Category: Cemeteries

Tombstone Tuesday: Louis Grillot

8/19/2013

This photo shows the gravestone of Louis Grillot, my husband's 4x great-grandfather. As stated on the stone, he was born in Pareid, France, which is located in Northeast France's Lorraine region. In 1838, when he was 51 years old, Louis and his wife, Marie (Borin) Grillot packed up a few belongings and their seven (living) children, and sailed for America. They entered through the Port of New Orleans and made their way north to Darke County, Ohio, in the western part of the state. Ship manifest records indicate that Louis worked as a mason in France, but turned to farming in America. Louis passed away in 1861. He is buried in Holy Family Cemetery, Frenchtown, Ohio, along with many other French pioneers who settled in this part of Ohio.

Gravestone of Louis Grillot, Holy Family Cemetery, Darke Co, Ohio

Although Louis was born and lived by the name 'Grillot,' his sons adopted the name 'Grilliot' (or sometimes 'Grillio'). The story goes that Louis' name was misspelled on legal documents, and his sons continued to use that spelling instead of the original family name. Louis' birth/baptism record from Pareid, France is shown below. He is the son of Jean Charles Grillot and Jeanne Barbe Curély. His father's brother, Louis Grillot, and his mother's sister, Anne Curély, served as his baptism sponsors. (And because of those relations, we also know the names of Baby Louis' grand-parents, also listed. Aren't these French records wonderful?) These documents can be viewed online at this website. (Images 218-219)

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Tombstone Tuesday: George and Ursula Bellan

7/8/2013

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This is the gravestone of two of my maternal great-grandparents, George and Ursula Bellan. George (born Beljan) and Ursula (born Benicki) were born in the 1870s in Croatia, which was at that time a part of Austria-Hungary. They came to America in the 1890s and settled in Cleveland, Ohio. They had eight children, three of whom unfortunately died as teens and young adults. Ursula passed away in 1946 and George followed in 1954. They are buried in Cleveland's Calvary Cemetery.

I requested a photo of this gravestone through FindAGrave.com. I was quite surprised when I saw it. My great-grandfather's first name is spelled 'Juraj,' which is the Croatian equivalent of George. (It is prounouned YOO-rahy.) On every census form, children's birth record, immigration document, obituary, etc. he is 'George,' so I find it interesting that his gravestone says 'Juraj.' What is even more interesting is that his Croatian first name IS engraved, but NOT his Croatian surname, Beljan. Did he choose this form of his name to be engraved? He passed away after his spouse, and since they oftentimes do the majority of a stone's engraving all at once, it IS possible that he chose this name. Also of note is that Ursula's birth year on the gravestone is incorrect according to other sources, such as her death certificate and census forms. The stone lists her birth year as 1874, whereas her death certificate and census forms put her birth year more at 1876-1877.

George and Ursula Bellan Gravestone, Calvary Cemetery, Cleveland, Ohio

Photo Source: Findagrave.com, photographed by volunteer runner9.

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Tombstone Tuesday: Anthony and Leona (Knob) Schroeder

6/24/2013

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Gravestone of Anthony and Leona Schroeder, Graceland Cemetery, Sidney, Ohio

This week's gravestone is that of Anthony and Leona Schroeder, who are two of my husband's paternal great-grandparents. My husband was actually named after this great-grandfather and he also goes by 'Tony,' just as Great-Grandpa did. Anthony was born in 1895 in Shelby County, Ohio to Joseph Schroeder and Anna Bernhold Schroeder. He was Joseph and Anna's only son who lived past infancy. Tony married Leona Knob on May 6, 1919. She was the daughter of William Bernard Knob and Mary Watercutter, also residents of Shelby County, Ohio. Anthony and Leona had five children; four girls - Norma, Dorothy, Carol, and Barbara - and one son, Walter, who is my husband's paternal grandfather. The family lived in Sidney, Ohio, and Anthony worked as a molder for the Wagner Manufacturing Company.

Photo Source: FindaGrave.com, image owned by Matthew Patterson

©2013, text copyright Emily Kowalski Schroeder

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Tombstone Tuesday: Michael and Sophie Bodziony

6/3/2013

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The gravestone of Michael and Sophie (Krupa) Bodziony, two of my paternal great-grandparents. They were born in the southern part of modern-day Poland, in a region that was once known as Galicia. They immigrated to the United States separately around 1910 and were married in 1911 in Cleveland, Ohio. They had seven children, two of which died as newborns. They are buried with two of their children, Stella and Joseph, in Cleveland's Calvary Cemetery.

Gravestone of Michael and Sophie Bodziony, Calvary Cemetery, Cleveland, Ohio

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Tombstone Tuesday: Jean François Aubry (Obry)

5/6/2013

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The tombstone of Jean François Aubry, my husband's 4x great-grandfather. He is buried in Holy Family Cemetery, which is located just northwest of Versailles, Ohio in Darke County. Jean François immigrated to America from France with his wife, Anne Martine Drouot and his three living children, Etienne, Marie Anne, and Auguste. They arrived in New Orleans on April 28, 1840, and made the arduous journey northwards to Darke County in western Ohio, where they would settle and set up a farm. (The daughter Marie Anne married Jean Nicolas Grilliot in 1853.)

Tombstone of Jean Francois Aubry, Holy Family Cemetery

In census and other record sources, the Aubry family is often found under the surname 'Overly' or 'Obry.' The 1850 Agriculture Census shows 'John Overly' owning a small farm of only 50 acres, with 20 acres listed as 'improved' and 30 acres as 'unimproved.' He has two horses, two 'working oxen,' a handful of other cattle, ten sheep, and twelve swine. For the year 1849, he reported producing four tons of hay, 200 bushels of indian corn, ten bushels of oats, and forty pounds of maple sugar.

Jean François passed away April 26, 1873. The tombstone reads, "Priez pour son âme," which means "Pray for his soul" in French.

Jean François' birth record is below. He was born in the town of Herbeuville in the Meuse department of northeastern France. His parents were Nicolas Aubry and Anne Catherine Colnard. The birth record indicates he was born in 1802, which is fairly consistent with the ages listed on his U.S. census schedules. (Even if you CAN read French, don't try to find '1802' in the record below; the date is listed using the French Republican Calendar, and needs to be 'translated' to the Gregorian calendar to figure out that it is indeed 1802.) The tombstone lists his age at death at 66 years, and I believe that the stone is wrong in this case. By the way, you can search Meuse department civil birth, marriage and death records online at the following website: archives.meuse.fr (click on 'Etat civil' to search.)

Jean Francois Aubry Civil Birth Record

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Tombstone Tuesday: Mary Magdalena Bernard Rolfes

2/19/2013

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A kind volunteer with the FindAGrave.com network recently photographed this tombstone for me. This is Mary Magdalena Bernard Rolfes, one of my husband's ggg-grandmothers on his mom's side of the family. (Rita Brunswick Tumbush was her great-granddaughter.) The gravestone is located in St. John's Catholic Church Cemetery in Maria Stein, Ohio.

Gravestone of Magdalena Bernard Rolfes, St. John's Cemetery, Maria Stein, Ohio

Magdalena was the daughter of Joseph Bernard, a French immigrant, and Anna Maria Kemper, who, according to U.S. Census data, was born in Pennsylvania. They were married in Mercer County, Ohio on June 13, 1839. Magdalena was born in Maria Stein, but I have not yet been able to determine Magdalena's exact date of birth; her obituary from The Minster Post (below) states that she was 76 yrs, 2 months, and 7 days old at the time of death. That would put her year of birth at 1846, which may not be correct since her older brother's death certificate has 1846 as HIS year of birth. Magdalena's death certificate lists her year of birth as 1856, which is completely off.

Magdalena Bernard Rolfes Obituary, The Minster Post, 29 Sep 1922

Magdalena married Joseph Rolfes on May 2, 1865 in Mercer County. They lived and worked on a farm in Mercer County's Marion Township, right next to Magdalena's parents, and the two families are listed on the same pages in the 1870 and 1880 U.S. Censuses. The 1900 census lists her as having had 13 children, although I can find birth and/or death records for only 12. Unfortunately, her husband, Joseph, passed away in 1883 when he was only 41 years old. Her oldest child, Henry, was only 17 years old at the time and she had many other little ones to care for. Magdalena did not remarry and, with her children's help, must have kept the farm going, because in the 1900 census she is listed as a farmer and the head of the household. In her later years, she lived with her two daughters, Katherine and Caroline, and her son, Anthony. Katherine worked as a dressmaker to support the family and Anthony worked as a farm laborer.

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Tombstone Tuesday: Francois Pierre and Marie Celestine Bulcher

1/8/2013

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Holy Family Cemetery, Darke Co, Ohio

This is the headstone of my husband's 4x great-grandparents, Francois Pierre Bulcher and Mary Celestine (Voisinet) Bulcher. They were born and married in the small French village of Evette, which is currently situated in the Territoire de Belfort and located not far from France's eastern borders with both Switerland and Germany.

They came to America through New York as a young married couple in 1847 with a baby daughter named Marie Rose (Mary Rosa), who is my husband's 3x great-grandmother. They entered the country under the surname of "Burtechert." Their journey from France to Western Ohio is chronicled in a biographical sketch of one of their sons, Joseph John Bulcher, which was published in A Biographical History of Darke County, Ohio.

"It was a long and tedious voyage from Havre to New York, and by canal they proceeded to Buffalo, by lake to Toledo, and by canal to Berlin*, Ohio, where they arrived in the woods. By ox team they came to Wayne township, Darke county, and the father (Francois) pruchased forty acres of land just over the line in Shelby county, for which he paid three dollars per acre."

*This town of Berlin is now known as Ft. Loramie.

According to U.S. census data, the family lived on this land for about twelve years before moving to Patterson Township in Darke County. Francis and Mary Celestine lived here until they both died in 1907. They were married for sixty years and had twelve children together.

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Wordless Wednesday: Granary Burial Ground, Boston

10/24/2012

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Photo taken during our recent visit to Boston, August 2012

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Tombstone Tuesday: John M. and Louisa (Kahlig) Braun

10/23/2012

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St. Peter Cemetery, St. Peter (Mercer County), Ohio

This is the burial place of two of my husband's great-great-grandparents on his mother's side of the family. John M. Braun was born and died in St. Peter, Ohio, where he worked as a farmer his entire life. His wife, Louisa Kahlig, was born in Austria and immigrated with her family to America when she was about a year old. They were married in St. Peter and had ten children, all of whom survived well into adulthood.
©2012, copyright Emily Kowalski Schroeder

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A Lovely Autumn Morning to Search Cemeteries

10/15/2012

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We went out this morning to a couple of nearby cemeteries to search for several gravestones that had been requested through FindAGrave.com. It was a bit chilly, but the kiddos didn't mind one bit, especially since there were so many leaves to play in! (We live in a newer neighborhood with few large trees and virtually no fallen leaves in which to play.)

Our trip to this cemetery was successful: I found the gravestone of a woman who died in 1860 and the best part about it was that her stone, though broken, was still mostly readable! (If you've searched for old graves before, you know how common it is to find old graves unmarked or marked with gravestones that have been weathered beyond legibility.) Her husband's name was listed on the stone, along with the date of her death and her age at death - which is great, because then you can estimate when she was born.

©2012, copyright Emily Kowalski Schroeder

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