Picasa Albums

I've always wanted to know how many pictures I could upload in 1 GB of space on my Picasa Albums and tonight I know. I am at 99% and that represents 6,476 cemetery photos. Time to upgrade my storage so I can continue uploading my cemetery walk photos.

Sears Headstones

From the 1927 Sears Catalog.

Has anyone ever seen one of the monument catalogs? I want one!
I'd also like to find a Montgomery Ward catalog featuring headstones.

Cemetery Fix!

It has finally warmed up here in Kansas, at least for the next few days. So, what better way to spend it than outside on a few cemetery walks. Or 7 of them. We ventured over to the counties next door and visited some small rural cemeteries. These are the ones I added to my "walks" page:

Harvey County, KS
Harvey
Kemper
Old Halstead [Popkins]
Restlawn
Royer
Star

Sedgwick County, KS
Eldrige

There were some interesting finds that I will blog about in the days ahead.

Unknown

Oh how I wish I knew who this is?
Pleasant View [Huntsville] Cemetery.

Maranatha Cemetery Walk

Take a walk - see more photos online.

Lutheran Huntsville Cemetery Walk

Take a walk - see more photos online.

Little River Cemetery Walk

Take a walk - see more photos online.

Langdon Cemetery Walk

Take a walk - see more photos online.

Hazen Cemetery Walk

Take a walk - see more photos online.

Hayes Township Cemetery Walk

Take a walk - see more photos online.

Fairview Cemetery [Albion] Walk

Take a walk - see more photos online.

Glendale Cemetery Walk

Take a walk - see more photos online.

Tombstone Photo of the Week

Unknown grave.

Lakin Cemetery.

Time to pray

Another reason to check the back of headstones. I love this.
Fairlawn Cemetery

Fake GYR

I caught this fella trying to pass himself off as a graveyard rabbit.

Whimsical

This is so darling.
Maple Hill Cemetery - Langdon

Fairview Methodist Cemetery Walk

Take a walk - see more photos online.

Fairview Cemetery [Elmer] Walk

Take a walk - see more photos online.

Baker Cemetery Walk

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Ellsworth Cemetery Walk

Take a walk - see more photos online.

Ft. Dodge Cemetery Walk

Kansas Veterans Cemetery

Take a walk - see more photos online.

First Roman Catholic Cemetery

Information on the cemetery states it was the first roman catholic cemetery in the area.

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Take a walk - see more photos online.

Saline County Cemetery Walk

Take a walk - see more photos online.

Beallwood Cemetery Walk

This cemetery isn't in the best shape.

Take a walk - see more photos online.

Apache Cemetery Walk

Geronimo is buried in this cemetery. The cemetery is located on post at Ft. Sill, OK.

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Take a walk - see more photos online.

Apache South Cemetery Walk

This cemetery is located on post at Ft. Sill, OK.

Take a walk - see more photos online.

Apache North Cemetery Walk

This cemetery is located on post at Ft. Sill, OK.

Take a walk - see more photos online.

Tombstones used in construction of new home

Pooh, Poohs Ghosts
Missourian Uses Tombstones in New Home
Bolivar, MO

Ghosts don't worry Frank Karpek, ozark stonemason, who is using tombstones in the construction of his new farm home.

Karpek and his three sons moulded concrete bricks for the house and fashioned gravestones from an abandoned cemetery into ornamental arches above the windows and doors. The few remaining markers at the neglected graves will be laid as flagstones around the house. Karpek plans to clear the cemetery of weeping willow trees and sow the land in clover.


Hutchinson News
12/17/ 1936, Page 15

WHAT!!! How could that happen? Did it being reported cause any concern or outrage by the locals? Is the farm house still standing?

A neglected and / or abandoned cemetery does not mean that the people buried there deserve to have their tombstones removed and their resting places lost. I think that stonemason was cheap in using them instead of crafting what he needed from another source. Shame on you Frank Karpek!

President Cleveland's GYR Foot

"... a graveyard rabbit that was killed in the dark of the moon."

Tyrone [PA] Daily Herald
10/27/1887, Page 7

Did the graveyard rabbit foot bring President Cleveland luck?

He was our 22nd President [1885 - 1889], but did not win his re-election. He did, however, become our 24th President [1893 - 1897].

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http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/grovercleveland22

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grover_Cleveland

Not to be forgotten

I have been looking through my files for some of my favorite experiences in the cemetery. One that I have not blogged about here can be found on the web site for my local genealogical society. I had the opportunity to complete the paperwork so that a Union veteran would have a headstone. You can read the article linked above.

It was an experience that I will never forget.

Windom Cemetery Walk

Take a walk - see more photos online.

St. Aloysius Cemetery Walk

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Ching Ming: Tomb Sweeping Day

I subscribe to "The Daily Undertaker". I just read a interesting post on Ching Ming.

"It is almost upon us again... With spring comes Ching Ming; Grave Sweeping Day in the Chinese cultural tradition. Usually falling in early April, Ching Ming is a time when families gather, often very early in the morning, and travel to the graves of their ancestors to honor and remember them."

Visit the blog to read the rest of the article.

It made me think of how often we honor our ancestors. I know holidays are when most people visit the graves of family members. And maybe birthdays. I am 1,100 miles away from where my precious Mama is buried and it saddens me that I can't visit and take her flowers more often.

Tabernacle Cemetery Walk

My GG Grandmother, Mollie Smith Snell, and her father, James F. Smith, are buried here.

Take a walk - see more photos online.

Sterling Community Cemetery Walk

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A lovely shaded cemetery. Perfect for hot summer walks.

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St. Louis Cemetery Walk

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Take a walk - see more photos online.

Smith Cemetery Walk

I've blogged about this cemetery before. It's my Smith Family Cemetery where my Great, Great-Grandfather, Henry Dennis Smith and his parents, Benjamin F. Smith and Mary Emmer Goodman Smith are buried. BF remarried after Mary died and children from both marriages are buried there too. Among the other burials are 5 graves marked with a concrete slab only. My great grandfathers had his name scratched into his concrete slab. In 2004 I organized a group of family members to purchase a headstone for Henry Dennis Smith [and other Smith ancestors].

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Left: Henry Dennis Smith

Right: Benjamin F. and Mary E. Goodman Smith

Take a walk - see more photos online.

Simmons Cemetery Walk

This cemetery is easy to miss. It sits down the hillside off Highway 50 just west of Strong City. You actually have to be looking down and past the guard rails to spot it. After moving to South Central Kansas I travel this route often to Kansas City. It was a few years before I spotted it. I knew I had to stop and record what was there.

Take a walk - see more photos online.

Shirly Cemetery Walk

There were few legible stones here.

Take a walk - see more photos online.

Salem Orphans Home Cemetery Walk

Nothing like walking through tall field grass to look for and photograph headstones. Every rustle of the weeds sends a little ripple of panic. The headstone pictured was one I wanted to turn over but I wasn't that brave or strong.

Take a walk - see more photos online.

S. Inman Cemetery Walk

This may not be the proper name of the cemetery. There is another one North of town called "North Inman Cemetery". There isn't a sign at this location. It sits at the corner of Buckskin Road and 8th Ave [Buhler Road]. My husband's Warkentine ancestors are buried here.

Take a walk - see more photos online.

Rockville Cemetery Walk

Getting these pictures was an adventure. After finally locating where the cemetery access was we discovered the road was blocked with a locked heavy duty chain. Well, we parked and walked to the cemetery. I would guess it was a half mile back there. But since it was 32 degrees out and not knowing if we would get in trouble it sure felt a lot farther. We stayed long enough for me to photograph every grave so I wouldn't feel the need to return. As we made our way back to the car I couldn't help but notice, and share with my friend, that there was a lot of empty shotgun shells along the route.

Take a walk - see more photos online.

Restlawn Cemetery Walk

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Take a walk - see more photos online.

Pleasant Ridge Cemetery Walk

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Take a walk - see more photos online.

Pawnee Rock Walk

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This lone grave of Pvt. Carson can be seen as you enter Pawnee Rock.
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Take a walk - see more photos online.

Mt. Olive Cemetery Walk

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Take a walk - see more photos online.

Mt. Ida Cemetery Walk

For a brief time Laura Ingalls Wilder and family lived in Holmes County, Florida, along with her cousin, Peter Ingalls. Laura and her family moved back North but Peter stayed and married a local girl. He is buried at Mt. Ida not too far from my Great Grandfather, George Washington Stafford [pictured above].


Take a walk - see more photos online.

Lodiana Cemetery Walk

Another rural county cemetery.

Take a walk - see more photos online.