Postcard, Charles Baber Cemetery, Pottsville, PA

Here is a vintage postcard of the Charles Baber Cemetery in Pottsville, PA. The cemetery was named after the man that donated the land, Charles Baber, who is buried there. This cemetery covers 25 acres. It is part of the Pottsville Project Fitness which deems the cemetery as a place ideal for walking and jogging. It is significant as a historic landscape, sounds like the perfect place for my morning walk.
The cemetery trustees offer many opportunities for the volunteer such as
Raking litter patrol ,Clean-up of branches and twigs, Straightening of flags, Snow shoveling of West Market Street sidewalk, Newspaper research of obituaries on microfilm at Pottsville Free Library, and Develop tree brochure.

There is also a book about the cemetery called Charles Baber Cemetery at Pottsville, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania by Phillip A. Rice. It is currently out of print.

There are many civil war veterans buried there as well as many famous politicians.
One of the most interesting fellows is David G. Yuengling (1808-1877) He is the founder of the Yuengling Brewery. This brewery is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the oldest brewery in the United States. Today the Yuengling Brewery is recognized as America's Oldest Brewery. They are still brewing and according to Linda in Lancaster, it is a fun place to go. The Brewery that is. Although the cemetery sounds like fun too.

Rabbit Wright and Her Postcards

I enjoy my postcard collection so much. I only buy ones that I like or that have a interesting story. The ones that show people in them are the best, such as in this picture. Postcard collectors focus on the style, divided backs, the stamps, linen or not, handcolored or not and many other details. There are many unique PCs out there. My hobby started with family history. I wanted to write my own family history using just postcards. Then I discovered cemetery PCs. By researching the cemetery depicted I learn so much. Some places that I would have never thought to dig into suddenly becomes interesting.

The picture here is of Orchard Knob in Chattanooga, TN. Here was the Battle of Orchid Knob, a exciting battle that Ulysses S. Grant commanded. Upon taking the ridge General George Thomas conceived the idea for a cemetery. Today the National Cemetery at Chattanooga holds the graves of some 37,000 American veterans. The cemetery holds the remains of veterans from the Revolutionary War to the Gulf War and 186 graves of German prisoners-of-war from both World Wars. It is the only national cemetery to contain the graves of foreign POW's.

I looked on line for current pictures of the cemetery and it doesn't look anything like this PC from 1909.

Two cemeteries I am on the lookout for are my own cemetery here in Corona, CA. I have only one and at that I only have the image because someone else in town has the orginal. The other is my future place of residence, the Sunnyvale Cemetery in Valley Center, KS. I can't find anything on it, much less a PC. I begged my sister in law to begin the research since she lives nearby. The only thing I know about it is that the rows are real wide because they used a horse drawn "lawn mower" contraption until a couple decades ago. Oh! and I know many people that are buried there. There is always the mystery!

Postcard Collection...Report Number Seven

The Germantown Cemetery in Philadelphia was known as the Upper Burial Ground. It was once known as the Ax Burying Ground because John Frederick Ax was the keeper of the accounts for the cemetery. Later on it was called the Concord Burial Ground. There was a school built next to it in the year 1775 called The Concord School. By 1756, John Frederick Ax was too old and feeble to attend to the grounds and accounts. It was during the time about 1756 that it received the name of Ax's Burying Ground. The burying ground was run by John Frederick Ax from 1724 to 1756.
Here are buried fifty-two known and five unknown soldiers of the Revolution, as well as eleven from the War of 1812 and one from the Mexican War. The burying ground was created in 1692 and the high front wall was completed in 1724. The burying ground was created from a deed by Paul Wulff. It had its own trustees who kept their own records, but didn't actually start keeping records until 1761 One of the earliest stones is Cornelius Teisen who arrived in Germantown in 1684 and died in 1716 at age 63. There are Indians buried here and Germantown's "Methuselah," Adam Shisler, who died in 1777 and whose tombstone incorrectly reads, "age 969 years."

Soldiers buried in the Upper Burial Ground can be found here: http://genealogytrails.com/penn/military/GermantownRevBurials.html

Postcard Collection...Report No. Six

Pine Hills Cemetery in Gowanda, New York. I was here a couple years ago. It is such a beautiful cemetery. There are other cemeteries nearby that I wished I had went to, but here is where many ancestors are buried. I got this postcard from the village historian, Phil Palen.
Here is an except from my journal:
Pine Hills Cemetery where the Bollers and Minekimes are buried. I was happy to see it. And it was lovely, many mature trees and birds chirping and singing and flying about. Also squirrels and chipmunks. After all, doesn’t every cemetery need a few squirrels and critters? The cemetery is so pretty. It sits on rolling hills just covered with trees. William and Barbara Boller have a very nice spot under a full tree. There is a Catholic section. Its center piece is a large crucifix over looking the graves. In one section you can see most the names are Polish, which is where Phil’s family is buried. He pointed out some of his family. The cemetery indicates that the whole town was, and is, very diverse. Italians, German, Poles, and Irish.
I really felt like we needed to have a picnic there. The cemetery has some open spaces that would be perfect to lay a blanket on and pull out McDonald hamburgers and a couple of large milkshakes! Of course in the Victorian times it was common to have picnics in the cemetery. They would have brought baskets of homemade foods such as breads, jellies, meats, cheese, fruit and homemade cookies.
To and from the cemetery Phil pointed out houses on the way. Some of the names were familiar. I have spent so much time looking in the census, and then the brief time in the museum and walking around the cemetery, they came to life in my heart! Phil said this guy was a doctor, or this person ran the glue factory or this person had a store.
Gowanda also has a cemetery walk. This year will be their second one. They hire buses to bring people up to the cemetery. They have actors, just like the members of Corona Historical Preservation Society do, to talk in the first person at the gravesite about their lives. Last year they had grave rubbings too. Phil said that would have been great, but the wind was blowing the tracing paper around and it rained a little. I told him if they ever decided to do the Bollers. I would fly out and portray them. Heck, I can be the real me and talk like their great granddaughter, because I am! But I love to get dressed up, so I would have to do that. After all I have all those costumes in my closet.

Postcard Collection...Report No. Three

I like postcards when people are in the picture. Here is the entrance to West Lawn Cemetery in Canton, Ohio. Walking through the entrance are a man and two boys. There might also be two more people ahead of the man and boys, but I can't be sure. This must have been sometime between 1907 and 1914.
West Lawn is best known as the resting place of President McKinley, who was assassinated in 1901 in Buffalo, New York. My grandfather witnessed the assassination at the train platform while he was waiting for a train. It was an event that he always remembered and often recounted.
McKinley was laid to rest at first in a receiving vault. A monument was built for him and their two daughters, that had already died, adjacent to the cemetery. When his wife died in 1907 she was placed with him and the children in a large, beautiful vault. Ida Saxton McKinley was born in Canton and it is there that she met Major William McKinley. After her husband's death she moved back to Canton and visited his grave almost daily.

Ida McKinley's brother is also buried here. He was murdered by a former lover while going up to the door of his current lover who was a widow.
There are several books written about the cemetery including an Arcadia Book, Images of America. It is titled Canton’s West Lawn Cemetery. There are many amazing monuments in this cemetery. Many leading citizens of Canton are buried here as well as several politicians. It was established in 1859 and is still accepting burials.
I always wonder about the people that are accidentally in the postcards. Where they really just passing by while the photographer was taking pictures. Were they posing? Did they hire the photographer to take the pictures? In this one were they going in to see a loved one or were they on a Sunday walk? Maybe they went to see the Presidential monument? Could they be up to no good?
A writer could create a great story using this postcard.

Postcard Collection...Report No. One

Harpswell, ME. The Old Meeting House and Burying Grounds

The meeting house shown on this postcard was started in 1757 and completed 1759. The burying grounds are immediately behind the meeting house. Until 1900 it was still used for burial; however they had to stop because old graves were being uncovered when a new grave was dug. Due to the age of the cemetery many stones are buried, missing, broken, or vandalized. Many loose stones are simply placed behind the meeting house. It was transcribed sometime in the 1970’s then again more recently.
The Harpswell Garden Club has had a big hand in restoring the stones and grounds. Today it is a well kept historical site. It is a National Historical Landmark (68000014).
The citizens of the burying grounds include many early settlers of Harpswell, including the builder and minister of the Meeting House, Elisha Eaton.