Cemetery

It's been awhile since I have written.  A couple of the prompts for Amy Johnson Crow's 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks prompts didn't work for me.  But week 17's prompt is Cemetery and I can write about that.

A couple of years ago my husband and I took our girls to Fort Snelling over Memorial Day weekend.  We did the tour, but more importantly, I wanted to visit my grandfather and great-grandfather's graves.  It had been many years since I had been to the cemetery.  I just felt this sadness standing by my grandfather's headstone.  It's not fair that he died when I was only two years old.  It's not fair I didn't get to know him.  It's not fair he never met my brother or my cousins.  But I also felt very proud to see his name, his service to our county.  What a beautiful cemetery Fort Snelling National Cemetery is. We also visited my great grandparents grave, Walter and Dora.  My grandma only had wonderful things to say about them.  She was especially close with her mother.  It made me happy seeing their headstone.

I need to go back.  Since starting my family search I have found that my grandpa's father is also buried at Fort Snelling.  My great uncle and his wife are buried there. 

My mom's dad also died when I was two years old.  When I started looking into our families I didn't have a lot of information on the Dorf family.  Imagine my surprise when I found out that my grandfather was born and raised just one town over from the town I have lived in for the last 17 years!!  I found my great grandparents were buried in that town and set off to find the cemetery last summer, only 12 minutes from my house.  They are buried in a very small cemetery, mostly family.  There is no longer a church and the cemetery is just fenced off kind of in the middle of nowhere but it is fairly well maintained.  I'd like to go back with my camera, not just my cell phone, to take some photos.

Unmarked graves at the Speak Cemetery

I have received photos of some of my Bartley ancestors from some distant cousins who are fortunate enough to live nearby. Some of the old family cemeteries look amazing to me. Stones to mark the burial spots but no names or dates. 

This summer I plan on making a few trips to different cemeteries to find family.  I guess I'm becoming a real genealogist, right?  I need to get up to Taylors Falls to find my Vogt and Peterson family.  I need to get up to RedTop/Aitkin to find my Mickelson/Ree family and down to the Granite Falls are to find even more Mickelson/Ree family.  And I will be attending the Bartley family reunion in Kansas this summer so I plan on visiting my Bartley and Catuska family plots while there. 

Just one more way of getting to know and honor those who came before me.