Genealogy Humor

Tammy,
Your comments brought to mind that my own mother remarried after my dad died. Her 2nd husband wanted both his first & 2nd wife next to him when he died, so he had my dad's remains & headstone moved to his site. Don't remember what my mom & dad's headstones said, so will have my brother, who is still in the area where the cemetery is ck & get pix for me... Think it had mom's name & birth date on it as she was still alive when they got their cemetery plot. Couldn't believe that I don't have a pix of the headstones... Am not sure what name is on it now that I think about it. My brother doesn't remember either, so he is going to go looking for the headstones this weekend.

At least this situation has generated a discussion. There may be some humor in the reason for the duct tape that we don't know about??? It would be interesting to find out what the "New" headstone says...

Have a safe Memorial Day and weekend everyone.
Pat

I'll be checking to see what the new stone says. I wish I could have looked under the duct tape!

Too bad you didn't then re-taped it!!! Now you have me wondering...

Patricia....have you contacted the Find a grave memorial manager? They often have additional info in their files....including more pictures.....(a good number of the managers are ALSO avid genealogy bufs themselves....and may be able to edit the memorial to included added info).....

Or if visiting....the cemetery trustee may have added info.....my own grandparents had children in addition to those we knew about (evidently they were stillborn....but the family only learned about them this year when my brother visited the cemetery.....they even made a plot map for him and provided him with death certificates.

It is not unusual for a man to be buried with both spouses, with their names and dates on the headstone. (my uncle and his 2 wives).

YOU KNOW YOU'RE AN ADDICTED GENEALOGIST
...when you brake for libraries. 

...if you get locked in a library overnight and you never even notice. 

...when you hyperventilate at the sight of an old cemetery. 

...if you'd rather browse in a cemetery than a shopping mall. 

...when you think every home should have a microfilm reader.

...if you'd rather read census schedules than a good book.
...when you know every town clerk in your state by name. 

...if town clerks lock the doors when they see you coming. 

...when you're more interested in what happened in 1697 than 1997. 

...if you store your clothes under the bed and your closet is carefully stacked with notebooks and journals. 

...if you can pinpoint Harrietsham, Hawkhurst, and Kent on a map of England, but can't locate Topeka, Kansas. 

...when all your correspondence begins, "Dear Cousin," 

...if you've traced every one of your ancestral lines back to Adam and Eve, have it all fully documented, and still don't want to quit.

There was a great loss today in the entertainment world. The man who wrote the song "Hokey Pokey" has died. What was really horrible is that they had trouble putting the body in the casket.

They'd put his left leg in... well, you know the rest.

Doughboy Dies

Veteran Pillsbury spokesman, Pop N. Fresh, died yesterday of a severe yeast infection. He was 71. Known to friends as "Brown-n-Serve," Fresh was an avid gardener and tennis player. 



Fresh was buried in one of the largest funeral ceremonies in recent years. Dozens of celebrities turned out including Mrs. Butterworth, the California Raisins, Hungry Jack, Aunt Jemima, Betty Crocker, the Hostess Twinkies, and Skippy. 



The graveside was piled high with flours as longtime friend, Aunt Jemima, delivered the eulogy, describing Fresh as a man who "never knew how much he was kneaded." 



Fresh rose quickly in show business, but his later life was filled with many turnovers. He was not considered a very smart cookie, wasting much of his dough on half-baked schemes -- conned by those who buttered him up. 



Still, even as a crusty old man, he was a roll model for millions. He enjoyed being prodded by his many friends who invariably poked fun at him. 



Fresh is survived by his second wife. They have two children and another bun in the oven. 



The funeral was held at 3:50 for about 20 minutes.

Super

Found this on the internet. Anyone found any other "unique" or "funny" names in Census Records or "funny" names for places??? Some of these would create problems to tell what sex they were if all you had was the name... (You can tell I haven't done a lot of census work!)

Funny Names Found in Census Records
These are names actually found in census records.
Just a bit of humor in reality!
Sorry if these are related to you. It is all in good fun!

• Comfort Castle - found in 1830 Columbia County, NY.
• Constant Chase - found in 1830 Boston, Suffolk Co, MA.
• Noble Crapper - found in 1790 Worcester Co, MD.
• Orange Field - found in 1930 Miller County, GA.
• Tiny Little - found in 1930 Chattooga County, GA.
• Joy Rider - found in 1930 Bennington, Morrow County, OH.
• Cotton Tufts - found in 1830 Weymouth, Norfolk Co, MA.
• Page Turner - found in 1880 Putnam County, GA.
• Frost Snow - found in 1920 Reed Island, Pulaski Co, VA.

Some of these I can explain, some not:

Most families had names that they considered necessary and passed those names to each and every child, and those names got passed along themselves....the traditional names: John, James, Samuel, Joseph, William etc.

Then families went throughwhat I call the 'sample phase" (you know those placards that they made with crossstitch or cut in wood and hung on their walls): such as Patience, Trustworthy, Weathy, Prudence, Confort, Constant, Noble, Fear, and many more along those lines.

Then of course there was hero worship: George Washington Copp, Andrew Jackson Sargent, Van Buren Martin (if you write this one up as you would on an application, he became Martin Van Buren).....John Hancock Smith and many more that told either the family's politics, or hero workship of popular figures....

A lot of names that seem odd as a primary name were the maiden names of mothers or the surname of an important affiliated family.....

But they surely did make for imteresting reading.....and speculation.

Meant 'samplers'

Very interesting!!! I wondered about some of those you call "sampler" names as I have seen Patience, Prudence, Comfort & I think Trustworthy... In fact I may even have a few of them in my tree!!! It really is interesting how family names came into being & were passed along.

One genealogist says to another genealogist “My ancestry goes all the way back to Alexander the Great. How far back does your family go?” “I don’t know;” was the reply, “All of our records were lost in The Flood.”

~~~***~~~***~~~***~~~***~~~***~~~***~~~

From "Dear Abby"

Dear Abby: I have always wanted to have my family history traced, but I can't afford to spend a lot of money to do it. Any suggestions?
~ Sam in California ~

Dear Sam: Yes. Run for public office.

Most settlements had certain requirements and time constraints to fulfill in order to qualify to incorporate into actual town.....so people tended to travel/migrate with people they knew and got along with....for better -or-worse a lot of those people were relatives by association.......some close, some not so close....with a few newbies that could fulfill certain desirable functions for a new town (i.e. blacksmith, teacher (degree of education), carpenters and joiners, millers, etc).......who could provide the goods that were mandated by the settlement agreement.....to clear roads, plant crops (or clear cannals/waterways), provide lumber, plant crops....provide means to transport these crops to the coast for shipment (or later, inland, for the railraod)..

With families of 8,9,-15 children, it did not take long for a family's allotment of land to become crowded....and the need to re-move became a necessity.....new people came into town...some stayed, some went when a new settlement was opened for population........

The longer they stayed in one place, the closer the family relationships.....it soon became apparent that moving was a desireable thing to do.

(No pun intended....but the movie "Deliverance" comes to mind.....too small a gene pool in certain sections of states).

Will keep eyes open for punny things.

A great many of the best trees were started by grafting.

A baby - a new acorn on the family tree

Genealogy - chasing your own tale.

I liked the one about the baby--a new acorn on the family tree & added it to my list of Genealogists' Sayings.

Alright all of you genealogists who think you are sooooo smart, how good are you at figuring out relationships??? Here is a challenge for you to see how good you really are. (These kind of relationships questions are why I like the "chain" at the top with the relationship to me!!!) Remember the question is how they are related to YOU!!!

A Genealogy Game

How fast can you name the relationship to you?

1. Father's brother's uncle's sister?
2. Grandmother's nephew's daughter?
3. Aunt's mother's father's wife?
4. Mother's aunt's grandson?
5. Brother's son's sister's mother?
6. Cousin's aunt's daughter's brother's?
7. Sister-in-law's father-in-law's grandson?
8. Sister's father's stepson's mother?
9. Uncle's father's only grandchild?
10. Brother-in-law's wife's grandmother's husband?
11. Uncle's father's mother's husband?
12. Aunt's mother's granddaughter's only sibling?
13. Granddaughter's brother's mother's mother-in-law?
14. Niece's father's only brother?
15. Aunt's husband's sister's daughter?

Anyone want to send me the answers (pscoggin@cox.net)??? (I got the first 3 ok (I think), but am having some challenges with the rest... ) OR maybe we should have the answers posted here (for everyone's benefit)???

Contributions will be appreciated -- I have quite a few collected (found on the internet...) but you may have some that I don't have... Some are really funny!!!!

Old Tombstones Epitaphs

A truly Happy Person is one who can enjoy the scenery on a detour.
And, one who can enjoy browsing old cemeteries...
Some fascinating things on old tombstones!

*Harry Edsel Smith of Albany, New York*
**Born 1903--Died 1942**
Looked up the elevator shaft to see if the
car was on the way down. It was.
=============================
*In a Thurmont, Maryland cemetery:
Here lies an Atheist, all dressed up and no place to go.
=============================
*On the grave of Ezekial Aikle in East Dalhousie Cemetery, Nova Scotia*
*Here lies Ezekial Aikle, Age 102.
Only The
Good Die Young.
=============================
*In a London, England cemetery:
Here lies Ann Mann, who lived an old maid
but died an old Mann. Dec. 8, 1767
=============================
*In a Ribbesford, England cemetery:
Anna Wallace
The children of Israel wanted bread,
And the Lord sent them manna.
Clark Wallace wanted a wife,
And the Devil sent him Anna.
============================

Old Tombstones Epitaphs cont.:

*In a Ruidoso, New Mexico cemetery:
Here lies Johnny Yeast... Pardon me for not rising.
===============================
*In a Uniontown, Pennsylvania cemetery:
Here lies the body of Jonathan Blake.
Stepped on the gas instead of the brake.
==============================
*A lawyer's epitaph in England:
Sir John Strange.
Here lies an honest lawyer, and that is Strange.
=================================
*John Penny' s epitaph in the Wimborne, England, cemetery:
Reader, if cash thou art in want of any,
Dig 6 feet deep and thou wilt find a Penny.
==================================
*In a Silver City, Nevada, cemetery:
Here lays The Kid.
We planted him raw.
He was quick on the trigger
But slow on the draw.
================================

Dorothy Parker is sais to have written on her tombstone: Pardon my dust!"

Thanks Fay, will add that to my list. Where is Dorothy Parker buried?

Anyone else with interesting epitaphs???

I looked Dorothy Parker up on the internet & found she did indeed say that. Here is what I found:

In Memorial garden outside of NAACP’s Baltimore Headquarters is a plaque that reads:
Here lies the ashes of Dorothy Parker
(1893-1967)
Humorist, writer, critic & defender of human and civil rights
For her epitaph she suggested:
“Excuse my dust.”

Old Tombstones Epitaphs cont.:

*In a cemetery in Hartscombe, England:
On the 22nd of June, Jonathan Fiddle went out of tune.
==================================
*Anna Hopewell's grave in Enosburg Falls, Vermont:
Here lies the body of our Anna,
Done to death by a banana.
It wasn't the fruit that laid her low,
But the skin of the thing that made her go.
==================================
*On a grave from the 1880s in Nantucket, Massachusetts:
Under the sod and under the trees,
Lies the body of Jonathan Pease.
He is not here, there's only the pod.
Pease shelled out and went to God.
==================================
*In a cemetery in England:
Remember man, as you walk by,
As you are now, so once was I
As I am now, so shall you be.
Remember this and follow me.

To which someone replied by writing on the tombstone:

To follow you I'll not consent.
Until I know which way you went.
==================================

Chuckles on the last one.

Tombstone epitaphs cont:

*Ellen Shannon in Girard, Pennsylvania
(This is almost a consumer tip):
Who was fatally burned
March 21, 1870
By the explosion of a lamp filled with
"R.E. Danforth's Non-Explosive Burning Fluid"
==================================
*Someone in Winslow, Maine didn't like Mr. Wood:
In Memory of Beza Wood
Departed this life
Nov. 2, 1837
Aged 45 yrs.
Here lies one Wood
Enclosed in wood
One Wood
Within another.
The outer wood
Is very good:
We cannot praise
The other.
==================================
*On Margaret Daniels grave at Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond, Virginia:
She always said her feet were killing her
but nobody believed her.
==================================
*Lester Moore was a Wells, Fargo Co. station agent for Naco, Arizona in the cowboy days of the 1880's. He's buried in the Boot Hill Cemetery in Tombstone, Arizona:
Here lies Lester Moore
Four slugs from a forty-four
No Les
No More.
==================================

Tombstone epitaphs cont:

*Boot Hill Cemetery, Tombstone, Arizona:
He was young
He was fair
But the Injuns
Raised his Hair
==================================
*On the grave of a woman who died in 1984. Colorado Springs, Colorado. Her son, owner of Zeezo's Magic Castle in Colorado Springs, stated that his mother had been married to a Texan who is buried in Texas.
“I would rather be here
Than in Texas.”
==================================
*Winterborn Steepleton Cemetery, Dorsetshire, England
Here lies the body
Of Margaret Bent
She kicked up her heels
And away she went.
==================================
*Plymouth, Mass.
Here lies Barnard Lightfoot
Who was accidentally killed
in the 45th year of his age.
This monument was erected
by his grateful family.
Here lies the body of
Thomas Vernon
The only surviving son of
Admiral Vernon
==================================
*Belturbet, Ireland
Here lies the body of John Round.
Lost at sea and never found.
==================================

Tombstone epitaphs cont:

*Sacred to the memory of
Major James Brush
Royal Artillery, who was killed
by the accidental discharge of
a pistol by his orderly,
14th April 1831.
Well-done, good and faithful servant.
==================================
*On an attorney
Goembel, John E.
1867-1946
“The defense rests”
==================================
On a dentist in Edinburgh, Scotland:
Stranger tread
This ground with gravity.
Dentist Brown
Is filling his last Cavity.
==================================
*Schenectady, New York”
He got a fish-bone in his throat and then he sang an angel note.
==================================
*On a Grave Digger:
Hooray my brave boys
Lets rejoice at his fall.
For if he had lived
He would have buried us all.
==================================
*On A Brewer:
G. Winch, the brewer, lies buried here.
In life he was both hale and stout.
Death brought him to his bitter bier.
Now in heaven he hops about.
==================================

Is anyone reading these??? Are you waiting until I have added all the tombstone epitaphs that I have before commenting or adding any??? I was really hoping that others in Geni would be adding not only comments (thanks to those who have) but would be adding some genealogy humor also. After all there is humor in genealogy, although sometimes one has to search for it as you wade thru some of the frustrations that come your way.

I hope that many of you have started your day by reading this discussion. Have a great & successful day. I will be including some Father's Day related stories this next week since Father's Day is rapidly approaching.
Hugs to all my cousins, both near & far & those who aren't related (yet),
Pat

I am reading them and passing some along.

I just found this discussion - I love it!!