Grandma Garlands School Records or THAT'S why I'm so terrible in Math!

While organizing the office/genealogy workspace/craftroom a few weekends ago. While I came upon my Grandma Garlands high school transcripts from Milton High School. I love collecting obscure records of my ancestors, it really puts some flesh on the bones so to speak. It was super easy to get the record, all I did was write a letter to the high school letting them know I was the family historian and was looking for my Grandmother's high school transcripts. I let them know she was deceased and included a copy of her death certificate as proof. A few weeks later I got the transcripts in the mail.

I gleaned some great genealogical information from them too! My Great Uncle John J. Coleman (who raised my grandmother) was listed as guardian with his occupation listed as a shipfitter at Boston Navy Yard. WOW! What a find this is! I also learned that prior to her attending Milton High she was enrolled at Mount St. Joseph Academy. Her grades from Mount St. Joseph were also included which was an added bonus. I had no idea she attended any other high school other than Milton. They will be the next people I contact for more information on Grandma Garland.

As for the grades it seems Grandma Garland was great in P.E. class and Sewing but not so hot in Math. Now I know why I have so much trouble with math!! If you send off for your ancestors school records come back here and let me know what kind of great finds you come up with!

Cemetery Touring

Anna and I just got back from a trip to Apalachicola, FL. It's really a beautiful area and I wish we had some more time to spend there. In addition to spending some time in town we got the opportunity to visit two historic cemeteries. Although none of our ancestors are buried in the cemeteries we had fun touring them.


The first cemetery was the Old St. Joseph Cemetery. Most of the graves in the old section (1835 - 1841) are unmarked graves of the many victims of the Yellow Fever epidemic that struck the area in 1841.

It's not known how many people are buried here but it is believed many of Florida's leaders including several members of the Florida Constitutional Convention rest here. Although there are not many headstones I found this beautiful black headstone on the other side of the cemetery.

The second graveyard we visited was the Chestnut Street Cemetery of Early Apalachicola (Old City Graveyard)

There were so many interesting stones there I didn't have time to take pictures of them all but here are two of my favorites:

The grave of George W. Core

Transcription: George W. son of Rev. D.W. and Mrs. F. V. Core. Born Nov. 27, 1877 Died Mar. 1, 1902 A life so well spent on this earth cannot fail to reap a bountiful harvest in the one to come.

I loved this headstone because the whole stone is a stump of a tree and it has the seal of the Woodmen of the World on it.

The Grave of Catherina Spano

Transcription: Here rests the body of Catherina Spano Bor 17 May 1853 Died Oct 09 1900

I really loved this marker. It's obviously homemade and the shadow it reflects is really interesting.

Spring Cleaning

I will be off for the next week starting Saturday and in addtion to spending some time relaxing I wanted to take some time to "Spring Clean" my genealogy binders and files. Honestly I had no idea where to begin and looking at my files I was a little intimidated. But soon I found this article at Geneaology.com with tips on how to get your genealogy research organinzed. There are so many great tips I can't wait to get started!

Happy ancestor hunting folks!
Sandra

Pap and the Treasure Trove at Newspaper Archives

Recently I signed up for a 7 day free trial at Newspaper Archive just to see what I could find. Boy did I find a treasure trove of information on my paternal grandfather!

My Pap has had an amazing life, born in Pennsylvania in 1927 and descended from German immigrants. He was raised on my great grandparents small farm on Flading Lane. He played high school baseball and was set to join the Red Sox when war broke out in 1941 he joined the war effort in the 82nd Airborne division. He met my grandmother in Germany and they were married when they returned to the states. He's been a Washington D.C. Police Detective and for all of my life he was a baseball coach and umpire.

I was so excited to find several articles about my Pap, mostly about his baseball coaching career. Here was an article about him being given the head coaching position at Mount St. Mary's College, another article talking about his position as Assistant Coach at the Naval Academy, even an interview where he talks of learning the game from his uncle "Red" Ruffing who played for the Yankees (as a side note I've yet been able to prove our relationship the famed pitcher with any kind of substantial evidence) and also an article where he talks about catching fly balls for the Homestead Grays. These articles have helped me flesh out the story of my Pap and add a bit of interesting history outside of his basic statistics.

I strongly recommend getting yourself a subscription and checking it out! If you do and find something useful to you I'd love to hear about it, just leave a comment below.

Been A Long Time...

Yes I know I have let this blog fall by the wayside. Truth be told I've hardly had time to work on my genealogy at all.

From now on though I am going to set aside some time to do some research. I've also been studying to become a Certified Genealogist! I'm very excited about it, hopefully I will be able to turn it into a career! Now wouldn't that be something? Look for more frequent updates here on my family research, my journey to become a genealogist and other genealogy related posts!