Finding a Grave

You should probably be on the lookout for mine soon, since the little bug I caught two weeks ago has turned into bronchitis. Feels like someone smacked me with a headstone. But enough morbid ramblings, on to the good stuff.

I signed up this weekend to take pictures of headstones on findagrave.com. There is a cemetery just down the street from me that I figured would be a good place to start helping people out and thereby collecting some of my own good genealogy karma.

Let me just start by saying the Muldrow Memory Garden appears to have been laid out by a drunk person and there is no map available. I signed up to take photos of 3 graves and after an hour of searching, we found nothing. Some might say, "Well an hour isn't too much time to look." I would counter by saying, you are right, unless you are in Muldrow Oklahoma. It's a wee little cemetery. I'll be going back in the next few days to try my luck again and hopefully sketch up a bit of a map.

It is a very interesting thing to do, genealogically speaking. Many of the graves had photos and biographies.One even had a picture of a gentleman's truck. He was clearly very attached to it. I also learned about what appears to be a local custom of taking items regarding current family events to a recently departed family member's grave. My daughter told me about how many of their friends and their relatives will take sports trophies, copies of diplomas, and other important items to display on their family member's grave as a means to "keep in touch". Not only does it connect a family to their loved one, but what an interesting find for someone interested in genealogy to be able to keep up with the family over time.

There was one particular headstone that was already on findagrave, but that charmed me utterly. I have always had a special place in my heart for Guadalupe. I love Mexican folk art, and she s easily my favorite of all the images. That is why I squealed like a little girl when my daughter found this:

Forgive the bad picture. We were losing the light, but really, how beautiful. Mrs. Rojas, wherever you are, you have excellent taste.

As soon as these antibiotics kick in, I'll be back and hopefully with photos of the stones I was sent to find.