APG-L Archives

Archiver > APG > 2004-12 > 1103128160


From: Gordon Remington <>
Subject: More alphabetical cemetery humor <g>
Date: Wed, 15 Dec 2004 08:29:20 -0800 (PST)


We all probably have stories about what we experience when we do on-site cemetery research. Climbing walls, being chased by dogs, etc. I've never heard anything like this one though.

On a sunny September afternoon in Pottsville, Pennsylvania, I went to the local cemetery to take some pictures of tombstones from the 1850's and 1860's of the immigrant generation from Cornwall. The Schuylkill Historical Society had an excellent series of cemetery transcriptions that were not alphabetical, but were indexed and gave the row and grave number for each tombstone.

When I got to the cemetery, however, I found that despite these coordinates, the rows and graves themselves were not clearly marked. All I could do was eyeball the older sections of the cemetery and head for them, on foot, with my camera.

The cemetery was on a slope, so I was advancing uphill. The slope was neatly divided by a gravel path. On the left side of the path there was a windbreak of tall trees. On the right side there were some old stones, so I headed in that direction, camera at the ready.

Upon reaching the old stones, saw immediately that they were not the ones of interest, so I wheeled around, camera at the ready, to see what was on the other side of the windbreak. There, at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, was a young couple, "creating their own family group sheet," as I described it to my colleagues at the Professional Chapter of the Utah Genealogical Association, the predecessor to the SLC APG chapter, during one of my usual post-research trip reports.

I don't know if they saw me, because I was so embarrassed I made a hasty (and discreet) retreat. It was a one time trip to Schuylkill, so I never did get the photos of the tombstones and it was so long ago that my client has passed away, so there was no need to go back.

If those stones had been in alphabetical order in the transcription, I probably wouldn't have even attempted to find them!

<G>ordon Remin<g>ton







This thread: