What am I going to do in 2023? I never really know for sure because I find new things to scan all the time.
I have about 40 school yearbooks but I know that there is a team coming to the Rochester Public Library to scan more of their yearbook collection. I still have a few yearbooks that RPL doesn’t have so I probably will scan those.
My pile of other things is about 1/3 of what it was at the beginning of 2023. Most is not local history. I have 3 large and very old children’s books that I want to scan. I have some cook books by local organizations that I want to scan. One of those is over 400 pages. I noticed that last year I didn’t scan any of the local history books by Arch Merrill. I think it is time to scan the next book in his series.
I have a PowerPoint presentation that I gave in October that I will add voice to and release as a video. It is about St. Patrick’s Cemetery that was on Pinnacle Hill and a little history of the hill itself. That should be completed within the next couple of months. I still have another more complex PowerPoint presentation that I have had on the back-burner for a few years that I am saying I will complete sometime this year and also make into a video. Not saying what that one is yet.
I wanted to take a short genealogy trip last summer to Southampton on the eastern end of Long Island where my Halsey family settled in the 1630s. There is a Halsey house there but it was closed last year for renovations. Still not sure if it will be open this summer or not.
I am ordering some economical memorials for my great-grandfather and his 3rd wife. Both died about 1920 and never had any tombstones. They are buried about a mile south of the New York – Pennsylvania border. Going to place the memorials in the cemetery where they are buried.
I would like to go back through my files of family papers and scan any that I haven’t. Going to place those on FamilySearch because I know that is the best place for long time archival of those kind of things. Still need to add text memories of my family members to their records on Family Search Family Tree.
Only time will tell if I can accomplish all of these things this year.
Hi Dick,
Happy New Year! Thank you for all the things you scan and share with everyone. They are always fun to read, and sometimes I find family history surprises in them, even the ones that aren’t specifically genealogy or local history based.
You wrote of two things that interest me. Your Power Point about the cemetery on Pinnacle Hill is of interest because my great grandmother was initially buried there. Two, what actually is an economic grave marker that you wrote about? My gg grandparents are in Holy Sepulchre without stones, so I wonder what you plan to purchase.
Wishing you a happy and healthy 2024. Thank you for all the information you shared in the last year. I appreciated it.
I looked a bunch of websites that sell tombstones. Finally decided on a 6×12 inch monument from Markeverygrave.com. It is granite but only 1/2 inch thick so I will be gluing it to a concrete block. The cemetery that my great-grandfather is buried in is basically abandoned so I am putting the monument near his wife’s family grave. Not asking for permission, either. If this was an active cemetery I would have to ask for a concrete base to be poured before a tombstone could be placed. And that is usually done by the cemetery.
I agree Pinnacle Hill is very interesting. Barb and I also have family at Holy Sepulchre.
My (our) great grandmother does not have headstone. (Sec D. Tier 2. 20R)
I told my Mom that I found the spot at Holy Sepulchre and I wanted to add a headstone.
My Mom said no. My Mom knew for a fact that her grandmother specifically did not want one.
Kudos to you for doing all the scanning. I especially look forward to the Arch Merrill books. I have a few, but certainly not all.
Good suggestion about putting materials on Familysearch. Not every generation necessarily has someone like you to keep track of family history. I have sent around some large folders via Dropbox but not sure who reads/keeps them.
I wish you many more years of good health!
Dear Dick,
I’d like to thank you for this amazing website. It has allowed me to understand so much about Rochester and 2 branches of my direct family (both Rochesterians) in the 19th century and turn of the 20th. Truly wonderful.
Kind regards,
Margaret