Genealogy & Stone Hunting

[Jiminsav]

Lynn, what year was your relative alive in Sumter co.?
my Father-in-law writes genealogy books and did one for Sumter co. for the years 1832-1907.

[Lynn Coleman]

Lynn, what year was your relative alive in Sumter co.?
my Father-in-law writes genealogy books and did one for Sumter co. for the years 1832-1907.

Thanks Jim.

He died in 1864 I have two days, so I don't know which is accurate. In Aug or May 16, 1864. Get ready for his name...Flavius Josephus Putnam There's only a handful of people I've found with the name Flavius Josephus but there were two born that year. I suspect that might be on of the years Flavius Josephus's book "Josephus Works" came out. It's just a guess at this point but you've got to admit that's a most unusual name.

Lynn

[dmckruit]

You'd be surprised what the Genealogy Department at your local library might have in store for you. I went into the Genealogical Department in my local library recently (Butler Co., Pa) to do research on my great grandmother. I was talking to the department librarian and told her who I was and what I was looking for and she said "Oh, your the one who wrote the article." I asked her what she was talking about and she said "I had someone in here a couple months ago looking for an article you wrote on a building in town." I was still confused as to what she was talking about. However, apparently I did a building history report on a local building in high school for a local history class back in 1989, and somebody must recently been trying to get information on the same building and it somehow came back to me.

Surprisingly, I still had my papers folder from that class (the only one I kept from high school). I ended up making a copy of the report and mailing it to the librarian to put in the librarys collection.

It's wierd how something done almost 20 years ago might have an impact in todays world.

[Jiminsav]

Lynn, I asked the man, and he said there wasn't any Putnam's in his index, which only means he wasn't born, there, died there, or had any other entries in the local paper of that time.

[mikeschn]

Tombstone Tears has some promise.

[Lynn Coleman]

[Lynn Coleman]

Lynn, I asked the man, and he said there wasn't any Putnam's in his index, which only means he wasn't born, there, died there, or had any other entries in the local paper of that time.

Hey Jim,

Thanks for checking. My folks did go to Andersonville and find his marker but they forgot to write it down and photograph it for me.

Lynn

[Jiminsav]

oops..let me rephrase that..if he died as a POW there, his name wouldn't be in the paper at that time...my bad.

[MariahSunset]

I bought my tear thinking I would take off and go do my genealogy. The husband isn't as interested and not very patient so I haven't gone yet but that's my dream. Each year from about 1998 to 2003 my mom and I went to look for relative, dead and alive. We had fun but she can't travel and I don't have anyone to go with. I am looking at PA, NH, MA, CT, VA, WVA, OH, IN, KY, KS, IA, OK, TX, OR & CA and probably a few others. Do you have a subscription to ancestry.com? There is also findagrave.com. I've been working on mine since 1988 when my 100 y/o gmother died and we found lots of old letters and information.

I can talk your ear off.

Marilyn

Hey Fireaunt, I love genealogy and live in Indiana. What county are you interested in?

[PresTx82]

Here's what I'm wondering, do you think folks might be interested in helping out forum members if they are camping or living in various areas? Or do you think that's too much to ask? Lynn

I'd take pictures for anyone who needed it in my area, or any area I travel through. The best way to document dates of birth and death are the actual tombstones. I've done graveyards on the eastern shores of Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia.

I traveled to a town with my namesake and knew through family stories that my family came through this town. I went to a few churches/graveyards and low and behold I came to one which looked new, but stopped anyway to cross it off my list. I got to the graveyard, looked for the oldest section and headed straight there. As I reached the far end goosebumps ran down my back as I peered at many generations of my family whose names I had memorized throughout the years laying side by side. My family hadn't been in the area for over 100 years and no one lived there now (that I knew of). The point I'm making is that it was a great experience and I spent many hours walking around and taking picturers of tombstones for my geneology research project.

[fireaunt]

Hi Mariah,

I think my Stucker family left KY around the 1830s. About 2004 we found a living dentist in Madison IN that is related. I know mine were in Nineveh (then Bartholomew co.) now I think it's Johnson Co. Then in late 1850s thru 1874ish they are in Peru, Miami co. IN. and about 1880 they moved to Daviess Co MO ( NNW part). My ggrandfather married a Biggs so I looking for them too.

I have a Stucker site on myfamily and we have found alot of info in KY and census and marriage records in IN from Ancestry. I do have a subscription to ancestry and will do lookups if anyone needs a jumpstart.

Marilyn

[Mike C.]

Lynn,

I don't know what you are looking for, but I went to the LDS website, see link below and typed in Flavius Putnam and came up with his relations back at least 5 generations before I stopped.

http://www.familysearch.org/eng/default.asp

Flavius J. Putnam - B. 11-14-1821 Ludlow, MA
D. Sept 1864 Andersonville, GA

His wife was Sylvia Beebee Bissell Alden

His father was Amos Putnam, and his father was Abner Putnam, and his father was Nathan Putnam. It shows birth and death dates on these people and their spouses.

If you want more info, go to the state genealogical library for the state they were born and the state they died. Also the county for each.


http://www.angelfire.com/ga2/Andersonvilleprison/

This guys says he will do free lookups at Andersonville and for a minimal fee, he will take a photo of gravestones. Just googling around and found him and know nothing about him, but if you're interested, you might contact him.

Hope this helps. Been doing this about 15 years and it took about 10 minutes to find this.

[Larwyn]

Lynn,

You got my wife Lanza's attention on that one, expect to hear from her soon....

[Lanza]

Hi Lynn!

I can't remember if I've ever actually posted here before. I mostly lurk and read the posts from time to time. My husband, Larwyn, told me about your post and I think this is an awesome idea.

I am a big geneaology nut and am a volunteer at the Kerr County Geneaology Society here in Kerrville, Texas. I have access to a lot of great information from all states but if anyone needs info from the Texas Hill Country or photos from graveyards, I'll be glad to help in any way I can. (I am also willing to help whenever I am travelling to a particular area.)

One of the great things I've discovered is that many communities have surveys of their cemeteries posted online and in some cases you can find out the exact location of a stone and what the stone says (and a few even have pictures posted).

I've been trying to figure out how to get pictures of ancestors' stones in North Carolina and Virginia and would love to find someone willing to take pictures of "my relatives."

Maybe those of us plagued with the geneaology bug (let's face it, it's a sickness) can network and help each other out!

Great idea!
Lanza

[Lanza]

The best place to start to find a particular gravestone in a community is to go here

http://usgenweb.org/

This is a nationwide project ... just go to the state you're interested in and then look up the county where your ancestors came from. From there you can search through the cemeteries in that county and can even look up ancestors by name. There are lots of good resources on this website.

If you can find your relative's cemetery and are lucky enough to have a realitive buried in a well-surveyed graveyard, you can actually find the location of the stone (in relation to the church or which row they're in, etc.) This will give you good information to pass on to anyone going to the cemetery itself.


-Lanza