A Genealogy Mix Tape: Playlist

As conference season rolls around, we are all going to be putting in some serious flight/road time in 2014.....not to mention serious research time...why not keep ourselves motivated with some fun genealogy/family inspired music? Besides, sometimes, a genealogist just has look up from the dead people and have some silly fun! Here are some songs I've been thinking about lately that should be in the genealogist's repertoire. The next time you head to the library for research, or to the cemetery for inventory, make this playlist for your iPod and jam away while working! If you can think of additional titles we should add to the playlist - let the rest of us know in the comments below - or tweet - or post on your own blog - #genealogymixtape!

1. Dance in the Graveyard by Delta Rae (You may want to grab a tissue first)


2. Story of My Life by One Direction


3. Memories by Within Temptation


4. Somewhere by Within Temptation


5. Pushing Up Daisies by Garth Brooks (No Video)

6. In My Life by The Beatles (No Video)

7. I Will Find You by Clannad


8. Ancient Evenings by Glass Tiger (No Video)

9. Cups - When I'm Gone by Anna Kendrick


10. Dark Side by Kelly Clarkson ( For those skeletons in the closet)


11. Georgia on My Mind by Ray Charles (For those southern ancestors)


12. Home by Daughtry


12. My Generation by The Who

13. Papa Loved Mama by Garth Brooks (Yes, I know, another Garth, but seriously, it's a full family story in song!)

14. Some Nights by Fun.

15.Sweet Memory by Melody Gardot


16. Taking Over Me by Evanescence

17. Through the Dark by KT Tunstall

18. When Irish Eyes are Smiling by Bing Crosby

19. Johnny Has Gone for a Soldier by Mark O'Connor & James Taylor


20. Love Don't Die by The Fray

New List of Goals/Failures

I realize that is a very depressing title for the New Year and all of its hopes for successful change. But, let's be totally honest with ourselves.....we are personally fighting the duality of our nature. I have friends that are sooooo anti-resolution for New Year that they happily scoff at anyone attempting to make one. And then I had a friend who posted his status on Facebook yesterday: "Say you want a Resolution?"......which made me laugh at our attempts, while taking that thought to heart. No matter what time of year we attempt to make change in our lives, we are staging a personal Revolution. Which is, at the core, the most difficult battle of all. It's right up there with the epic battle of good versus evil! We are mad as hell at the current leadership and aren't going to take it anymore! But since we are the leadership we rebel against, we are our own worst enemy and doomed to fail if we cannot advance from Revolution stage to a fully successful Coup!

If the success rate for Resolutions is so very small, why not sit back and join the scoffers? Because, in my humble opinion, any impetus for change is a good thing! We are smart enough to recognize that things get out of control in our lives....and tend to upset a healthy, balanced way of life.....so we seek to change the behaviors that lead to negative results. Even if we fail at our attempts, the small number of days we tried is better than never having tried at all. We've all heard the "studies" that tell us our bodies even respond to this attempt. Risks of certain diseases lower, even if only a fraction, when we take a chunk of time and live healthier. Almost like the rings of a tree, the attempt to live healthier is recorded in our core. Which leads me to have hope for our attempts each year. Oh, and all you scoffers out there....you are just scoffing at the time in which we hopeless changemantics pick to begin new habits of change. Everyone, throughout the course of the year remarks on how they should be changing something - eating better, talking to relatives more, managing our finances better, etc. Whenever you are comfortable attempting the change is your own personal choice.....sometimes a coup is best attempted in the warmer months anyway.....but for now, here is my list of changes/goals for the coming year (mostly genealogy related, but not exclusively):

1. Spend more time with God, family and friends.

2. Blog more frequently!

3. Exercise more - uhem, I should say, START exercising in some way.

4. Organize my family photos/documents - seriously, this one needs immediate attention, not only for our older photos, but for this generation whose collection is getting older in its own right.

5. Write more - not in a blog fashion, but that pesky book we all work on, which is actually related to goal #1!

6. Reduce sugar intake - I'm OK when it comes to eating healthy, but I still have that sweet tooth which must be conquered!

7. Utilize my "Smart" things to their full potential...which means...using the task/notes sections, complete with alerts/alarms to keep me on task. This will of course mean planning little goals in advance, but this is necessary to maintain any semblance of success with this list.

8. Back-up computer photos/documents MUCH more regularly - kinda like goal #3 if you get my meaning!

9. De-clutter! Which has already begun, a few days prior to the Holiday.....but sooo necessary to get more organized.

10. Explore one new genealogy related tech-product, or resource per month....thoroughly.

So, to keep things reasonable, I will limit myself to 10 this year. Don't forget, that, by Wikipedia's definition, as quoted from another military historian: "A coup consists of the infiltration of a small, but critical, segment of the state apparatus, which is then used to displace the government from its control of the remainder." How do I propose to infiltrate and be successful? By sheer numbers! I figure, by making a nice big list, one of them is bound to stick! I'll let you know how that goes - same time next year - unless the Mayans were right!
Happy New Year!!!

The Empty Grave

After last year's post about genealogy encounters of the Creepy kind, my creepy meter has been getting a work out all year. My above title does not refer to the Resurrection, but to those monsters of the cemetery: The Resurrectionists (cue evil cackle and lightning/thunder.) My interest in this macabre group came about after two incidents. Late last year I became acquainted with the cemetery/burial issues concerning the Eastern State Hospital in Lexington KY. During a period of time spanning from 1824 to the 1950s, patients dying while residing in the "lunatic asylum" were believed to have been buried on the premises, especially when family members could not afford the cost of hometown burial. Unfortunately, finding the "missing" remains has been a huge challenge. The records are "missing" from the state, and apparently, so are the bodies. Some bodies have been discovered on the premises, but the number is very low compared to the amount that should be there. One of the documents I viewed in regard to this issue was a letter from a health nurse in the 1980s. She suggested that perhaps many of the bodies are missing because they were never buried, but instead, transported north to the Cincinnati Medical College for post-mortem use: ie: dissection.

I don't think many people took this suggestion very seriously, but I suspect it is a distinct possibility. Eastern State Hospital sits right next to the railroad line, and reports have surfaced that the Cincinnati to Indianapolis to Michigan network for cadavers was a true network that involved pickle/paint vats and the train system. For those of you not familiar with Cincinnati's grave robbing history, I suggest three things: 1. Read up on the grave-robbing scandal involving the Harrison family. 2. Check into some of the publications written by Dr. Linden Forest Edwards at Ohio State University. He wrote a series of articles for the Ohio State Medical Journal back in the 1950s that were later re-published in the form of small booklets by the Wayne County Indiana Public Library. These articles/booklets explored the medical practice of employing grave robbers to fill the need of fresh cadavers for medical dissection. (I will provide a small reading list at the end of the post) 3. Watch the video posted at the end from the History Detectives. They are researching a grave alarm which in turn leads them to go over some of the numbers associated with the grave robbing "industry" of the time. With each medical college in the area advertising a cadaver for each student, the number of fresh cadavers needed each year was pretty staggering.

The Cincinnati area was rife with the problem. Bodies were being stolen all the time during this period (1860s-1880s)....many from poorer cemeteries. Dr. Edwards wrote about the stories that were being told, and people were so aware of this problem that they employed night watchmen to guard over fresh graves - if they could afford this service.....otherwise, sometimes carried out by family members. Ironically, in the largest Cincinnati Cemetery, Spring Grove Cemetery, the Medical College erected a headstone in memory of all the bodies used for scientific purposes. I think that alone speaks volumes about the number of bodies we might be talking about.

So what about the central Kentucky area? Were these areas susceptible to the crime of stealing bodies? Without any real proof, my gut says, not as much as the Cincinnati/Louisville area. We had Transy's Medical School here, but I would imagine the need for them was not as large. Louisville was noted to have a bit of a problem there, but like Cincinnati, they were on a river. I would say, unless we used the railroad heavily, I would guess the easiest victims were had more along the river. After all, the grave robbers may have sold the fresh bodies to the medical colleges, but they were essentially on their own. If arrested, it was clear the men acted "on their own", with the doctors nor colleges feeling any heat with the arrest. Public sentiment grew pretty hostile against this practice, but things did not change until laws were passed that allowed legal acquiring of cadavers, including the donation of bodies.

This regional issue brings me to my second encounter with grave robbing. It came when I stumbled upon a note in the E.E. Barton papers of Pendleton County KY. One of my distant cousins related a tale that had been passed down in the family about the burial of my fourth great grandfather, Samuel Cox: "My Mother never did think that her grandfather rested in his grave, for just in a night or two at 12 o'clock, a man left that grave with something wrapped in white lying across his horse in front of him. The man was a truthful man, and is a brother-in-law of my father, Newton Humble was the man. (Speaking of the witness). We always thought that it was old Dr. Thomas, and that he probably took the body to Cincinnati and the medical college to find out what was the cause of his death."

What really struck me about this report was the proximity of Samuel's grave.....it is a small family plot on the side of the road, out in the rural areas of northern Pendleton County, which is a pretty hilly place. If I was going to snatch some bodies, I wouldn't want to have to trek up those hills an back down again carrying a body, just for $10. But then, it wasn't too much farther to Foster in Bracken County which was right on the river. What better way to transport bodies? So, it has all just made my head spin a little to wonder....how many of our ancestors are not in the cemeteries we visit? I don't really mind them being used for science.....but it kinda makes me mad in a way....our ancestors were so against it, for religious/principle reasons.....what gave these colleges the right to steal what belonged to our families? And once they were done, I'm assuming the bones were burned, etc. Which means we no longer have true knowledge of a final resting place. I think the headstone placed in Spring Grove is a nice gesture, but I would like to know where they deposited the post-dissection pieces or ashes. I think that would be the proper place for a memorial - and a place we could point to as a final resting place. Anyway, just some points to ponder - especially on Halloween :-)

Watch Cemetery Alarm on PBS. See more from History Detectives.

For additional reading:
Body Snatching in Ohio During the Nineteenth Century by Dr. Linden F. Edwards
Cincinnati's Old Cunny by Dr. Linden F. Edwards
Dissection and Body Snatching in the Nineteenth Century by Heather Fox, The Filson, Volume 9, Number 2, Summer 2009
The Poor, the Black, and the Marginalized as the Source of Cadavers in United States Anatomical Education by Edward C. Halperin, Clinical Anatomy, Vol 20, 2007.

Sun, Surf and Surnames

Wow, after spending a week playing in and around Charleston, South Carolina, I am fully in favor of picking similarly cool destination spots for genealogical conferences! Seriously, the southern hospitality, instant summer temps, Spanish moss, beautiful beaches and enough history to get overdosed on is proof of a great pick......but then, add genealogy as the icing on top of that cake and you have my version of heaven! I had been to Charleston years ago, but fell in love with it all over again during this conference. So, Kudos to the NGS people for choosing this sweet spot!

As far as the conference itself, I'd call it another rousing success. Great speakers, great events, great food, great new and old friends.....and really great instructional opportunities. I adored the little break out sessions throughout the conference and within the exhibit hall. This nice informal structure allowed for a fluid schedule and greater opportunity to pop in for a few minutes for some tips. As always, completely blown away by the warmth of the attendees - a truly fun and helpful group!

For those of you who have never gotten to one of the major national conferences: try to get to one! They are so inspiring. The perfect way to jazz up your research and jump start your way to more creative methods of conducting the family hunt. Even if there were no session or exhibits, the networking alone is priceless! I spend hours sometimes just chatting with groups of fellow researchers and learning new things with each conversation! However, I know attending can be expensive.....travel costs, registration costs, accommodation costs, etc. But keep your eye out for one of these conferences even remotely near your area. To save money, the large conferences always offer a one day attendance option which usually runs in the $100 range.....pre-view the conference schedule online and pick your favorite day to head up for a night. Also, if you are in the area and simply cannot afford the attendance prices, keep in mind that most of the exhibit halls are either free and open to the public for the entire conference, or at least for one day only.

The exhibit halls are a blast and usually frequented by several genea-celebrities! My coolest moment at this year's conference by far: meeting the Naked Cowboy's Dad! Turns out the Naked Cowboy is an Ohio native and his Dad was there in his genealogical capacity to advertise next year's NGS hosted in Cincinnati! This too is my home turf and I can't wait! True, it will not be an exotic vacation locale for me next year, but it is a beautiful city with amazing historical collections throughout the tri-state area. The capital/state historical societies for three states are within a 2-3 hour drive. Don't forget, the Cincinnati/Kentucky/Indiana area was quite the gateway for many of our ancestors that headed out west, and the records are still here for your enjoyment!

As a small treat, here is a slide show of some conference highlights. Until next year.....

C

Christmas at Laurel Court

A few years ago, my family and I were invited to a couple of Christmas parties held at my cousin's home in Cincinnati. Each party had an added purpose beyond Christmas (cousin's elopement reception and Uncle's retirement party) but each was scheduled very close to Christmas which meant we were fortunate enough to bask in the Christmas glory of Laurel Court.

This historic mansion on Cincinnati's west side (yes, I said WEST side) was completed in 1907 for paper manufacturer Peter G. Thomson. The inspiration for construction was Marie Antoinette's small chateau Le Petit Trianon at Versailles. Which, as you can imagine, produced a place unlike any other. The Rookwood tiles in the kitchen and bathrooms, gilded music room complete with teardrop chandelier, African rosewood paneled library along with various other details throughout the house remain true to it's gilded age origin. In my old Journeys Past website, I had a page dedicated to this historic gem, but the pictures were from the spring, and I have never shared my photos of what Christmas does to an already magnificent home - I have since put together some of the Christmas photos in a slide show for you at the end of this post.

The illustrious history of this house does not end with the first owner but travels down the Cincinnati timeline through various owners, from the Catholic Church (the Pope came for a visit and slept in the upper left bedroom over the library) to Buddy LaRosa. The last time it sold was in 1999 to my cousin and her husband (Larry and Judy Moyer - nee Williams, from the Pace side of the family). Actually, that is another interesting family memory. When the house went up for auction that year, my Grandmother and aunts stood for hours waiting in line to tour the house before it sold. It was such an amazing and historic landmark - we all knew of its existence but so few had actually been inside. The next day, after the auction, my family read the newspaper and realized it was our own cousin who had bought the place, which put an end to standing in line. From now on, we are welcomed with a hug through the kitchen! Judy's warm hospitality never changed after she bought such a grand house.
Judy and Larry have graciously given the home back to the community by opening it up for community gatherings, tours and weddings. Some events are even free to the public to embellish local traditions. They care for this house as their home, and welcome people with open arms. As a small family plug, Judy and Larry are offering Christmas tours this time of year....but as you can see, the experience is quite amazing.

The parties I remember fondly from just a few years ago created special moments that resonated historically. You knew the memories would last quite vividly and would be shared with future generations. The soft glowing atmosphere and twinkle of lights gave the feeling of being in a timeless place - truly encountering history as an enveloping sensory experience. The interesting thing about these parties is that even though family politics and disagreements were still rampant, the beauty and history of this house hypnotized each attendee into something akin to awed wonder. Which meant, every family member was kind to each other, and everyone walked around with loving, smiling faces.....a true Christmas miracle!

As the history surrounded us, I couldn't help but imagine the other parties, and Christmases past that had graced these rooms over the decades. Laurel Court is a national gem that was placed on the National Register of Historic homes in 1979. If you are ever in the area, and Judy has one of the tour options open, don't miss the opportunity to marvel at this architectural and historical masterpiece.

For more official information about the history of the house as well as tour/event planning information, visit their website: http://www.laurelcourt.com/

Now, for a small glimpse of Christmas at Laurel Court:

Merry Christmas!

CD 12/7/10