Charles Morgan Plaque (2004)

Charles Morgan Plaque (2004), a photo by midgefrazel on Flickr.

Departing from my usual gravestone for Tombstone Tuesday, I show here instead this plaque on a memorial Rock at Mystic Seaport to remember those who served on the Whale Ship, Charles W. Morgan.

Tombstone Tuesday: Newton

Newton, a photo by midgefrazel on Flickr.

I took this photo of a Newton monument to remind me to pull out the folder of my hubby's Newton family to work on. Have I done it yet? No time like the present, I say. After all, that's what Tombstone Tuesday is for....

Tombstone Tuesday: Ceramic Tile of a Pope

Ceramic Tile Pope, a photo by midgefrazel on Flickr.

Ceramic Tiles are great when they are mounted correctly on a stone. This one fell out of the circle (to the left) of this stone and someone placed it neatly on the top of the stone.

Taken in St. Bridget's Cemetery in Maynard, MA

Tombstone Tuesday: Foreign Language Gravestones

Adolph SOMSKY
Originally uploaded by midgefrazel

Taken in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in NY by my friend Kathy Schrock is this interesting gravestone. A fellow genealogist used a Czech dictionary to translate some of the words.

"He was happy to set foot with the Lord (or in English - He happily walked with God)
(Name)
Born on July 18 in the year 1892.
Died on October 30th of ...the year 1919.
He is peaceful/tranquil in his dust (peaceful in the grave)."

Notice that it was easy to find his name, the dates of birth and death and that he was a Christian. I was surprised to see how the other words fit into a New England/New York style of gravestone words.

I found his draft card at Ancestry.com but otherwise, not much about him.

Ruth C. FRAZEL

Ruth C. FRAZEL
Originally uploaded by midgefrazel

My mother-in law passed away last Friday, September 3, 2010 at 6 PM after a short illness. Her oldest son, David, drove many miles to be with her and to help us out as we were moving. She passed away, quietly, as her son held her hand. We are grateful for his loving support.

She did not choose to be buried with a headstone so I am posting this on "Tombstone Tuesday" in her memory. I wrote this about her for my husband, who is her middle son to take with him to the funeral home. They will edit it as needed.

Ruth Hannah (Craig) Frazel, of East Providence, passed away on September 3, 2010 after a short illness. Ruth was a daughter of the late James Craig and his wife Hannah Wilde Craig. She is predeceased by her sisters, Jane Craig Entwhistle, Janet Craig, Edna Craig Fisk and her brother George Craig.

Mrs. Frazel was the wife of Wilbur H. Frazel. They resided in Barrington, Warren, and Riverside until moving to East Bay Manor a few years ago. Besides her husband of seventy two years, she leaves her three sons, David and his wife Myra of Indiana, Stephen and his wife Midge of Massachusetts and Michael of Illinois. She was a grandmother of three, Laura Frazel Dulski, Cheryl Frazel Lasseter and Heather Frazel Sacco. Ruth was a great grandmother to two step-great grandsons, and three great grandsons. She also leaves behind a nephew, James Craig and his wife Theresa of Cranston. 

A 1932 graduate of Warren High School, Ruth graduated from Rhode Island College of Education in 1936 with a degree in education. It was during her commute on a bus from Warren to Providence that she met her future husband Bill, who was a student at Brown University. She once told me that when they commuted to Providence on the bus, she could feel little jolts of electricity when their shoulders touched.

After graduating in 1937, Ruth was a long time substitute teacher in the East Providence elementary schools while raising her family.

At the time of her passing, she was the longest time member of the Warren Baptist Church having joined at the age of twelve.

Ruth enjoyed being a homemaker and spending time with her family. She was an excellent cook, an avid reader and enjoyed a good news broadcast until her recent illness.  She will be lovingly missed and always remembered by her husband Bill and her family and friends.

Tombstone Tuesday: Daniel William CLIFT

Daniel William CLIFT
Originally uploaded by midgefrazel

Tombstone Tuesday: Daniel William Clift

Yong Daniel William Clift, son of Capt. Waterman Clift and his wife Esther Hazard, died when he was 19 years old. He is buried at Elm Grove Cemetery next to his brother Stanton and behind his parents.

He was born, lived and died in Groton, CT. Born 25 June 1852, he is listed in the 1860 and 1870 census. He died 23 Nov 1871.

At age 17, he is listed in the census as a post office clerk and his name is listed as "Willie D." There was only one year difference between him and his sister Thankful Aletta Clift. Maybe they were close knit siblings.

Stony Wilderness

Symmetry
Originally uploaded by midgefrazel

Tombstone Tuesday 27 Oct 2009
Halloween Week

I am reading this book on my iPod using the Kindle app. I chose it because the story is partly about the famous Highgate cemetery in London. I didn't expect the story to feature the cemetery so much but much to my delight, it is an important part of the story. Great reading or listening for any lover of cemeteries.

How wonderful is it that in just a few clicks, you can get photo and videos about the cemetery itself? Here's a sample of what I found:

Video from Amazon and a YouTube video [that is wonderfully seasonal] and a photo set at Flickr and a whole group for the cemetery itself with over a thousand photos to look at. Not enough? check out Find a Grave's listing! They have divided the graves into the physical two huge sections of Highgate: East [75 famous interments] and West [96 famous interments]

New York Times Book Review

Douglas Noel Adams (1952-2001) made me smile at the simplicity of this gravestone for a mind so wonderfully complex.

A quote from the book, Her Fearful Symmetry:

"...there was only the cemetery itself, spread out in the moonlight like a soft grey hallucination, a stony wilderness of Victorian melancholy"

Update! From the Publisher:

Regal Literary has 25 hardcover and 10 Advanced Reader?s Copies of Her
Fearful Symmetry ready to go to the book?s Facebook fans. All you have
to do is become a fan of Her Fearful Symmetry on Facebook, send an
e-mail to hfs@regal-literary.com with the subject ?Facebook Special
Offer ? I?m a fan!? by November 13, and we?ll enter you into the
lottery.

Not only that, but if you tweet or blog about the Facebook special
offer and e-mail the link to your post or tweet to
hfs@regal-literary.com, we'll enter your name again! We?ll enter you
for each post or tweet and for each entrant you refer. Become a
follower of @regal_literary on Twitter, and we?ll enter your name for
that too! To be eligible for these additional entries, you must first
be a Facebook fan.

The Her Fearful Symmetry Facebook page features video interviews with
Audrey, links to reviews, a list of Audrey?s appearances and much more
about Audrey?s new book.

http://www.tinyurl.com/facebookhfs

Digging Deeper

Dudley W. STEWART (WWI marker)
Originally uploaded by midgefrazel

Tombstone Tuesday 8 Sept 2009
Dudley Wheeler Stewart

Dudley Wheeler Stewart, brother to my maternal grandfather, Evans Stewart, lies buried next to my grandparents. I have no photograph of him even though it seems that I should. His father, Charles Edward Stewart, named this second son after HIS father. It may be that his wife named her first child and he named the next.

When visiting North Stonington, CT where both boys were born, the North Stonington Historical Library has family group sheets created by local genealogist and Stewart family member, Mrs. A. Morgan Stewart and I had several generations copied for me. It is amazing how accurate the information on them has proved to be.

Dudley was considered a "black sheep" of the family but I have found no juicy tidbits to confirm this oral story. As you can see by his gravestone, he is a WWI Veteran, serving for RI. His draft cards for WWI and WWI give me a general description of him and I can tell you he looked nothing like his brother, my grandfather.

It says in Mrs. Stewart's work, that he was a "singing cop" and yet, none of the census records, city directories or draft cards say anything about that! I admit to being intrigued, so I am "digging deeper". Why? Because my daughter asked me who he was when she was standing at his grave. I think there is a story here and I'd like to know more!

First question in my mind is why is he not buried with his wife Stella and why can't I find him in the 1930 census?