Many Hands Make Light Work -- And for WhiteHall Cemetery, the Results Are Amazing!

Anyone who knows me knows I am HUGE into cemetery restoration.  I live in Civil War country in Virginia and spend my days seeking out cemeteries that have been neglected.  I’m not talking about being neglected over the past year or so, I’m talking about so overgrown people forgot the cemetery is there!

I began this journey in 2008 when my church reached out to me requesting assistance in teaching the the youth, during their summer Youth Conference, the importance of cemeteries and how to care for headstones.  We adopted a civil war era cemetery and cleared it of overgrown weeds and debris and gently tended to the headstones.  The following years brought on Eagle projects as I located local cemeteries in much need of attention and sought volunteers to help with the clean up.

Whitehall Cemetery April 2014.

When I became a BillionGraves volunteer, I saw the perfect marriage between my goal to find and restore cemeteries and their goal to locate and digitize headstones for historic preservation.

A couple of years ago I reached out to Bill Olson, who takes the lead in the local Historic Preservation of cemeteries in my area, and let him know that during my search to find cemeteries to digitize for BillionGraves, I had located a cemetery in much need of repair.  

Whitehall Cemetery 2014.

Bill confirmed that the Prince William Historic Society was aware of the cemetery, known as WhiteHall, and that it had no current caretaker.  There were a few groups interested in helping bring this site into beautiful order – and that is what we all set out to do.   

 

 

This restoration project was a combined effort of Boy Scouts working on Eagle Projects; Robert Moser, who took a great interest in this cemetery and played a large part in getting trees cleared; and myself, along with volunteers from the Manassas 1^st and 2^nd Wards of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints working to mulch all the wood that was cut down.

You can see we had our work cut out for us.  I think the project was bigger than any of us imagined.  In fact, in an effort to make a parking area for future cemetery visitors, the foundation of the original church building associated with the cemetery was located.  

The cemetery is near the final stages of restoration, and I have to say it is absolutely beautiful!  My heart was warmed when I visited the site yesterday to see how things were progressing.  The volunteers who built the benches, cleaned the stones, built the outlying fence, and keeping up with the future maintenance have done an amazing job! 

WhiteHall Cemetery.  March 1, 2016.

Even the headstones received a makeover.

Edward B. Ellicott's gravestone before...

...and after!

You can view Edward B. Ellicott's grave and others buried in WhiteHall Cemetery at BillionGraves.com.


Now that Spring is in the air, stay tuned for future posts about my search for cemeteries that have been lost but not forgotten!


Note:  All photos presented here are my own.  Please request permission before using them in any other venue.

 This project was the result of many volunteers from different programs in Prince William County.  Any omission of names or groups is not intentional and all service provided to this cemetery is greatly appreciated!

21 Day Genealogy Challenge -- Day 7: Giving Back

Find Yourself in the Service of Others

-- Ghandi

Welcome to day seven of the 21 Day Genealogy Challenge.  The past week has been a busy and productive one!  Today is a great day to give back to the genealogy world.  There are quite a few options you can choose from to donate your time to helping others with their family history.  Here are a few of my personal favourites.

Index on Family Search.  FamilySearch is a free genealogical site where you can donate your time indexing records.  Indexing provides researchers like us the opportunity to find ancestors in historical documents. The type of records to index vary from military draft records to obituaries.  You choose the level of proficiency you desire.  If reading old script handwriting is difficult for you, you may choose typed documents such as a marriage or death certificate.  The site has tutorial videos to help you along the way.  Once you start, you won’t want to stop!  This is a worthwhile activity that can be fun and addicting!

Obituary for Judson Chesterfield Wilson.

BillionGraves.   Is it a gorgeous day?  Grab your smart phone or tablet and head to a local cemetery and snap pictures of graves and upload the photos to BillionGraves.  This site is a boon to people doing family history work.  Imagine finding online a photograph of your ancestor’s resting place.  Now imagine that the image also has the gps coordinates that leads you to not only the cemetery but to the exact burial plot!  That is what you will find with BillionGraves.

Whitehall Cemetery, Prince William County, Virginia. March 2016.

If you don’t have a smartphone, tablet or iPad with which to take pictures, there are other ways you can help.  With BillionGraves, you can transcribe pictures of headstones that volunteers have uploaded.  It is easy and fun to do, and again, can be somewhat addicting.  Imagine the people you are helping!  Visit the BillionGraves site to learn more.  

Giving Back

Giving back to the genealogy world is good karma.  Somewhere out there someone is digitizing a document or grave of your ancestor and when you come across it, you will be grateful that they did! 

Do you know of a genealogical site that allows for volunteer opportunities?  If so, we would love to hear from you!  Post your suggestions in the comment section at the bottom of this blog.

Congratulations! You have completed day seven of the 21 Day Genealogy Challenge!  If you have any questions or comments, feel free to post them in the Blog Comment section below.  Invite your friends to join this challenge by sharing this blog with them on Google+, Twitter and Facebook.  The share icons are just below this blog entry. 

Thank you for joining this challenge and remember…..

History not shared is History forgotten!

21 Day Genealogy Challenge - Day 6: A Week in Review

Take A Second Look … It Costs You Nothing.  
 – Chinese Proverb

Congratulations! You have made it to day six of the 21 Day Genealogy Challenge!   This first week has been a busy one.  Today is a good day to review and catch up with any area you may have missed.

Day One

Prepare!  A proper workspace dedicated to your project is important.  Were you able to find a location that suits your needs and allows you to work without interruption?  

There are a variety of genealogy software and online programs available.  Hopefully you have chosen one that you are comfortable with.  It may take time to get use to the program and understand all it has to offer.  Make sure you look the program over carefully so you understand how it works.  

Finally, you were tasked with starting a Genealogy Journal.  This will be your “go to” book when you are traveling and interviewing family members.  Unless you are out of the house researching, it is best to keep this book in your research space so that you know where it is and can update it as you come across important information.

 Day Two

It begins with you!  Day two’s assignment involved entering information about yourself and what you know about your immediate family.  Did you discover that there were some things you didn’t know?  Remember to write those questions down in your Genealogy Journal.  You will be glad you did! 

Day Three

Gather, Identify, and Sort.  The very thought of gathering family photos for the purpose of organizing them can be overwhelming.  Remember to take your time so that you can enjoy the process.  Focus on identifying and sorting a handful of pictures at a time.   

Prepare sorting boxes for photos you want to keep, photos you need to identify, and photos you would like to give away to relatives.   In a future blog post, we will discuss what to do with the photos you have chosen to keep.

Day Four

Interviewing Family.  Have you selected a family member to interview?   Remember to arrive at the interview on time and prepared.  Give your relative a few questions to think about ahead of time.  Bring along a couple photos to use as conversation prompts.  

For safe measure bring two recording devices.  Always test your devices before the interview and listen to the recording in its entirety when you return home.   Make sure to complete this portion of the project by transcribing the interview and sharing it on your tree or with other relatives.

Day Five

Consistency and Standards.  Review the information you have placed on your family tree.  If you are using a genealogy software program, as well as an online program, be certain to update both trees at the same time.  

Select which ancestor you will be moving forward with during our research portion of this challenge.  As you come across documents pertaining to your ancestor, remember to analyze, compare and resolve any conflicts involving those sources.

Coming soon!

In the coming week we will discuss where to look for evidence of your ancestors, and how to add those sources to your family tree.  Review the previous five days so that you will be ready to move forward!

Congratulations on completing the sixth day of the 21 Day Genealogy Challenge!  If you have any questions or comments, feel free to post them in the Blog Comment section below.  Invite your friends to join this challenge by sharing this blog with them on Google+, Twitter and Facebook.  The share icons are just below this blog entry.

Thank you for joining this challenge and remember…..

History not shared is History forgotten!