Some months ago we made a trek out to Mars Hill Cemetery searching for one of my paternal Great-Aunts grave. Yes, we found it. But roaming about - and who visits a cemetery without roaming about and exploring a bit? - we found a plethora of interesting people. Among these were some 3 Patriots from the American Revolution and one veteran of the War of 1812 (or, more probably, the Indian Wars or Seminole Wars in Florida). As with all older cemeteries in Georgia, anything dating from the early 1800s is truly in the Pioneer Era. In this case, the first burial recorded for it in Find A Grave dates from 1798! That is a scant 12 years after the area officially became part of the state!
And yes, he is one of the identified Revolutionary War Patriots. Though in his case he was 'paid for services' rather than actively fighting.
We were especially surprised to learn that the total area of the cemetery was about an acre larger than it appeared. Efforts were underway to 'reclaim' the oldest portions that had been allowed to go back to nature over the centuries (Yes. We are talking about greater than two centuries since the cemetery was founded!). There are a handful of markers in this section, but for the most part these are scores of unmarked graves. Someone has been finding and flagging them. Hopefully there are surviving original records detailing who is buried where.
Roaming further afield to some of the newer areas we spot a Griffith grave. Ok, a Griffeth maiden name on a Daniell grave. As is my habit I mark it in the system to be researched later to determine if they are relations of some ilk.
Fast forward several months.
I am out with the Parental Units in the far hinterlands. At their request we pull into a cemetery near a small town and, sure enough, more Griffiths. To he honest, that was partially why we were there. A long time friend of theirs had mentioned it to them and it became something of a 'thing' to go find it.
Again, as is the norm, the graves are flagged for later follow-up.
Well, I finally got around to doing the research on these folks. Yup. Cousins of various ilk, all stemming from my paternal 5th Great-Grandfather.
And the Griffeth maiden name woman I first mentioned? The one who married a Daniel? Damned if her husband was not a direct descendant of one of the American Revolution Patriots we found in the same Cemetery! Even more unusual for the area and time (bear in mind that so many people were migrating into newly opened lands) is that all the generations between the two are in the same cemetery with them. Father, Son, Grandson, Great-Grandson and spouses (among others) all in the same cemetery with burials ranging from 1840 to 1906.
Too bad THEY are not kinfolk.
In order to figure out if (and if so, how) the second Griffith was related I had to build out the family on the tree in Ancestry. It was only after I had put an hour or so into the whole thing that I realized I had duplicated all the data because the original people were entered as Griffeth (due to the 3rd or 4th Great-uncle who used that spelling) and the headstone being Griffith and my working backward in time on that person's branch.
Dammit! I hate wasting my time like that. And it was my mistake. I should have checked more thoroughly for an existing entry before I took off like that.
If only that were the biggest problem I ever faced.
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