Recently
my husband & I drove from our home in the Albany, NY area to a family
wedding
near Columbus, OH. Most of our route was west on Interstate 90 through
the Mohawk Valley region, past the Finger Lakes and on to western New York
before a brief drive through Pennsylvania and into Ohio. While we made our
plans for the wedding I did a little genealogy research, naturally!
LeopoldGartner/Gardner, my great grandfather, lived his final years in Buffalo, NY. He
lived with his daughter, Florence Gartner Weisberg/Weissberg. I had discovered where
he was buried but had never visited his grave. Because we were going to be
driving through Buffalo I thought a quick stop was in order.
I
found North Park Cemetery on Find A Grave but, as I often find with Find A
Grave, there was no street address. I found the website for the JewishFederation for Greater Buffalo, found their community directory and called the
number for cemetery information. The woman I spoke to quickly and efficiently
gave me the street address and advice on where to park. She also gave me the
location of the graves of Leopold, his daughter Florence, and her husband
Samuel. I was nervous that it might not be as easy as it sounded and that we
would be delayed on our long drive to Ohio. However, it went smoothly.
Ironically,
for three years my husband & I had lived just a few miles from the
cemetery. At that time I had not begun genealogy research and had no idea my
great grandfather was close by.
We
easily found Leopold, Florence & Samuel. I snapped more pictures than
necessary, took a moment for prayer and we were soon on our way again. When we
arrived at the hotel and greeted cousins no one was surprised at all that we
had stopped off to do genealogy along the way!
[Later I added my photos & information to Find A Grave. They are now the only interments listed for that cemetery.]
Related Posts:
- Leopold Gartner Family in NY Census
- New Discoveries & Unexpected Tragedies
- Weissberg Furriers in Buffalo, NY
Taking time for genealogy while on the way to a family wedding: Signs of a dyed-in-the-wool, true-blue, genealogist! It's interesting too that you once lived close to the cemetery before you knew of your connection to it. The stones are beautiful.
ReplyDeleteYes, Jennifer, it is strange that we once lived in the area. If I had known about genealogy then I would have been able to connect with relatives who were also in the area then. Now I cannot find them. t
DeleteIn would call that a wise use of time; the photos are great.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Charlie. It had rained most of the morning & I was afraid photos would be awful. However, although the sun did not come out, the rain stopped long enough for our visit to the cemetery.
DeleteIt's awesome that you were able to take photos of your ancestors' grave stones. Very special side trip indeed. And so worth the extra time, I'm sure. When my husband and I were on our anniversary trip last year, we stopped at the cemetery where my great-grandparents were buried and took photos of their grave stones.
ReplyDeleteJana, it is a good thing that our husbands understand our genealogy obsession.
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