Irish Tombstones in St. Rose Cemetery Newtown, Connecticut

In 2005 I was persuaded by Newtown's professional genealogist, Harlan Jessup, to develop a database of the Irish tombstones located in the St. Rose Cemetery located in Sandy Hook, CT. Specifically he wanted only the stones that recorded native parish and county of origin. When finished, I wrote an article about the database that appeared in Connecticut Ancestry. From there I went on to do the same for Old St. Peter's Cemetery in Danbury, Connecticut. My Irish tombstone database was also placed on the Genealogy Club of Newtown's website.

Unfortunately, Ancestry has decided to abandon the hundreds (if not thousands) of small genealogy clubs and historical societies by taking down the free Rootsweb website where the Genealogy Club of Newtown's site was hosted.

I've decided to post some of the material I did for the club's website here on my blog. Already there is the 1890 Census Substitute for Newtown, CT on this site. To find those blog posts, scroll down to the list of tags and they will be at the top. My husband and I consulted a number of sources to compile this 1890 Census Substitute with the hope that it would help those searching ancestors in this difficult time period when the Federal Census is not available.

 

Although we have moved from Newtown, I still monitor the Random Acts emails. So if anyone has a question about Newtown ancestors, use the email in the above article.

Writing a Family History – The Nitty-gritty

The book Guide to Genealogical Writing by Penelope L. Stratton and Henry B. Hoff was mentioned in a couple of sessions I attended at NERGC. I decided to purchase a copy and am glad I did!

This book gets down to the nitty-gritty of producing a written family history. The first chapter sets the stage: “Shifting Mental Gears.” In other words, you have to stop thinking like a researcher and get into the mindset of a writer. Now, this is the heart of the matter and what I struggle with for my September presentation - how to encourage genealogists who love the chase, but feel they have no writing skills.

Some suggestions: After deciding the scope of your project, one ancestral line or several, determine your audience and time frame. Those decisions will narrow down your focus. From the research you have completed, develop a table of contents. This is not set in stone, but will serve as a guide to keep you on track.

Chapter two explains the genealogical numbering systems, and I admit I have not followed either in my previous monographs. That is something I have on my to-do list.

Chapter three explains how to make a style sheet, and this is something I have done. It is necessary to ensure consistency in your writing. I also use it for citation styles I use the most – utilizing the formats in Evidence Explained by Elizabeth Shown Mills.

The above is a sample of the wonderful information contained in this book, taking the genealogist from the very start right through publication. I encourage anyone thinking about writing up family stories to purchase this book. It even gets down to the detail that there is only ONE space after a period! Not what our generation was taught.

A Worlds Collide Moment - I was surprised to see their example of a narrative geographic setting on page 48. The narrative, “On the Coast of Ireland,” starts by saying “… among the markers in St. Rose Cemetery in Sandy Hook, CT … “ That information, I believe, they got from the Irish Tombstone Transcription project I did in 2005!!!  My transcription of the Irish tombstones was published in Connecticut Ancestry (November 2005 Vol. 48, No2), and also resides on the Genealogy Club of Newtown’s website. It proves once again genealogy is a small world. After completing the transcriptions in St. Rose Cemetery, I then did the Irish tombstones in Old St. Peter's Cemetery, Danbury, CT, with the help of Harlan Jessup. Harlan took our project to the board of Connecticut Ancestry, who assembled volunteers to record the rest of Fairfield County's Irish tombstones.