The One-Name Studies

 One step at a time.  This time it's site addresses for each of the one-name studies.  I did not want to spend money on a site, especially during this economically difficult time, so I'm using Blogger which is designed for blogs, of course, but allows static pages in addition to the individual posts.  

The address of the Beismer One-Name Study is:  Beismer One-Name Study

The address of the Wormuth One-Name Study :  Wormuth One-Name Study

That's it for right now.  

Cemetery Project

 After my recent visit to the Tyler Cemetery in Roxbury, NY, I realized that both the Tyler and the Vandemark Family Cemeteries need the same kinds of cleanup.  So, foolish me, I've decided to try to make that happen.

A while ago, I started a GoFundMe account to get some assistance with the usual expenses of family history research: expensive memberships in web sites like Ancestry.com, memberships in historical and genealogical societies, supplies, computer hardware and software upgrades, travel expenses, postage, fees for documents (New York State now charges $22 dollars for a genealogical copy of a document.  But, now that I se what needs to be done in these 2 little cemeteries, I think it's better if I dedicate the GoFundMe to that until they're finished.

I will post a running record of the projects here so everyone involved can see what's happening.  More on that in a bit....

The One-Name Studies:

Well, I have a bad habit, as you can see of getting involved in a lot of things at once.  So, I haven't done much on either the Beismer One-Name Study, nor the Wormuth One-Name Study.  

• I've added a few names to the studies and added profiles for them in WikiTree.  
• I created separate databases for the studies in my genealogy software which it allows me to do.  That way I can keep the information easily identify as part of each study.
• I joined the Guild of One-Name Studies which is a British organization that specializes in such projects.
• I identified several unrelated (as far as I know) individuals with variant spellings of the surnames.
• I collected all the photos I can find in my possession of members of each family to be sure they are digitized and classified.

Much more needs to be done.  I haven't figure out the statistical aspect of the studies yet.  I hate statistics.

The GoFundMe.  

The original purpose was to cover expenses of just doing this research:  memberships, document fees, postage, computer hardware and software upgrades, etc.

Then, there's another project I would like to accomplish which is to enable several historical and genealogical societies to have a public access computer and genealogy software in order to provide a way for people to create a protected family tree to leave at a local organization so future generations can find their family histories and continue the stories.

Now, the 2 Cemetery Projects are a priority but will have an eventual end point when attention can go back to other projects.

Please consider donating.  Even a $1 dollar donation will help.  Thank you.

That's it for now, come back to see how things progress.

                            

Visit to the Family Cemetery

 Visited the Vandermark Family Cemetery in Debruce, New York, this past Sunday.  I was accompanied by Judie Smith who is a relative of a relative.  

I was very happy to see that the town has erected a gate and sign so there is no longer a dispute with the neighbor.  

Judie tells me it's a good idea to keep up a chatter because of bears in the area.

It was fortunate weather for the visit; not too hot.

We made the rounds of the cemetery.  I took pictures and notes but I had forgotten my cleaning kit so I wasn't able to clean the stones.  Judie scraped some moss off some of them.

There are some broken stones; some fallen stones, some long ago; stones gradually slipping off their bases; so, much work to be done.  a lot of stones are darkened, some have lichens and moss.  Shale stones are gradually losing their imprinting and are becoming difficult to read.

There are quite a few older graves that have caved in; more than half a dozen, and a few graves that feel they may be next.

This is where I want to be buried so Judie, who is on the board of several cemetery associations, is looking into what I need to do to insure that.  Because the cemetery is considered an abandoned family cemetery, the town has taken responsibility for it and keeps it mowed and allows burials there, whether or not there's a relationship.

NOTE:  I'm going to have to abandon the idea of forming a family cemetery association to protect this cemetery and to preserve it as an historic family cemetery.  It requires quite a few people to assist with its management: someone to keep records, someone to work with the town to maintain it, someone to visit from time to time to ensure it's protected (although I think the town is doing a good job).  So far, it's just me.  Most of my elders in the three original families have left this life and cannot assist, and younger relatives don't seem interested.

Right now, the best thing to do for the cemetery would be to x-ray the area inside the stone wall to determine how many unmarked graves there are, fix the broken stones, cut some over-hanging tree branches, determine a way to mark unmarked graves.

Taken in the cemetery:

Found on the headstone of Hannah Vandermark, wife of Josiah, a soldier of the War of 1812.  It's a newly emerged cicada resting on its old carcass.  Hannah's maiden name was Bush.

We also saw two different varieties of toad.  I hadn't seen a toad in ages.

Judie gave me a new perspective of the custom of leaving visiting stones on the headstones, a custom I like very much.  She pointed out that the stones can be a problem for the mowers, if the stones fall from the headstones.  That's why talking to people who have more experience with any particular thing is a good idea, because they have more, closer knowledge of that thing.  If you've never ridden a horse, it's a good idea to talk to someone who has; otherwise, good luck to you and to the horse.  I still like the idea of leaving a sign that someone has remembered and visited a gravesite.