A Little Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: What Did You Do On Your Summer Vacation?

Well now that summer is officially coming to an end I am forcing myself to get back to my blog.  I have been feeling guilty about my limited or complete absence from my genealogy.  I haven't had any time to think about or touch it since sometime in July.  I logged on to my genealogy computer for the first time in weeks.  It took an eternity for the updates to process and the security software to make things safe and sound, yet I persevered.  I went straight to my go to sites for ideas to blog about.  I have to start somewhere and low and behold I landed on "A Little Saturday Night Genealogy Fun."   The topic of the challenge for today, what did you do on your summer vacation?

This summer, before my hiatus, I went on vacation to the Connecticut shore.  We stayed in a beach house on Latimer Point in Stonington, CT.  I relaxed, rested and soaked up the July sun.  I also got to spend sometime trekking through a cemetery in the nearby town of Deep River, CT.  Deep River is where my very long lost great, great grandfather is buried.  I found this information within the last year after looking for over eight, so having the opportunity to visit his final resting place and the town he lived in was an exciting part of my trip.

George Henry Haskins is buried in the Fountain Hill Cemetery.  Here are a few pictures from that excursion.

George Henry Haskins was living in Deep River at the time of his death.  He died on September 14, 1925 from Nephritis.  He was 71 years, 6 months and 21 days at his death.  His burial was on September 16.  He died in the New Haven Hospital. 

This is the chapel that is in the cemetery.  George's sister Julia Haskins Frank's funeral was held here.  Julia died on May 20, 1922, age 64 from Bronchial Pneumonia.

This is the headstone of Julia and her family.  Julia Haskin was married to Francis Frank. Francis Frank died on November 3, 1931.  Julia had a daughter Edna, whom married Everett Stickland.  Edna died on June 8, 1911 at the age of 31. She died giving birth to a son, whom is also buried with her.  Everett, her husband, died on April 20, 1948 at the age of 70.  He died from Congestive Heart Failure.

This is the headstone of George's other sister Alma Haskins Foster.  Alma died in Waterbury, CT at the age of 59 on March 25, 1909.  She was married to Willis Foster, also of Waterbury, CT.  He died at the age of 63 on January 19, 1914.

The family members are buried in the Pilgrim Rock portion of the Fountain Hill Cemetery.  They are buried in sections 18 and 19.  Alma Foster, Julia Frank and George H Haskins are the children of George W Haskin and Mary McFarland of Amenia, Dutchess, New York.   The plots in section 18 (four of them) were purchased by Willis Foster.  They were purchased when Alma passed away.  This is the section that George is buried in.

I was sad to find out that George doesn't have a headstone.  If I didn't have the cemetery information I wouldn't have been able to find him.  I have the general area where he is buried but not the exact location.  I have to admit finding out there was no stone was very disappointing and was a little bit of a downer.

After our time tromping around the cemetery, our next stop in Deep River was to the local public library.  My mission was to try to find George's obituary.  I was not successful, again disappointed.

After a wonderful lunch at Kristen's we stopped at the Town Hall.  I was able to enter the vault and look through various resources.  This was really interesting and a little exhilarating.  I got the chance to touch and look through some primary documents. Oh, the things that can keep a genealogist happy!  All in all it was a great day in Deep River and a wonderful memory for my Summer 2011 Vacation.