FindAGrave 11th Anniversary

Yesterday was 10 years, 11 months, and 30 days.
Today is 11 years, 1 day.

Eleven years contributing to FindAGrave!

1,800 memorials are my contribution, with over 2,000 pictures.

When I first started contributing, I did not have a digital camera.  I handwrote the information from the stones and created the memorial later on a computer.  Later I included pictures by using a digital camera: unloaded the pictures onto the computer, compressed their size, and then uploaded to the FindAGrave.

Just this year, in 2014, FindAGrave introduced its mobile app.  Now it is so easy to add a new memorial and include a picture and even the exact location using GPS coordinates via your phone.  You can also locate cemeteries in an area on a map by using the Search for a Cemetery function.

Many people have contacted me about graves I've posted in these eleven years.  Some are seeking family members; others are still gathering information to link lines.  People have posted graves of my family that I needed to see, but had not yet traveled to the location.

In 2013, Ancestry.com acquired FindAGrave.  FindAGrave continues to be free of charge, which it should remain.  The 121 million records continue to grow from volunteer contributors.  Users can add content, or search and view the entire site, for free.

Look Alike, Transcribe Alike

Here's another one about finding the original record and not relying on an index.

The surnames DWYER and DURYEA look very similar in script.

Some years of New Jersey deaths, 1878-1892, are indexed online at the website of the State Archives.  (The web address keeps changing.  The current site for indexed records, which is free, is http://www.nj.gov/state/archives/searchdatabases.html)  (You can also find indexes for New Jersey's births, marriages, and deaths at FamilySearch.org for free.)

In the search box I entered "Durye" to bring up both spellings- Duryea and Duryee.  An entry for the death of Mary Duryer, age 50, appeared for Jersey City in Hudson County, one of my geographic target areas.

Deaths for July 31, 1889 through June 30, 1890 are on one microfilm.  47 is the place code for Jersey City.  Records for Jersey City are separate from the rest of Hudson County.  The certificate is D87; D for Duryea.

The death certificate was for Mary Dwyer, not Duryer or Duryea.

My family tree contains a Duryea-Dwyer marriage.  You can imagine the transcription errors.  So always seek the original record and do not stop with the index.

Birth certificate for Agnes Duryea, born July 4, 1907 in Hoboken, Hudson County, New Jersey.
This baby lived just a few months and died on October 29, 1907.
Daughter of John Duryea and Katharine Dwyer.
Number 11- but not the last child born to this couple.

Also note that the birth certificate for Agnes Duryea was created March 31, 1908--- five months after her death.  I wonder why.

Runaway Groom Returned

I stumbled upon an interesting little newspaper article from 1887 in the Jersey Journal (online at GenealogyBank.com- subscription required).  This paper, still being published, covers Jersey City and Hudson County.  The article was about a "missing bridegroom" named Philip Duryea.

Philip was the son of Abraham Wilson Duryee (1821-1898) and Caroline Couwenhoven (1824-1919).  Philip must have returned soon after the article appeared on November 19th.  He married Mary Amelia Brown on November 23, 1887 in the Town of Union, Hudson County, New Jersey.  Her parents were listed as James Nathan Brown and Charlotte Amelia Gardner.

Philip and Mary were still together for the 1900 federal census.  I am not sure how all the members of this household are related.  We have Philip Duryee and wife Mary; that is okay.
Then we have a daughter named Lulla, born October 1885- two years before Philip and Mary married.  Then we have another daughter named Mary Hazard, age 12 and single- born the same month that Philip and Mary married.  Why is her last name not Duryee?

Two boarders were in this household.
Anna Jacob, born December 1882 in New York.
Clifford Morton, born June 1875 in Pennsylvania.

Always note the "boarders" in the census because they could actually be relatives.

In the 1910 census, Lula Duryee is described as "adopted daughter."  Mary G Hassard is not listed as a daughter, but rather a cousin.

This branch will require more research to explain all of these records.