Rockdale County GaArchives History .....Rockdale County Genealogical Society-Newsletter May 2006
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Larry C. Knowles http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00012.html#0002854 March 16, 2009, 6:59 pm
JEANS & GENES
Rockdale County Genealogical Society Publication-May 2006
__________________________________________________
May 21, 2006, Meeting
The Rockdale County Genealogical Society will meet on Sunday, May
21, 2006, at 3:00 P.M. at the Nancy Guinn Memorial Library, 864 Green
Street, Conyers, Georgia. This meeting is being held on the third
Sunday this month because Mothers Day falls on the second Sunday.
Our speaker will be Susan Sloan who will speak on "The Census Takers
Tracks".
The public is encouraged to attend. There is no attendance fee, however,
donations are appreciated.
_____________________________________________________________
Meeting Location Change for June, July, August, 2006
The Rockdale Genealogical Society will be meeting at the Family History
Center of the Church of the Latter-Day Saints at 1275 Flat Shoals
Rd. S. E., Conyers, Georgia during June, July, and August of 2006.
This is made necessary by the construction of new additions to the
Nancy Guinn Memorial Library which will be underway during this period.
The library will be closed on Sundays during the construction.
This is a temporary change for the Society. Hopefully, we will be
back meeting at the library in September, 2006. We can all appreciate
what this will mean for the library. It will be better able to serve
us and the public with much needed improvements.
We thank the Church for allowing us to use their facilities during
this time. This will be an opportunity for us to become reacquainted
with the History Center and the fine work which the Church has done
to make their records available to the public. We may have come to
take the Church’s availability for granted since it is so convenient
to us. We need to let it be known that we appreciate their efforts.
The Church is located on Flat Shoals Road between Hwy. 138
and Old Salem Road. [map graphic omitted]
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2006 Scheduled Speakers
May 21 (3rd Sunday) - Susan Sloan “The Census Takers Tracks”
jandssloan@mindspring.com
June 11 - “Show off and Share Day” Society members share research and tips.
July 9 - Dale Couch “Georgia State Archives” dcouch@sos.state.ga.us
August 13 - Walter J. Freeman, Ph.d. “Using Your Genealogy Software
to prepare a Manuscript for Publishing” sswjf@gmail.com
September 10 - Ken Thomas, AJC Genealogy Columnist (topic to be determined)
ktomjr@aol.com
October 8 - Bill Freese “Using the Federal Census” billyfreese@cs.com
__________________________________________________________________
Books Added to the Library Shelves
Donated from the Late Joyce Bland’s Genealogy Library:
Douglas County, Heritage of GA R 975.8243 Some Emigrants to Virginia
Records of the Regiments of the S.C. Line in Rev. War GA R 975.734 REC
South Carolina Wills GA R 975.7 MOO
Henry Co. Ga. Marriage Records 1851-1900
Forsyth City Cemetery Vol. 1 Wilkes Co. Ga.
The Story of Early Families Along the James River
Handy Book for Genealogists 8th Ed.
First Steps in Genealogy GA R 929.1
ALL Historical Families of Diemfreschires-???
Original Scots Colonists of Early America
Colonists From Scotland - Emigration to N. Amer.
The Scotch-Irish
A Land Afflicted - Scotland & the Coventer ??
A New Genealogical Atlas of Ireland
Early Georgia Wills & Settlement of Estates - Wilkes Co.
Cemetery Records - Fayette Co. GA R 975.8426 FAYETTE FAY
Cemeteries in Monroe Co. Ga. & Vicinity
1830 Census of Meriwether Co.
Coweta Co. Ga. Pioneers GA R 929.3758 COWETA COW
Cemeteries of Taylor Co. GA R 975.8493 HAY
Crawford Co., Ga., Wills of Ga R 975.8562 WIL
Crawford Co. Ga. Federal Census 1830, 1840, 1850 Ga R 975.8362 HOW
Marriage & Deaths from the Butler (GA) Herald 1876-1896 Ga R 925.848 WIN
Meriwether Co. Ga. Marriage Records Vol. 1 GA R 929.3758
Crawford Co. Ga Marriage Records 1823-1899 GA R 975.3562
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Other Books added to the Shelves:
Union County, Ga. Images of America
Ninety-Six
The Confederate Constitution
Ga. Counties: Their Changing Boundaries
History of the Indians of the United States
Land Afflicted
Index to the N. C. Historical & Genealogical ?
A Taste of War GA R 973.7 FOX
Red Clay to Richmond
Winston (Barnwell Co.) S.C. Minutes of County Court & Will Book 1783-171
N. C. Archives Research
Genealogist Companion & Sourcebook
Butlin? Families Series 1 - 5
North Carolina 1800 Census Index
North Carolina 1820 Census Index
Find Public Records Fast
Barrow County Ga. Marriages 1915 - 1932 GA R 975.8195 BARROW BAR
Guide to the Manuscript Collections of the Atlanta Historical Society
Rise Up So Early - Florence, S.C. GA R 975.784 KIN
Maryland Marriages 1778 - 1800 GA R 929.3752 BAR
Three Hundred Years Along the Pasquotank GA R 975.6185 PUQ
Gwinnett Co., Ga. 1860 Census Ga R 929-3758
McDonald, John & His Descendants GA R 929-2097
Windsor, Conn. Some Early Records 1639 - 1703 Ga R 974.62 CON
Smyrna News Items - Rockdale County, Ga. GA R 975.8215 Smy
Beneath These Waters GA R 975.8724 KAN
Fulton Co. Ga. World War I Draft Rec. GA R 975.823 COO
___________________________________________________________
Other Wars To Research
Genealogists tend to forget that there have been other wars that their
ancestors and relatives were involved in besides the Revolution, the
Civil War, and those of the 20th Century. Besides the Indian Wars
and the War of 1812, there were also the Seminole War and the Mexican
War.
The first group of Georgians who fought in Mexico during the conflict
that lasted from 1846 to 1848 can be found in a list published in
Rev. George White’s “Historical Collections of Georgia (1854)” which
has been reprinted. On pages 115 through 120 Rev. White lists officers
and privates who belonged to the “Georgia Regiment of Volunteers”
mustering at Augusta, Columbus, Savannah, Macon, Sumter County, Pike
County, Cobb County and Cherokee County. This list contains approximately
1,000 names. There were other units not mentioned by the Rev. White,
such as one published in the Georgia Genealogical Society Quarterly
Vol. 10, number 1, which lists volunteers from Newton County, not
found in White.
In 1887 Congress authorized pensions for Mexican War Veterans or their
widows and the National Archives has an index both to pensions and
service records related to this war.
Anyone with an ancestor or his widow who survived past 1887 might want
to check with the National Archives in Washington to see if they applied
for a pension.
(Thanks to Ken Thomas, “Ken Thomas on Genealogy” for this information)
_______________________________________________________________
Pitfalls of Using Tombstone Inscriptions
I thought this, nicked from alt.obituaries, is a good illustration
of some of the perils of genealogical research, using monumental inscriptions.
March 26, 2006 Sunday 7:01 AP Mike Branom
Headstone naming Missouri boy sits in Gold Canyon
Boys and mischief go hand-in-hand, but Leo Goldman is a special sort
of troublemaker. Not every kid can throw a Gold Canyon neighborhood
into an uproar 94 years after his death.
For years, Leo’s 2-foot-tall granite headstone sat at Sandpointe Mobile
Home and RV Park, a dusty plot of trailers and cactuses off U.S. 60.
Nobody asked why Leo was buried there. Legend around the property
said the 5-year-old was traveling with his family when a fatal illness
struck. He died on Oct. 22, 1911, according to the stone.
While the residents may not have been concerned with Leo’s history,
they cared about his dignity. Doing what they could to maintain Leo’s
resting place, the grave was surrounded with a split-rail fence, and
residents would lay flowers and pull weeds at the plot.
It seemed young Leo’s remains had found a peaceful home, just as his
family hoped his soul had. His stone says, quoting Matthew 19:14,
“Of such is the Kingdom of Heaven.”
And then hell broke loose.
Last summer, before the property was sold to a California firm, people
were alarmed to see a backhoe near the grave. There was digging, and
the stone was moved to a fenced storage area, amid cinder blocks and
assorted junk.
As for Leo himself, Sandpoint’s upset residents wanted answers.
Why was he dug up? On whose orders? Where were his remains?
Unearthing Leo’s bones may have made him a crime victim, notwithstanding
his long-ago death.
State law makes it a crime to disturb human remains or funerary objects
without permission of state history officials. While the aim is to
protect prehistoric American Indian sites, experts said Leo would
be covered.
“By law, it is a violation,” said John Madsen of the Arizona State
Museum in Tucson. “If anyone observed it, they should’ve reported
it.”
Residents said they kept quiet because they didn’t want to cause trouble
with the new owners. As it turned out, it wouldn’t matter Cal-Am Properties,
of Irvine, Calif., gave everyone 180-day notices of eviction in January.
To answer the question of “What happened to Leo?” a good place to
start is by asking “Who was Leo?”
History’s first record of Leo Goldman occurs in 1910, when he appears
on a census roll taken in St. Louis. He was the son of Solomon and
Nellie Goldman. Brother Earl was six years older. Father supported
the family by making shoes in a factory.
Working backward, records show Solomon Goldman was born in 1879 in
Jefferson City, Mo., to Prussian immigrants, and was the youngest
of seven children. Mother Nellie Gibson was born in Texas, also in
1879. It isn’t known when Sol and Nellie married.
The second and final appearance by Leo on an official document is
Nov. 10, 1911. It’s his death certificate, filed with Pinal County
after issuance by the Arizona Territorial Board of Health. Statehood
is still three months away.
Leo’s age is listed at 4 years, 10 months and 4 days. That puts his
birthday in 1906, as confirmed by the census, and not a year earlier
like his stone claims. Length of residence in the county is listed
as “a few weeks.”
The attending doctor, Ira E. Brown, states Leo died the night of Oct.
22 after a nine-day battle with diphtheria. It is a once-common respiratory
disease now all but eradicated in developed nations.
But listed under the Goldman’s address and Leo’s place of burial is
Kelvin. Kelvin was a small mining community and stagecoach stop on
the banks of the Gila River. Gold Canyon is 35 miles, as the crow
flies, to the northwest.
There is no known explanation why Leo’s body would’ve been moved.
Upon further examination, the hole that was Leo’s grave is matched
by holes in Leo’s legend.
If Sol Goldman was a cobbler working in a here-today, gone-tomorrow
mining town, how could he afford such a nice headstone for his son?
The old cemetery in Kelvin, seen in a photo by Pinal historian Eddie Peed,
shows a typical marker a rough-hewn wooden cross, painted white.
If Leo was Jewish, as evidenced by his surname and Prussian
heritage, why does his stone carry a verse from the New
Testament?
And why does the stone show little sign of aging despite
exposure to Arizona's elements for more than nine decades?
The answer is, because Leo never was buried at Sandpointe.
Geff Gunsalus said he knows that for certain. As
Sandpointe's former property manager, he's the man who
oversaw the excavation of Leo's "grave."
As Gunsalus explained recently, before the property was sold
last August, Cal-Am declared they wanted Leo gone. Cal-Am
refused comment on why.
That left Gunsalus with the responsibility of determining
how to move Leo. He called funeral homes and historians, he
said, until the Arizona Department of Health stumped him
with an obvious question: What evidence do you have he's
buried there?
Health officials instructed him to dig up the grave and if
he saw bones, stop immediately and call the sheriff's
office. The bones will be calcified, he was told, so they'll
be easy to spot.
So, the backhoe "dug and dug and dug," Gunsalus said. The
hole went 7 feet down and 5 feet out in all directions.
"And there was nothing there." Had Leo been found in that
plot, Gunsalus planned to move him to an Apache Junction
cemetery.
Meanwhile, historians brought to the site cast a wary eye on
the stone. Ninety years old? Hardly, they said to Gunsalus.
It probably dates back to the 1960s or 50s.
But who would create a fake tombstone? Gunsalus said the
property's old-timers, never believing there was a body,
told him it may have been the work of a long-ago owner, Ed
Kosak. "You have to know Ed," they said.
Kosak, in his 80s, lives in Apache Junction. He did not
return messages seeking comment.
Hopefully, he won't take the true story of Leo Goldman to
his grave.
Steve Hayes E-mail: hayesmstw@hotmail.com (see web page if it doesn't work)
Web: http://www.geocities.com/Athens/7734/stevesig.htm
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/7783/
_____________________________________________________________________
How to Find Cemeteries Using the WEB
Cemeteries can be hard to find. They are often hard to find on maps.
Modern technology offers an answer to this problem.
The United States Geographic Survey Web Site located at:
will give you information on more than just towns through its Geographic
Names Information System Query Form
In fact, you can type in the name of the cemetery and then be given
the county, state, type of feature, latitude,longitude, and USGS map
for each entry in the GNIS database that meets your search criteria.
The Latitude and Longitude will help you pin down the exact location
of the cemetery and also give you driving directions to the cemetery.
This information is available on MapBlast
The Latitude and Longitude must be entered with a period after the second
digit in order for MapBlast to use it correctly. You also need to
drop the “N” for north or “W” for west for example. You need to give
MapBlast a starting point in order for it to be able to provide point
by point directions to the cemetery destination.
This information and much more is available in “Your Guide to Cemetery
Research” by Sharon DeBartolo Carmack which is on the shelves in the
Special Collections Room at the Nancy Guinn Memorial Library. GA R
929.CAR The book was donated by Mr. & Mrs. Thomas V. Cartwright in
appreciation of Bob Phillips’ Genealogical Research in their behalf.
__________________________________________________________________
JEANS & GENES is a publication of the Rockdale County Genealogical Society.
% Nancy Guinn Library, 864 Green St. SW, Conyers, Ga. 30012
President: Norman Swann
V. President: Bill Freese
Treasurer: Jackie Smith
Secretary: Jane Conn
Program Chairman: Sherry Pierce
Membership Chairman: Gerre Byrd
Membership Committee: Norma Owens
Membership Committee: Jenel Ship
Trip Coordinator: Martha Brown
Board Member: Bertha Little
Newsletter: Marion T. Farmer
1500 A. Pine Log Rd NE
Conyers, GA. 30012
mtf@mindspring.com
http://mtf.home.mindspring.com
_______________________________________________
Additional comments:
This back issue of the Rockdale County Genealogical Society newsletter has
been copied with permission from the personal website of editor, Marion
Farmer, as his website is nearing capacity. For simplicity the few photos or
graphics have not been included here. Websites previously linked from Marion’s
site will not be operative here. Sites that are still active may be found by
entering their listed URLs.
File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ga/rockdale/history/other/rockdale91nms.txt
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