Chelsea |
|
 Genealogical Society of Washtenaw County, Michigan, Inc. Cemetery Reading |
| |
Each summer the GSWC sponsors a cemetery reading. The results of our efforts are then kept on file in our library and may later be published. Over the years we have read over thirty-five county cemeteries, compiled the Directory of Cemeteries of Washtenaw County, and published Cemetery Inscriptions of Saline Township, Washtenaw County, Michigan. See Publications for descriptions and order information on the directory and cemetery inscriptions. The annual cemetery reading was featured in a delightful article by Lois Kane which appeared in the August 1996 issue of the Ann Arbor Observer. (See their Arborweb website.) The article is reprinted here with permission of the author. |
|
The Genealogical Society's Cemetery Reading Pleasantly bucolic and altruistic, too  Oak Grove Cemetery Chelsea |
|
A herd of people crouched, heads bent... The people were volunteers, mostly members of the Genealogical Society of Washtenaw County. The cows were residents of the farm and wintertime beneficiaries of the silo next door to the Judd Cemetery just south of Saline. The day was Saturday, July 25, 1992. The event was the Genealogical Society's annual summer cemetery reading. The cows were puzzled and moaned apprehensively from time to time. The people were sometimes puzzled, too. "I think it's a V," one might say. Or, "Oh, I think that's a date. See, there's a 'four.'" Many carved letters are fading away, and the low-tech imaging technique is to rub flour into the remaining wounds. It brings them up nice and white. Each year, the group (with welcome visitors) records all the information on all the tombstones in a single area cemetery. They've done thirty-four cemeteries since 1977, and there are plenty left to do. They keep one copy of the information for their own library, give one copy to the cemetery's owner (usually a church or township), and send one to the Library of Michigan in Lansing. Besides being pleasantly bucolic (there's a picnic lunch at noon, too), it's an altruistic undertaking to preserve the perishable information recorded here for other amateur and professional genealogists. "Women's tombstones always just had the woman's first name and 'daughter of' or 'wife of', says society member Marty Carr. "You don't see it very often, but 'relict of' means she was a widow. The oldest tombstone we've found dates from 1824. In this cemetery, we've found the grave of a revolutionary war soldier - he moved to this area after the war. " Here is a typical incription deciphered by the society; it's for someone named Eveline Kelsy, who died in 1863 at the age of twenty-two: |
| |
|
She's gone through many fond friends
Would fain prolonged her stay
But heaven decreed otherwise
And the loved one passed away.
|
| |
|
This year's summer cemetery reading is [on a Sunday in July or August... see schedule]. |
|
Followup in the GSWC Newsletter |
|
Subsequently, the following short item appeared in the 10 September 1996 issue of the GSWC Newsletter: "This year's summer cemetery reading was August 4th [1996] at the St. John Lutheran Cemetery in Bridgewater. More than twenty people, novice through veteran in experience, participated this year. It was a hot sunny day, but all rose to the challenge. Many older stones were not only worn but in German. Fortunately, those present that knew German were able to help decipher many of the stones. The catalyst for the wonderful turnout this year was due, in large part, to an article in the Ann Arbor Observer the week prior to the reading. The article also told where to go for this year's reading, so it was fresh in everyone's mind. Some of the newcomers even joined the Genealogical Society as a result of helping with the reading. Our thanks to all that were able to assist, as well as those who returned the next Sunday to read the new section and proofread some of the German." |
 |
|
Copyright © 1997-2007, Genealogical Society of Washtenaw County, Michigan, Inc. All rights reserved. Permission to print a single copy for personal use is granted. http://www.hvcn.org/info/gswc/cemetery.htm Designed by S. Brevoort. Revised 15 October 2007. Send comments or changes to Sharon at wwwgswc@aol.com. GSWC logo © GSWC, Images © GSWC, The MousePad, and Corel Corporation; photographs © S. Brevoort. |