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Newsletter
November 2014
Volume 2014 Is s ue 10
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
1
Cemetery Symbolism
3
Internet Graves, Cemetery
and Funeral Home
Research
5
Upcoming Programs
6
Meeting Bits and Bytes
7
Help with PAF
7
MPAFUG Key Information
NOVEMBER MEETING
YEAR END SPECI AL
Photo Magic
Bob Heck
Newspaper Research and
Resources
Winnie Mading
7:00 pm - 11/12/14
Klemmers Banquet Center
10401 West Oklahoma
Avenue
Milwaukee, WI 53227
DECEMBER MEETING
There is NO Meeting in
December
Cemetery Symbolism
Summarized by Bob Heck
The evening's program was called
Cemetery Night at MPAFUG. The first
program featured Betty Storey and her
presentation of Cemetery Symbolism.
Betty presented 144 images of
tombstone symbols and explained
what they generally mean. The
audience of 150 or so were
spellbound at times and full of
laughter at other times as Betty
explained each slide. She started out
by recommending a book "Stories In
Stone" by Douglas Keister.
Betty even talked about the latest
thing called Green Burial in which
there are no caskets, embalming or
gravestones. It does include a map
with a GPS location of the
environmentally healthy burial place.
Apparently they even use caskets
made of biodegradable grass.
Betty explained that the symbols used
on tombstones have changed over the
last thousand or so years. They often
showed social and fraternal
membership, occupations, and
thoughts on the afterlife. Some
symbols such as skulls, skeletons,
coffins, scythes, and an hourglass,
remind us that time on earth is
fleeting. In the 1890's a human face
as a winged cherub replaced the skull.
A broken chain goes back to medieval
times. The soul could be held to the
body by a golden chain. Once broken
the soul took flight and ascended into
heaven. A lamb indicated a child's
tombstone. RIP was Requiescat in
Pace or Rest In Peace in today's
terms.
Many symbols indicated fraternal
membership or occupation. GAR
stood for Grand Army of the Republic,
which was a veteran organization for
those who served in the Civil War. K
of C was for the Knights of Columbus
a Catholic organization for men. DAR
stood for Daughters of the American
Revolution. LA to BRT stood for
Ladies Auxiliary to Brotherhood of
Railroad Trainman. A mortar and
Pestle represented a Pharmacists.
UMS stood for United Methodist
Minister or Saddlebag Minister: A
minister who rode a circuit serving
many communities. A firefighter was
represented by a hat, hook, ladder,
nozzle and torch.
Betty ended her presentation with
several humorous items found on
tombstones.
One was Kay's Fudge or a recipe for
making her fudge.
Please see Cemetery on Page 2
Page 2
MPAFUG Newsletter
Cemetery from page 1
I told you I was sick.
Lived fast died mysteriously.
He never killed a man that did not
need killing.
Jokes over. Let me out NOW! Here
lies good old Fred.
The soul could be held
to the body by a golden
chain. Once broken the
soul took flight and
ascended into heaven.
A great big rock fell on his head. RIP.
Here lies the body of Jonathan Blake
stepped on the gas instead of the
brake.
Betty ended her presentation with a
definition of a Taphophile: An
individual who has a passion for and
enjoyment of cemeteries. If you
palpitate every time you drive by a
cemetery you know that you are one.
Taphophile: An
individual who has a
passion for and
enjoyment of
cemeteries
Page 3
MPAFUG Newsletter
Internet Graves, Cemetery and Funeral
Home Research
Summarized by Bob Heck
findagrave.com is an
excellent and FREE
web site
Following a short break Bob Heck
asked the audience to look on the back
of their handout and if they saw a small
white sticker with the letter P on it they
should stand up. First one stood then
two and three and soon there were
nine standing each with a puzzled look
on their faces. The puzzled looks soon
turned to huge smiles as Bob told them
that each had won a frozen tombstone
pizza, which they could pick up at the
end of the meeting. With that Bob
continued with his presentation on
Internet Graves, Cemetery and Funeral
Home Research.
Bob began talking about a FREE web
site called Find-A-Grave located at
http://findagrave.com
billiongraves.com is
another good site for
finding graves
Before going into detail about the site
Bob drove home the value of the site
by presenting a little success story. He
was looking for his wife's great
grandfather, Ole E. Anderson in
Minnesota. He checked his favorite
sites first without success. Those sites
included:
http://usgenweb.com
http://rootsweb.com
http://familysearch.org
http://ancestry.com
http://people.mnhs.org/dci/search.cfm
(Minnesota Historical Society)
Then he tried Find-A-Grave and there
he found Ole buried in the Saron
Lutheran Cemetery in Chippewa
County, Minnesota. A quick phone call
to the church and two days later Bob
had a copy of the death and burial
record for Ole E Anderson and the
second marriage of the widow to Ole
M Thompson. All three people were
listed as being from Mo-Rana,
Norway. A quick check of digital
archives of Norway at
http://digitalarkivet.no/ resulted in
finding three more generations. Within
a few months Bob had discovered
new relatives from Paynesville,
Meeker County, Minnesota.
Back to http://findagrave.com
Find-A-Grave has over 116 million
graves documented, many of which
have a photo of the tombstone and
biographical information on the
individual. Many include links to
parents, children and siblings. Bob
demonstrated jumping from a
cemetery in Brighton, Kenosha
County, Wisconsin to a cemetery in
Swan Lake, Minnesota with just the
click of a mouse. Bob showed us how
to view all of the interments listed in a
cemetery and how to add new ones or
offer corrections and additional
information for one.
Bob suggested how to effectively
search for a cemetery in a state and
county without knowing the cemetery
name. Doing so he showed that there
were 44 cemeteries listed in Nicollet
County, Minnesota and 89 cemeteries
in Milwaukee County.
Bob then went on to discuss Billion
Graves located at
http://billiongraves.com
Please see Internet Graves on Page 4
Page 4
MPAFUG Newsletter
Internet Graves from page 3
Bob pointed out that Billion Graves found
only 16 Burgess names in Wisconsin while
Find-A-Grave found 444. Bob suggested
that you check both sites because Billion
Graves could have some names that FindA-Grave was missing.
Bob next covered Funeral Home Research
which he called The Forgotten Resource.
Funeral homes are often overlooked by
genealogists but can be a rich resource.
Records can range from a simple 3 X 5
card to a complete record of the deceased
including obituaries, photos, prayer cards,
burial permits, transit permits, and lists of
relatives. Information can include places of
birth, places of death, burial place, cause
of death, employment and retirement
information, cost of the funeral, and the
name of the person providing the
information. Even the simple 3 X 5 card
can help find the date of death and the
burial place.
Bob gave suggestions on how to find the
right funeral home and funeral home
records even if it was no longer in
business. Be sure to visit our MPAFUG
Member-Only web site at http://mpafug.org
to get a copy of the handout. There are
many web addresses included in the
handout to help you find the right funeral
home.
Bob ended his presentation by reminding
everyone that many rural cemeteries are
marked with a pine tree in each corner. If
you are driving along a county road and
you see the tips of four pine trees in a
square you can almost be sure that there is
a small cemetery in that place.
Funeral homes are
often overlooked by
genealogists but can be
a rich resource
MPAFUG Newsletter
Page 5
Upcoming Programs
November 12, 2014 – Year End Special
Photo Magic (Bob Heck)
Newspaper Research & Resources (Winnie Mading)
A Color Laser Printer will be on the Opportunity Table in November
December – NO MEETING
January 14, 2015 – Security Night at MPAFUG
Bill Heck on Computer Security, Password Management, Recognizing Scams
and Hackers. (Bill Heck, son of Bob Heck, is a Certified Security Analyst, and
heads up Security Testing Teams.)
February 11, 2015 –
Alternate Resources for Researching Your Family (Cathy Daily)
Catholic & non-Catholic Record Research, and Cemetery Records (Bob
Tatalovich)
March 11, 2015 –
Planning a Research Trip (Winnie Mading)
Using a Smart Phone or Tablet: Taking your files with you. (Bob Heck)
April 13, 2015 – Historical Societies and ARC Centers
Wisconsin Historical Society & ARC Centers (Sam Colon)
Burlington Historical Society Research Site (Bob Heck)
May 13, 2015 –
Internet Research for the Genealogist (Bob Heck)
Planning for a trip to Madison (TBA)
June 10, 2015 – Military Night
About this newsletter
This newsletter is the official monthly publication of the Milwaukee PAF Users Group. All rights are reserved. No articles herein
may be reproduced for profit or commercial gain without the express written consent of the Publisher or the Milwaukee PAF
Users Group. Other PAF Users Groups may republish articles freely, but must include credit to the authors and for the
Milwaukee PAF Users Group Newsletter.
Members interested in submitting articles may e-mail them to [email protected]. The MPAFUG Publisher will determine if an
article will be used in this newsletter. Articles will be used as space permits. NO COPYRIGHTED ARTICLES may be submitted
st
without express permission of the author and publisher. Articles should be submitted by the 1 Wednesday to be considered for
inclusion in that same month. Credit will be given for your article.
Page 6
MPAFUG Newsletter
Meeting Bits and Bytes
Our September, 2014, General Meeting began at 7PM at Klemmer's Banquet Center on
West Oklahoma Avenue. Bob Heck, presiding, welcomed the audience. Unfortunately no
one took notes of the questions and answers during Bob’s usual question and answer
period right before the first speaker – during which valuable prizes are given for correct
answers.
So, here is another headstone for you to enjoy.
Page 7
MPAFUG Newsletter
Help with PAF
Call us if you need assistance in using PAF, or if you have question about MPAFUG
We're here to help!
NAME
Jerry Dominiski
Bruce Butterfield
Sam Colon
Mary & Dale Graves
Bob Heck
Bob Tatalovich
Jane Orne
Guy Porth
PHONE
414-422-0098
414-462-6097
414-327-2133
262-968-2044
414-421-7143
414-897-8280
262-938-9371
414-510-0563
E-MAIL Address
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
MPAFUG Key Information
The Steering Committee
rd
Steering committee meetings are held on the 3 Wednesday of every month except December. The
meetings start at 7:00 pm at Bob Heck's house (4910 Steeple Drive, Greendale, WI). The Steering
Committee is an informal group of members who get together to plan the general agendas for future
meetings. All MPAFUG members are welcome to attend and participate in the meetings.
Our Web Page: http://mpafug.org
We invite you to visit our web page and even print a copy of this and the previous month's newsletter.
We also have a surname section where you can see who is working on your family line. Members of
MPAFUG have access to a members-only web page which contains past newsletters and handouts
from our meetings.
Resources Available:
In addition to our monthly meetings and website, we offer 3 CD's that are available to members for
purchase. CD's are $5 each if picked up at a meeting, or an additional $2.50 for shipping/handling.
Contact Mary J. Graves - MPAFUG Treasurer, PO Box 773, Waukesha, WI 53187-0773.
♦ MPAFUG Newsletters – December 1991 thru December 2013
♦ MPAFUG Handouts – 1999 thru 2013
♦ MPAFUG Utilities CD – contains 16 useful programs including PAF, Picasa, GenViewer, Open
Office, Adobe Reader, PDA to Palm OS, FastStone, IRFAN Viewer/Plugins, FamilySearcher and
more
Membership Information
Membership in MPAFUG is open to anyone interested in learning more about computer genealogy.
Membership is $14 per calendar year for an individual or family. Dues are $7 for the balance of a year
th
if you join after June 30 . To join, send a check made payable to "MPAFUG" to: Mary J. Graves –
MPAFUG Treasurer, PO Box 773, Waukesha, WI 53187-0773.
Questions about MPAFUG?
MPAFUG c/o Bob Heck
4910 Steeple Drive, Greendale WI 53129
Phone: 414-421-7143
E-mail: [email protected]