Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Tombstone Tuesday: Gravestone Lesson

This is my friend to whom I gave a lesson in gravestone research last July 4th in the oldest graveyard in Bridgewater where we live. [Photo she took of me]

She did her homework and located the gravestone of one of her immigrant ancestors in Old Weaverland Graveyard in Pennsylvania. I wish all my ancestor's memorial gravestones were inscribed with this much information. I was pleased that her friend took this photo of her with this gravestone. (Then, they went to Gettysburg. I am jealous!)

Imagine her surprise, when she walked around the stone to look for more information on the back and found this fieldstone, which undoubtedly marked that grave until the year 1947 (my birth year). She took a closeup of it and it says D M and 1784. What a find!

 She used Find a Grave and other sources to locate the graveyard. It is in Lancaster County, PA and they call it Weaverland Mennonite Cemetery. Many graveyards have several "official" names and it  may make them hard to find. Be sure to do your homework, like my friend did, to have such success in such a far away place.

It is great to see that my cemetery skills helped another!

1 comment:

Brian V. Laws said...

Definitly alot more information on there than what I'm use to seeing! I've had to do very long research just to find the life stories behind my family! But, it's a great surprise when you do...even if it's something small!