Category: Cemeteries

CategoriesCemeteriesThielke

Centuries of Wear

Posted on 4 June 2007by Brian Zalewski

It’s been a little slow on the genealogy home front these last few weeks, though I did find some new headstones when I went to look for a few new ones in Port Washington’s Union Cemetery. I had originally went to find the headstone of Herman Rathke and more than likely his wife, also. This would also cement the fact that this was my ancestor, since all I had to go on was his wife’s name.

I found their headstones, but I also found two more ancestor’s (or more) headstones right next to them. The headstones were of my Thielke ancestors. The one that grabbed my eye was of Peter Thielke, since his was still crisp, but his wife’s wasn’t so lucky. I’d known his wife’s name was Mary, or something similar, from the census records, but this headstone looks like it just may have her maiden name on it, but I can’t tell. All I can make out is “Marie” and also the name of “Peter Thielke.” I’ll attach them here, in case somebody else has better eyes or just happens to see it at first glance.

Marie Thielke Thumbnail
Click for full size image (large)

CategoriesCemeteriesReviewTips & Tricks

Cemetery Research

Posted on 21 May 2007by Brian Zalewski

Cemetery ResearchWow, it’s been a week. It sure seemed to go quickly. I didn’t get to much family research in the last week, but I did visit my local library and checked out some of their genealogy items.

The first book I checked out was “Your Guide to Cemetery Research” by Sharon Debartolo Carmack. It was one of the only newer books in at the time, so I grabbed it. It was actually very interesting and helpful, even if you don’t plan on doing any cemetery research. She goes over types of stones, types of cemeteries, the different burial ceremonies in each culture, etc. These things will help you pinpoint your ancestors headstone and possibly other information, such as religion and ethnicity.

I recommend it for the genealogy researcher. And you know, we’re always looking for another reason to hang out in a cemetery.

CategoriesCemeteriesHistoryNews

Remains of the Unknown

Posted on 3 May 2007by Brian Zalewski

Remains of four people that were found about a decade ago in my home town, while adding on to a local church, were finally laid to rest this week. According to the news article about this, they are believed to be over 100 years old. Over the last decade, they’ve been trying to figure out who these remains belonged to, even going as far as contacting a forensic pathologist to conduct a bone analysis. All he could say was the they were probably of European descent.

Eisenberg told the crowd gathered Tuesday that it’s not even clear whether all four were originally buried together. What’s known is that one of the four was a male and another was a female. The child was buried with one of the adults – whose gender couldn’t be determined – in a brick crypt.

Unfortunately, they couldn’t find out who these remains belonged to, but it’s good to see them finally laid to rest again.

Read one of the articles here at JSOnline.com.

CategoriesCemeteriesFamily Tree

Thompson and Quinet

Posted on 30 April 2007by Brian Zalewski

St. Paul's Cemetery

Yesterday, my wife and I made a trip up north to the Wrightstown, Wisconsin area to search for a few headstones for my family tree. It was a nice day and we decided to spend most of it outside.I wasn’t exactly sure which cemetery they were buried in, if any, but we checked the first one we ran across, St. John’s Lutheran Cemetery. We didn’t find them in that one, so we planned on checking for a St. Paul’s Cemetery, since I’ve seen that listed before. We spent a good 30-minutes trying to find it before I had to stop and ask for directions. It turns out that we turned around right before we came to it when we were checking some of the main roads.

We search for about 10 minutes. I ended up finding them on my second scan, since they were old stones and also replanted laying face-up in the ground.

Frances (Quinet) Thompson and her husband William H Thompson.

It was actually a worthwhile trip, besides getting photos of the headstones and finding their final resting place, I now have William’s death date and better approximate birth year. Before yesterday, I had his death listed as “Between 1880 – 1900” since he was listed in the 1880 census, but not the 1900 census (and we know that the 1890 census is missing.) Hopefully, this will help me trace his line much easier. Previously, searching blindly for a “William Thompson” usually returned more records than I could really do much with.

We didn’t find any other family members, but I plan to take a trip to Fredonia (which is actually in the same county) later this spring to find some of the Quinet family. They’re last residence is Fredonia. I did a small run-through last year, but didn’t find anything. Hopefully, I’ll have more luck today.

CategoriesCemeteriesZalewski

Flickr

Posted on 25 April 2007by Brian Zalewski

www.flickr.com


I did a bunch of updates to my Flickr account. I had signed up for it awhile ago, but never used it. I still plan to use my own website for most of my genealogy pictures, but some will go there for all to see. Above is a selection of some of the cemetery photos I took while doing research. For some reason cemeteries always interested me. Maybe it’s because they’re usually very peaceful, yet kinda dark and gloomy at the same time. Whatever it is, I really enjoyed taking photographs while I was in them.

I also created a “Zalewski Genealogy” Flickr group for all of you Zalewski researchers to post your photos. Let’s see if all of the Zalewskis look the same.

Feel free to view my photos or even add me as a contact. I’d be more than happy to add you!