tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6930263311780001387.post5454112723449169518..comments2024-03-26T13:34:53.762-04:00Comments on Catching Happiness: Toto, We're Not in Kansas, but...Kathy A. Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01499969787028085716noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6930263311780001387.post-3326332544515495772010-06-20T09:09:00.209-04:002010-06-20T09:09:00.209-04:00We drove by a cemetary near our home last week, an...We drove by a cemetary near our home last week, and I found myself wanting to get out and look through it! Oh, dear--a new and quirky hobby?? <br /><br />I am grateful to my aunt and my mom who have spent time researching the family history. Learning about our distant relatives and where they came from helps me feel connected to family.Kathy A. Johnsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01499969787028085716noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6930263311780001387.post-39069148997007946892010-06-20T08:10:35.982-04:002010-06-20T08:10:35.982-04:00Oh, we all love combing cemeteries too, even my so...Oh, we all love combing cemeteries too, even my son. We're history geeks. He likes to find the oldest tombstone and see how far it goes back. We've gone through Gettysburg and a NYC cemetery that held graves from the Revolutionary War leaders.<br /><br />Sounds like you had a great time. My mom is a genealogist too. You're right, there is a peace and sadness in a cemetery and also awe.Khttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05540050745681475664noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6930263311780001387.post-33290739546671267192010-06-16T14:02:26.336-04:002010-06-16T14:02:26.336-04:00It's pretty amazing what you can find just a c...It's pretty amazing what you can find just a couple of generations back. In our family, there was a lot of moving around in the Midwest to make a better living for the family. We don't seem to have too many black sheep, but maybe my aunt is keeping those people under wraps!Kathy A. Johnsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01499969787028085716noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6930263311780001387.post-19335470353110039802010-06-16T13:59:01.902-04:002010-06-16T13:59:01.902-04:00Laure--Well, if it weren't so hot right now, I...Laure--Well, if it weren't so hot right now, I know what our next "field trip" should be. Maybe in the fall?Kathy A. Johnsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01499969787028085716noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6930263311780001387.post-83007288485794652012010-06-16T13:52:59.661-04:002010-06-16T13:52:59.661-04:00Wow... I'd have jumped at the chance of a trip...Wow... I'd have jumped at the chance of a trip like that too. My Dad has been doing genealogy research for some time now and he's turned up some fascinating things and people. Some of ours were better left to rest ;-)<br /><br />Looking forward to the next installment!Teresahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14186138266137470331noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6930263311780001387.post-59677380087536375462010-06-16T12:31:35.663-04:002010-06-16T12:31:35.663-04:00I too can wander for hours in old cemeteries. Ther...I too can wander for hours in old cemeteries. There is a peace but also a curiosity about the lives that were lived and lost. The whys, how comes, and how did that happen questions. <br /><br />It is as if time stops in a cemetery. And not just for the dead.Laure Ferlitahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14966163843633158039noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6930263311780001387.post-70946841402705681982010-06-16T11:43:48.967-04:002010-06-16T11:43:48.967-04:00I'm glad I'm not the only one who enjoys a...I'm glad I'm not the only one who enjoys a walk through a cemetery! :) I don't know if I'd feel that way about a new one, though. The old ones have such a peaceful, timeless feel.Kathy A. Johnsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01499969787028085716noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6930263311780001387.post-60808607860195857812010-06-15T20:42:25.550-04:002010-06-15T20:42:25.550-04:00So glad to have you back, Kathy -- and safe from t...So glad to have you back, Kathy -- and safe from tornadoes!<br /><br />I'm passionate about old cemeteries. My husband thinks it's creepy, so I no longer attempt to drag him along. I love the peace that I feel walking in them, and the wildness and nature that has sometimes been allowed to spring up in them. I suspect it comes from regularly visiting a very old cemetery as a child, one that was so old there was a slave section still in it, way at the back by the forest's encroaching edge, and it bothered me from a very young age that no one had bothered to put names and dates on the tiny, age-darkened, simple stones there. My dad did not shy away from explaining it to me, even at age 6 or so, and bowing his head sorrowfully over the stones.<br /><br />Isn't it crazy to think our ancestors were killing their fellow countrymen only 150 years ago or so? Amazing that your "great-great" survived Andersonville, and he was so young, too, to go through that horror. :(Meredithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11454557080455458675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6930263311780001387.post-59822724876109248762010-06-15T17:01:56.484-04:002010-06-15T17:01:56.484-04:00Hi, Maria! The cemeteries were fascinating. I did...Hi, Maria! The cemeteries were fascinating. I didn't get a picture of it, but there was one tombstone erected to a man who was "born in slavery"--it was a large and beautifully carved white marble monument...I wondered who had put it there for him. <br /><br />I told my mom about your daughter taking the bear to college with her and she got a big kick out of that!Kathy A. Johnsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01499969787028085716noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6930263311780001387.post-36561766891595609562010-06-15T16:36:35.300-04:002010-06-15T16:36:35.300-04:00I don't find your fascination surprising at al...I don't find your fascination surprising at all. Old cemeteries are interesting places. As you say, so much can be said on a tombstone, and yet so little.<br /><br />There is a cemetery near us where there is a family plot with a marker that tells how an entire family was wiped out within a week's time by the Spanish flu. All but the father. Each of the children died, one by one, then a newborn, and finally the wife and mother. In a week. Just imagine. And now there are maybe 3 people alive who still remember them personally. The mind boggles.Maria Stahlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01860866965815658652noreply@blogger.com