Mount Auburn Cemetery was the first garden cemetery in the United States, located on the city line between Cambridge and Watertown in Massachusetts, 4 miles west of Boston. The cemetery is credited as the beginning of the American public parks and gardens movement.

Prior to the establishment of Mount Auburn Cemetery, the early American cemeteries were established as places under churches for burial of deceased church members. As the available space under a church was filled, cemeteries often were built on available land in front of, beside, or in back of the church. These graveyards sometimes created serious health problems as graves were not always dug 6 feet deep. As a result, diseases often were spread amongst a population that had little or no knowledge of germs or the causes of the spread of diseases.

As these spaces became filled with bodies and as the population became more aware of health issues, “burying grounds” were established in most any space that was suitable for the purpose. As early as 1711, the architect Sir Christopher Wren advocated for the creation of burial grounds on the outskirts of town, “inclosed with a strong Brick Wall, and having a walk round, and two cross walks, decently planted with Yew-trees”.

In fact, the word “cemetery” was not common in Colonial days. The term “cemetery,” derived from the Greek for “a sleeping place,” became popular in the 1800s as a replacement for “graveyard.” Many were placed in rural areas, some distance from human habitation.

Mount Auburn Cemetery was one of the first to be planned as a pleasant place to visit with gardens, waterfalls, and even walkways that were pleasing to the eye. Quoting Wikipedia:

“The first rural cemetery in the United States was Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts, founded by Dr. Jacob Bigelow and Henry Dearborn of The Massachusetts Horticultural Society in 1831. The City of Boston became concerned about the health hazards caused by decomposing corpses in cemeteries in the middle of the city. A citizens’ group led by Bigelow pulled together residents to discuss the design and location of a cemetery outside city limits. The search for a site took six years and land was eventually purchased on a farm known as Sweet Auburn along the Charles River about four miles from Boston.

(NOTE by Dick Eastman: This selected location was open farm land in 1831 but the city of Cambridge, Massachusetts expanded greatly over the years. Now Mount Auburn Cemetery is a pleasant public garden or even a city park totally surrounded by the city.)

“Coinciding with the growing popularity of horticulture and the Romantic aesthetic taste for pastoral beauty, Mount Auburn was developed as a “domesticated landscape” popularized by 19th century English landscape design. Its plan included retention of natural features like ponds and mature forests with added roads and paths that followed the natural contours of the land, as well as the planting of hundreds of native and exotic trees and plants. United States Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story delivered the dedication address on September 24, 1831.

“Mount Auburn also began the practice of allowing the purchase of family plots large enough to allow the burial of several generations of a single family.”

The cemetery soon became a tourist attraction, attracting locals as well as tourists from across the country and Europe. Mount Auburn Cemetery also became the location of many of Boston’s leading citizens, including ministers, politicians, army generals, Civil War heroes, authors, industrial leaders, and many more.

A few years ago, I became one of those tourists and spent most of a day in the Mount Auburn Cemetery. I had planned to go for only an hour or two early in the morning. The place was so interesting, however, that I remained there most of the day.

A short time later I moved into a home in the Boston suburbs, only a few miles from the Mount Auburn Cemetery. I returned to the cemetery and took a video camera with me. I took many videos of the tombstones, the gardens, the scenic ponds, and the winding roads and pathways. I have since selected the better videos and combined them into a “digital tour” of the garden cemetery. You can watch the video on YouTube at https://youtu.be/Zs63WUAyA5M or in the video player below:

There are thousands of tombstones and memorials in the cemetery. A video of all of them would be several hours long! Instead, I am only showing a small sample of them.

This 8-minute video is a sampling of two things: (1.) the beauty and artistry of the Mount Auburn Cemetery and (2.) a number of hints about taking pictures or videos of tombstones.

Statues and memorials often include depictions of angels and cherubs as well as botanical motifs such as ivy representing memory, oak leaves for immortality, poppies for sleep, willow trees for sorrow and grieving of the families in mourning, and acorns for life.

You can learn more about the Mount Auburn Cemetery in Wikipedia at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Auburn_Cemetery and in the cemetery’s own web site at: https://mountauburn.org.

The following announcement was written by Findmypast:

To mark the beginning of Black History Month UK, a range of historically rich new records join the site this Findmypast Friday. Findmypast will also be celebrating Black British History on their UK blog throughout the month of October.

Findmypast’s latest record releases highlight lesser-known facets of British history, important family events in the Caribbean and much more. They include;

London, Black Poor, 1786

Listing destitute Londoners, this small but intriguing collection provides a glimpse into a largely forgotten chapter of Black British history. 

Over the course of 1785, it became apparent that increasing numbers of Black people were living in extreme poverty in London with no means of support. Although some were distressed mariners from both the merchant service and the Royal Navy, a significant proportion are thought to have been Black Loyalist refugees who were evacuated to Britain following American Revolutionary War. 

Great sympathy was felt for the plight of these poor Londoners and support was initially a matter of private charity, beginning with a concerned baker and a bookseller. However, it developed during early 1786 into a broader group of affluent and influential figures – abolitionists, Quakers, philanthropists and others – and became formalized as the Committee for the Relief of the Black Poor. In addition to providing a dole in the form of bread or alms, the Committee also provided healthcare facilities at a sick-house in Fitzrovia. The transcripts included in this collection document those who received support under the scheme.

Sierra Leone Resettlement Scheme, 1787

The Sierra Leone resettlement scheme of 1787 was designed to address the number of Black poor on the streets of London while populating the West Coast of Africa with loyalists who would establish industry and trading links in the British Colony.

After arriving at Frenchman's Bay in Sierra Leone on 10th May 1787, the venture soon proved unsuccessful. The new colonists were offered little to no official support and were expected to fend for themselves. There were many deaths due to disease, some hostility from the indigenous people and a number of those who did not die were captured by passing ships and sold into slavery.

The passenger lists for the vessels provide fascinating insights and group the colonists under a number of descriptions – the most common being single black men. Each transcript includes a passenger’s name, description, marital status, embarkation date and location as well as the name of the ship they sailed on.

Caribbean Marriage Index 1591-1905

Findmypast’s Caribbean Collection has been bolstered with over 15,000 new marriage records from Barbados, the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Haiti, Jamaica and Puerto Rico.

Dating as far back as 1591, the records can reveal useful details for the Caribbean branches of your family tree. Discover the bride and groom's names, where and when they married and more.

Devon Burials

Over 19,000 additional burials from three Devon cemeteries are now available to search on Findmypast. These new additions cover:

• Tavistock, Dolvin Road Cemetery (1834-1886)
• Tavistock, Plymouth Road Cemetery (1882-1995)
• Plympton, Drake Memorial Park (1943-1966)

Use these detailed records to find out where and when your Devon ancestors were laid to rest and uncover valuable details for searching Findmypast’s wider, extensive collection of Devon family records.

Newspapers

Over 95,000 new pages from three brand new titles have been added to Findmypast’s collection of historical British and Irish newspapers along with updates to 15 existing titles.

Newly-released are: 

• Stratford Express covering 1877, 1888 and 1892-1893
• Flintshire County Herald covering 1896
• Principality (Cardiff) covering 1880

While more pages have been added to: 

• Runcorn Weekly News from 1963, 1971-1972 and 1974-1976
• Liverpool Courier and Commercial Advertiser from 1892 and 1909-1910
• Fife News from 1881, 1884 and 1887
• Marylebone Mercury from 1947
• Waterford News Letter from 1849 and 1869
• John Bull from 1906-1945
• Dundalk Herald from 1887
• Shetland News from 1893
• Cork Daily Herald from 1900
• Call (London) from 1917
• Communist (London) from 1923
• Clare Advertiser and Kilrush Gazette from 1877
• Cavan Weekly News and General Advertiser from 1869, 1899 and 1904
• Strabane Weekly News from 1911
• Ballinrobe Chronicle and Mayo Advertiser from 1880

The following is an update to an article I published earlier::

DNA evidence is persuasive that James Blaesing, 70, is the grandson of the 29th president and his mistress. But his cousins are upset by his plan to exhume Harding’s remains with a reality TV crew.

There is no real dispute that James Blaesing is the grandson of Warren G. Harding and his mistress. But the wounds of that revelation have resurfaced in court, as relatives of the 29th president, many now in their 70s, argue over a proposal to exhume President Harding’s body as the 100th anniversary of his election approaches.

On one side is Mr. Blaesing, who says the exhumation is necessary to prove with “scientific certainty” that Harding was his grandfather, even though the DNA evidence is already persuasive, and to confirm his and his mother’s “membership in a historic American family.” He also wants to bring along a television production crew to document the opening of the tomb.

On the other side are several Harding relatives who say the disinterment would create an unnecessary spectacle. One has questioned the motives of the television production company, believing it is fixated on the unfounded theory that Harding, who died in office in 1923, was poisoned — perhaps by his wife, Florence Harding.

You can read more in an article by Heather Murphy published in the New York Times at: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/18/us/warren-harding-exhume.html.

The following announcement was written by Findmypast:

To mark the beginning of Black History Month UK, a range of historically rich new records join the site this Findmypast Friday. 

Findmypast will also be celebrating Black British History on their UK blog throughout the month of October.

Findmypast’s latest record releases highlight lesser-known facets of British history, important family events in the Caribbean and much more. They include;

London, Black Poor, 1786

Listing destitute Londoners, this small but intriguing collection provides a glimpse into a largely forgotten chapter of Black British history.

Over the course of 1785, it became apparent that increasing numbers of Black people were living in extreme poverty in London with no means of support. Although some were distressed mariners from both the merchant service and the Royal Navy, a significant proportion are thought to have been Black Loyalist refugees who were evacuated to Britain following American Revolutionary War.

Great sympathy was felt for the plight of these poor Londoners and support was initially a matter of private charity, beginning with a concerned baker and a bookseller. However, it developed during early 1786 into a broader group of affluent and influential figures – abolitionists, Quakers, philanthropists and others – and became formalized as the Committee for the Relief of the Black Poor. In addition to providing a dole in the form of bread or alms, the Committee also provided healthcare facilities at a sick-house in Fitzrovia. The transcripts included in this collection document those who received support under the scheme.

Sierra Leone Resettlement Scheme, 1787

The Sierra Leone resettlement scheme of 1787 was designed to address the number of Black poor on the streets of London while populating the West Coast of Africa with loyalists who would establish industry and trading links in the British Colony.

After arriving at Frenchman’s Bay in Sierra Leone on 10th May 1787, the venture soon proved unsuccessful. The new colonists were offered little to no official support and were expected to fend for themselves. There were many deaths due to disease, some hostility from the indigenous people and a number of those who did not die were captured by passing ships and sold into slavery.

The passenger lists for the vessels provide fascinating insights and group the colonists under a number of descriptions – the most common being single black men. Each transcript includes a passenger’s name, description, marital status, embarkation date and location as well as the name of the ship they sailed on.

Caribbean Marriage Index 1591-1905

Findmypast’s Caribbean Collection has been bolstered with over 15,000 new marriage records from Barbados, the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Haiti, Jamaica and Puerto Rico.

Dating as far back as 1591, the records can reveal useful details for the Caribbean branches of your family tree. Discover the bride and groom’s names, where and when they married and more.

Devon Burials

Over 19,000 additional burials from three Devon cemeteries are now available to search on Findmypast. These new additions cover:

Use these detailed records to find out where and when your Devon ancestors were laid to rest and uncover valuable details for searching Findmypast’s wider, extensive collection of Devon family records.

Newspapers

Over 95,000 new pages from three brand new titles have been added to Findmypast’s collection of historical British and Irish newspapers along with updates to 15 existing titles.

Newly-released are:

While more pages have been added to:

Did you catch Covid-19? Perhaps you should blame your ancestors.

According to an article by Maggie Fox in the CNN website:

“Genes inherited from Neanderthal ancestors may be involved in some cases of severe Covid-19 disease, researchers in Germany reported Wednesday.

A team of experts on Neanderthal genetics examined a strand of DNA that has been associated with some of the more serious cases of Covid-19 and compared it to sequences known to have been passed down to living Europeans and Asians from Neanderthal ancestors.

The DNA strand is found on chromosome 3, and a team of researchers in Europe has linked certain variations in this sequence with the risk of being more severely ill with Covid-19.

‘Here, we show that the risk is conferred by a genomic segment … that is inherited from Neanderthals and is carried by about 50% of people in South Asia and about 16% of people in Europe today,’ Svante Paabo and Hugo Zeberg of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology wrote, in a paper accepted for publication in the journal Nature.”

You can find the full article at: https://cnn.it/3jnaeYD.

Authors to Discuss New Books on Hot Springs, Ark.—America’s Forgotten Capital of Vice—and on Eleanor Roosevelt, Malcolm X, and Claire Messud—
with Her Own Autobiography

All Talks Are Free – Online Registration Is Open

The following announcement was written by American Ancestors | New England Historic Genealogical Society:

October 1, 2020—Boston, Massachusetts—Beginning on Thursday, October 1, at 6:00 p.m., American Ancestors and NEHGS, often in collaboration with some of Boston’s leading cultural institutions, will present a number of virtual conversations between acclaimed authors and historians featuring new works that focus on impor- tant figures and events in American history and in family history. To serve and inspire the Boston community—and curious readers Everywhere—in this unprecedented at-home time, the American Inspiration series continues in a virtual format during the fall season. Furthering its mission to engage, inspire, and connect, the roster of celebrated authors and their new books will be presented free online. American Inspiration often works in partnership with the Boston Public Library, GBH Forum, the State Library of Massachusetts, and other cultural organizations around Boston.

Interested individuals may sign-up for the American Inspiration series e-news at AmericanAncestors.org/Inspire to stay in the know about upcoming author events. Each virtual program is broadcast live. Many are produced and recorded by the GBH Forum Network (as Zoom Video Conferencing “webinars,” with funding from the Lowell Institute). All author event videos are later published on the series website for the enrichment of the community on the series website.

Upcoming programs in October and November in this acclaimed series are:

• David Hill with The Vapors: A Southern Family, the New York Mob, and the Rise and Fall of Hot Springs, America’s Forgotten Capital of Vice — Thursday, October 1, at 6:00 pm EDT Moderator: Scott Steward, Editor in Chief, American Ancestors | NEHGS Registration: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_S-ixnBUTQTWyFT4KRVUr-w
• David Michaelis with Eleanor (Roosevelt) — Thursday, October 8, at 6:00 pm EDT Moderators: Beth Carroll-Horrocks, Head of Special Collections at the State Library of Massachusetts, and Margaret M. Talcott, Producer of the American Inspiration series. Registration: https://www.crowdcast.io/e/eleanor/register
• Claire Messud with Kant’s Little Prussian Head and Other Reasons Why I Write: An Autobiography in Essays — Tuesday, October 20, at 6:00 pm EDT Moderator: Dani Shapiro, novelist and memoirist Registration: https://wgbh.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_w1sp55HQSQGkNAmRNTxjzw -More- 2.
• Tamara Payne with The Dead are Arising: The Life of Malcolm X — Thursday, November 5, at 6:00 pm EST Moderator: L’Merchie Frazier, Director of Education and Interpretation, Museum of African American History Registration: https://wgbh.zoom.us/webinar/register/7016009800026/WN_D-a-PNyaSwqFRE5zIif3Fw
• Nathaniel Philbrick, the Boston Public Library’s Baxter Lecture on Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community and War — Thursday, November 12, at 6:00 pm EST Moderator: Ryan J. Woods, EVP and COO of American Ancestors | NEHGS For registration, sign-up to be alerted at https://hubs.americanancestors.org/american-inspiration-interest

More information about the series and authors is available on the websites of the presenting organizations including American Ancestors│NEHGS, and co-presenters and producers WGBH Forum Network, and the Boston Public Library.

About the American Inspiration Authors Series by American Ancestors│NEHGS 
American Inspiration presents best-selling authors and their books exploring themes of personal identity, families and immigration, and social and cultural history. The series, launched in Fall 2019, introduced audiences to celebrated writers through a discussion of their latest works in our historic rotunda in Back Bay, Boston. To serve and inspire our audiences—and curious readers everywhere—in this unprecedented at-home time, we have partnered with the Boston Public Library, the GBH Forum, the State Library of Massachusetts, and other cultural organizations around Boston to present a virtual author series following the themes of our on-site series. More at AmericanAncestors.org/inspire.

American Ancestors|New England Historic Genealogical Society serves as the nation’s collective memory for family history. Founded in 1845, we are the country’s oldest genealogical organization and the most respected name in the field. We bring together a broad and diverse audience seeking to understand the past by educating, inspiring, and connecting people through our scholarship, programs, collections, and expertise. Headquartered on Newbury Street in Boston, Mass., we are the research library, online resource, and nonprofit organization behind these two new author series. More at AmericanAncestors.org.

A woman who was gifted an ancestry DNA kit says she has been left with more questions than answers after she received her results back. Katye Snow told her story on TikTok and explained how she discovered the man she grew up with and called Dad wasn’t her biological father.

“A few months ago, my lovely brother got me one of those cool ancestry genealogy tests,” Ms Snow starts the video.

“And because my father’s adopted and my mother doesn’t know her real father I thought it was really cool to figure out my genealogy maybe find out some medical issues I don’t know about.

She was successful in finding “some medical issues I don’t know about.”

You can read the full story in an article by Kamilia Palu in the Yahoo News website at: https://yhoo.it/3l3qA9l.

Heredis is a genealogy program that is very popular around the world. I don’t hear much about it in the U.S. but also know that it is one of the most popular genealogy programs in the world. It is available in several different languages which probably explains much of its popularity.

Heredis is also one of the easier-to-use genealogy programs available today. I have it installed on my computer and am very impressed with it.

Now the Heredis producers (in France) have announced a major update of the program. Here is the announcement:

MONTPELLIER, FRANCE – SEPTEMBER 22, 2020 – Besides a colorful and exciting new design to try to brighten the special times we are going through, Heredis 2021 offers great new features AND boasts a multitude of long requested improvements.

DYNAMIC ANCESTORS WHEEL
The genealogist can from now on visualize a 360° representation of his family tree!! This wheel shape chart can be colored by generation, gender, quarter, by marked or “complete” persons, thus highlighting the most relevant data in his genealogy file. This representation allows the genealogist to quickly visualize if any ancestor is missing in any branch without leaving the navigation tab.

Ancestors Wheel

The wheel chart can include up to 12 generations. It can be exported to PDF and then be printed: this is a great-looking ancestors wheel chart to share with his relatives.

Another version of the Ancestors Wheel

DEAD ENDS
A father or mother can’t seem to be found? It is not uncommon to come across abandoned children or children born with unknown fathers when doing genealogical research. In most cases, chances of finding out who the parents were are quite slim. The genealogist can now categorizes such “dead ends” in a quick and easy manner by checking the Untraceable Father and Untraceable Mother boxes. At any moment, he may thus declare these persons as Complete so he can move on and focus on more fruitful researches without wasting additional time in the genealogical endeavors. Thanks to this new label, the genealogist will see right away whether any ancestor needs to be searched for or not. Navigate the family tree while keeping an eye on such information, which is worth taking into consideration as the genealogist moves forward in his researches. In the end, the research follow-up becomes more reliable when measuring the progress of searches. This information can be found in the sheets or even in your GEDCOM file.

Searching for Dead Ends

PERSON AS COMPLETE

Does the genealogist know full well that he won’t find any additional information on a given person in his genealogy? He may now indicate that this person is “complete” thanks to the “Declare as complete” label in the Personal Data tab. A huge time saver!

IMPORT INDEXES
From now on, the genealogist can retrieve indexes created by fellow genealogists or in other Heredis genealogy files. Retrieve his or her entire work on the places, including media, place descriptions, etc. Available for Surnames, Given Names, Occupations, Places and Sources!

IMPROVEMENTS
Heredis 2021 is also the result of a long work process between our hands-on users and our development team operating in the background to continuously improve the software. And, even more remarkably, this work was in part processed during the lockdown period when each of our developers was working remotely, yet still keeping in touch with users. Here are some of this new version’s improvements, which you will find both familiar and different at the same time:

• Smart Search: take advantage of the option to process an entire selection of events, facts, or do searches within the note of a media; you may also perform searches on Ahnentafel numbers, implexes, or between one generation and another, • Custom reports: -additional fields: “creation date” and “change date” of a person; -a new option in the Places report: grouping a place name and its variants,
• Merging assistant: alerts during merges have been added to encourage users to merge parents first and thus avoid mistakes…,
• Swap parents easily: do so if one of your ancestor’s father or mother were inverted by mistake. The correction will be applied to all siblings,
• Hide empty boxes in the ancestors’ tree chart from now on and get a better view of all available or missing data (Family tab > Ancestors),
• Add a filter to Search Tracking to display treetops only: a real time saver that will let you see what is left to do and what to start with! Improvements galore to make a real difference in the genealogist everyday use of Heredis.

AVAILABILITY
Heredis 2021 for Windows and for Mac have been made available to all genealogists since September 22, 2020 on heredis.com and on the App Store.