos, there was a death and a private burial. The family told me that when they went to the town hall to give them a list of those who were buried there (in later years), they had to pay the burial fees. I did warn them about that. I wonder why the funeral home didn't tell them? They keep this private burial ground mowed and cleaned. Imagine being charged with the upkeep of a cemetery next door to your home? 

I suggest that you return to your own ancestral cemeteries (virtually at Find a Grave) and look to see if there are new photos or information there. Report back to me about what you learn! Thanks!

Tombstone Tuesday: Mrs. Martha Smith

Tombstone Tuesday; Martha, wife of Rev. Aaron SMITH

Mrs. Martha SMITH, wife of Rev. Mr. Aaron SMITH, is buried in the Old Common Cemetery in Marlborough, MA. Her husband is not buried with her, but I did take a photo of his gravestone which is in the North Cemetery in Wayland, MA 

This slate gravestone features the rosettes that are found in many cemeteries in New England. I bought a cemetery pin that is almost identical to the motif of this gravestone.

I am making this "slide" into a graphic so I can get feedback from my readers about including this as a "style" in future presentations. Suggestions are welcome.

Spring in the Cemetery

Spring in the Cemetery, a photo by midgefrazel on Flickr.

Woodlawn Cemetery in Acton, Massachusetts

On 2 May 2013, hubs and I went to Woodlawn Cemetery in Acton just for some fresh air and a "look-see" as my Dad used to say.

As this is one of those New England Cemeteries with paved roads inside, we just drove around and looked at the various areas. It is quite large. I thought this tree was especially nice.

As we pulled in the cemetery workers were leaving. It was 3:30 PM. Late in the day for photographing stones but much to my surprise I did get some nice photos of the older stones.

I have always felt that as you move around in the various ares of a cemetery and the type of stones change it is indicative of the "mood" of the time period. Maybe others don't feel this. I don't know.

I did only a little research about this cemetery so we will have to return someday.

Great Grandfather's Journal

Scrapbook Journal Book of Charles Edward Stewart 

Great Grandfather's Newspaper Scrapbook Journal

With all this discussion about other types of evidence, including newspapers, I thought it might be important to note that my maternal great grandfather, Charles Edward Stewart, kept a scrapbook journal during his teen years. As a young genealogist, I didn't know this book existed.

It must have come to my parent's house when my grandmother turned eighty and moved in my my mother. An addition was built onto my parent's house which consisted of a bedroom-sitting room and a bathroom. When I sold my parent's house, I was amused to see it was advertised as the master bedroom suite.

One day, my mother showed me this journal. She claimed to have read it through at least twice. As she was not interested in history, I was surprised. She let me take it. I spent some time carefully reading each page and I photocopied all the pages with family stories that appeared in it plus the announcements of marriages and deaths. I made several copies of those pages and scanned them all.

I donated the journal to the North Stonington Historical Society because so much of it was about weather and local farm reports. If anyone was doing a study of that area, they might need this information. I am a life member of this organization. (Thanks, Gladys Chase!)

I don't know what newspapers this journal covered. It is not chronological. I think that the family Bible must have contained clippings that Charlie put in his journal or that were found by his Denison mother, Eliza Fish Denison Stewart. 

The journal itself was probably left over from his father's general store or by the store in Mystic that his mother's brother owned and operated. Paper may have been expensive but judging from census and tax records, this family could afford this. Great Grandfather, Charlie went to private schools during the majority of time this journal was kept which was 1873 to 1874 when Charlie was 14 to 15 years old. It may have been a school assignment.

 One story is about a sea voyage and I will have to research it further. But for now, I turned to an interesting book titled, Writing With Scissors by by Ellen Gruber Garvey which I heard about from fellow blogger, Erica Voolich. (Thanks, Erica). The copy I am reading is a library book so I will have to purchase it to learn more about this interesting topic.

"Clipping and saving the contents of periodicals in scrapbooks is a form of active reading that shifts the line between reading and writing." ( Chapter 1: Reuse, Recycle and Recirculate p. 47)

So, in addition to making sure these pages become part of my family history, I am going to have to try to determine the source of the clipped articles, aren't I?

Sophia Baker

David and Sophia Frauzel, from the family collection of Melinda Frazel Mlodzienski

Photo by ALB Frauzel, 2013, used with permission

Sophia Baker

I think it is great to have gravestones plus a picture of what the people who are buried there looked like when they were young. This "photo" probably of a oil paintings looks like it was photographed separately and combined into one picture. Since Sophia and David are said to have been married in 1846, then it certainly suspect to be a photo. 

We do know that Robert Frauzel visited Nova Scotia several times to learn about his roots. His records, probably from his genealogy software program, were exported to a text file so formatting them is going to be a big project. 

Alice and I are still working on this project together. Between Robert's information and gravestones we are getting enough information to work on David and Sophia's children and grandchildren. As Sophia is a Baker, I am going to have to let Alice research them since she tells me there are several Baker families in the area. She tells me that local records say Baker's Settlement and not Baker Settlement as it says on the cemetery sign.

I am still learning about Canadian records, so there will be more to report on as time goes on. Just to make things interesting, Sophia mother's maiden name is FANCY. 

I am still puzzling over two SONS named a similar name. One named Alonzo (1853-1929) and the other Alonzas (1863-1955). I wonder how common a first name this is?

David Frauzel

Photo by ALB Frauzel, used with permission


Johann David Frauzel
1823 to 1901
Baker Settlement Cemetery, Lunenberg, Nova Scotia, Canada

Known as David, son of Johann George FRAUZEL and Mary Ann Diemont, he is my husband's second great grandfather. Listed as born 23 Jan 1821 [in the 1901 census of Canada] (note the stone says 1823), in Waterloo, Lunenberg, Nova Scotia, he married Sophia Ann BAKER in 1846.

Joseph David Frazel was his third son and my husband's great grandfather who came to America with his wife and children.

Alice just found this flat-to-the-ground gravestone this past week. Before this we thought that his grave was marked with a simple FRAUZEL marker. Of course, we don't know who that is now!

This couple had about 8 children. I easily found the 1901 census because his name David FRAUZEL was spelled correctly. Of course, by then this man was 80 years old and all his children were grown or had died so I don't have a clear picture of the family.

We know, from this 1901 census, that he was a farmer and he was listed as a Lutheran and of German descent. I have learned that is customary for men to use their middle names dropping their first name but we have noticed that after this generation, men used their first names when they came to America.

It is interesting to note that my husband's older brother is named David Frazel. My late mother-in-law did not know there was another David in a previous generation when she named my brother-in-law David.

The 1861 Canadian census lists David and Sophia's surname as FROSSEL so I had to be creative when searching for them. Our next step is to work out all of the children. So far, we have two men named with a similar name who lived to adulthood. So much is a work in progress!

Baker Settlement Sign

Photo by ALB Frauzel, used with permission

Nova Scotia Family

For many years, I have tried to learn more about my husband's Nova Scotia ancestors. The late Robert Frazel, a scientist from Massachusetts who retired to Florida, and I exchanged information and his research into the possible immigrant ancestor kept us interested in this surname. Before Robert died, he told us he went to Germany with a possible name but had no luck finding a real records.

So, it was back to the drawing board with copies of his work in hand. I found a kindred soul named Alice, who lives in Lunenburg county. We exchanged information and connected on Facebook.

Alice is also married to a Frazel but the people who currently live there are named Frauzel.  We now think that when hubs great grandfather and his son, hubs grandfather came here to Massachusetts, they dropped the U in their name.

Alice lives fairly close to the cemetery that Robert told us had gravestones of the ancestors. You know me, I just had to see what it looked like! Alice is a great photographer. She made her images black and white so I would know exactly which ones she took. Pretty good idea, huh?

Today, I will show you the first one, this lovely granite marker. A long time ago, I thought it was Baker's Settlement Cemetery. I wasn't sure it was a surname. After all they could have been cooks! But, as Alice is a Baker descendant, we know know for sure that it is Baker. [Alice now tells me that there were several Baker families in this area so it should be Baker's Settlement!)