Vacation Means Family Research Time, Yes?

So two weeks from yesterday, my mother and I leave for vacation. We're going to Tennessee for a week: Memphis, Shiloh, Chattanooga and Gatlinburg.

I'm sure you're wondering where family research fits in, right?

Well, my great great great grandfather Emery Clifford fought in the Civil War, remember? He was part of the 17th Indiana and, in all likelihood, was at the battle of Shiloh, the siege of Corinth (part of the Shiloh battlefield) and maybe even Chattanooga and Chickamauga. So I get to indulge my Civil War obsession AND be where my ancestor fought at the same time.

Be still my heart.

Anderson IN Research Weekend

I'm heading to Anderson in the morning, to spend some time in their library's genealogy collection. I'm going to spend some time looking for obituaries among other things. I'm also planning to head to a couple cemeteries to see if I can find any graves on my own. Last time, I had my aunt's help.

Cemetery Research Weekend!

This weekend, my mother and I have big plans -- we're leaving early Sunday morning and traveling to eastern Ohio to visit cemeteries on the Fink side of the family, then driving to Anderson IN (and spending the night somewhere along the way) to do the same for the Cookman and Forkner sides. My aunt is off Monday, so she's going with us. I'm so excited!

Cemeteries on the visit list:

Ohio - Brush Cemetery, Mount Tabor Cemetery, Franklin Cemetery, Ewington OH (there's a cemetery there that doesn't want to come up on Google maps, plus it was founded by my family), Gilboa Cemetery, Thurman Cemetery, Dixon Run Cemetery, Salem Cemetery, and Ridgewood Cemetery. We'll be in Gallia and Jackson counties. We'll probably take a lunch break between Gilboa and Thurman and go down to Rio Grande to visit the first Bob Evans. There's a lot of cemeteries but they're all pretty close together.

Indiana - Grovelawn Cemetery, West Maplewood Cemetery, Otterbein Cemetery (supposedly near the airport but doesn't show on Google maps), Nelson Cemetery, Penniston Cemetery (doesn't show on Google maps either).

I have directions to all the cemeteries, a word document with details on each cemetery's location and some pictures, and a spreadsheet with all the graves we're looking for.

Find A Grave Website and Travel for Family Research

I get nothing from pimping their website, but findagrave.com is amazing. I found a ton of graves on my maternal grandfather's side today, including Jacob and Nancy (nee Foy) Fink who were the first of the Fink line to come to Ohio. They came from Pennsylvania in the 1850s. I don't even remember who all I found but I totally started a spreadsheet to keep track of where who is buried. I didn't have as much luck with my maternal grandmother's or my paternal grandfather's sides though. I'll probably have to give them another look. And I think Grandma Jenny's family needs more research. I have one or two lines traced really far back but most of them end pretty quickly. More research is necessary!

In other news, the reason why I'm doing all this burial research is because I want to travel around and take pictures of as many graves of my ancestors as I can. Right now, I'm just looking at Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky. Then maybe later on I can look at Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia...you get the point. I would love to travel to New England at some point, especially to Plymouth.

My mom and I are already planning a trip to Jackson and Gallia counties for the Fink side. And we'll probably be heading down to the Powers reunion this summer so while we're down there, we might as well hit the Menifee and Bath county cemeteries....

I'm combining my love of travel with my family obsession. Awesome.

Tonight my mom was telling me about the old family homestead in Gallia. Apparently when great aunt Nora passed away, no one paid the taxes on the property and it ended up sold (for strip mining) for back taxes. How sad is that? I'm a little determined to find where the land was, maybe go take a picture while I'm over there. But land records (at least historical ones) are beyond my current research abilities. I may have to do some major research to even find out where to start looking. I tried tonight, but with no luck. I may contact the Gallia County Genealogical Society for help.