Wordy Wednesday ~ Canadians in the US Civil War

I haven't posted much (OK, anything) about my brother-in-law's family, but I decided these pictures were too good to pass up. The picture of the 2 Civil War soldiers is "George Keefer and friend." [George being the man on the right] That picture, along with the newspaper clipping are framed together. I do know that my brother-in-law's maternal grandfather was also named George Keefer but I have not been able to tie that George Keefer to this one or to the rather famous Keefer's of Thorold, Ontario. Of course I haven't really tried yet, but just saying...

The thing that I find so interesting about this picture and the next is the striking resemblance to my brother-in-law! Really remarkable. Clearly a relative, and according to family lore a direct one, but I haven't yet pieced it all together.

So, George A Keefer, who are you??

Tombstone Tuesday ~ More from Canada

So, there I was having a great time at the Ontario Genealogical Society Conference in Oakville, Ontario on a Saturday afternoon. I was facing an almost 13 hour trip back home the following day and I was already looking at what sessions were being offered tomorrow. Should I stay until the last one on Sunday afternoon, or should I try to leave a little bit early? It was going to be a LONG drive, but the sessions on Sunday looked good and all those that I had attended thus far had been excellent.

So, what did I decide? Why to skip out of ALL the session on Sunday and add a 3 hour side trip over to Kincardine, Ontario to visit a cemetery of course! I'm sure most people reading this won't find that nearly as strange as my family did when I mentioned that I might be just a tiny bit longer getting home than I had anticipated.

In between sessions on Saturday I had been chatting with a man about my desire to go to Kincardine. I knew what cemetery I was looking for, but wasn't sure how large it was, or if I would able to find the stone I was after. He helpfully mentioned that most of the branch societies in the vendor area had cemetery listings and that Kincardine would be Bruce & Grey. Sure enough, that cemetery had been transcribed and the stone I was looking for was in their cemetery listing. The lady helping me even said something about my not needing to go there because the inscription on the stone had been transcribed. I didn't mention to her that I actually had a very bad copy of an article that showed the stone itself - so I knew what it said. I STILL wanted to go to the cemetery. I even bought the book - it was a LARGE cemetery - and since I now had a layout of the cemetery and knew what section "my" stone was in, I made up my mind to take the trip.

I am so glad I went! The drive across Ontario was beautiful. The farmland made me feel at home, having grown up in rural Ohio. At one point I was in a tiny town sitting at a stoplight and I realized I was hearing bagpipe music. Sure enough, there out my window were some young men in kilts in front of the Knox Presbyterian Church playing the bagpipes. I like to understand the places my ancestors lived and not just see their names on paper and it was interesting to see how "Scottish" many places in this part of Canada were since my Canadian ancestors had come from Scotland.

When I finally arrived at Kincardine and located the correct part of the cemetery, I looked at the listing and noted the two names above and two below the one I wanted, figuring that they just transcribed in order. I walked along saying the names over and over to myself..I'm glad I had decided to look that way as I found the other names and realized I should be seeing RITCHIE but didn't. When I noticed the stone almost hidden my two large bushes ~ and there it was!

As I looked at the stone I was even MORE glad I had made this trip. The picture I had, and the inscription in the book, were both done quite some time ago. I found more than I bargained for when I saw that 3 of David's children were also buried here. One, also David, noted on the main stone and two daughter with separate markers.

RITCHIE
Rev. David Ritchie
Born at St. Andrews, Scotland, 1872
Died at Seaforth, Ont, 1948
Husband of
Marianne Moore
Born at Lauder, Scotland, 1881
Died at Collingwood, Ont, 1971
David G. Ritchie
1915 - 1996

Alexander R Johnson
1908 - 1998
Beloved husband of
Margaret E Ritchie
1918 - 2004

Elsie E Ritchie
1913 - 2004

David was my great-grandfather's older brother. He went back to Scotland at one point and became a minister, supposedly studying at the University of Edinburgh. When he was in Scotland, he married his cousin, Marianne MOORE. Her mother, Elspeth SWINTON, and David's mother, Jane SWINTON, were sisters. I would love to connect with this family in Canada to see what stories have come down in their branch of the family!

Oh, one last picuture - Lake Huron was right down the road from the cemetery. You could stand at the front gate and see it. I drove down before I left to get some more pictures. As I was standing there with the cold wind whipping off the lake I wondered if Kincardine at all reminded David of St Andrews with the nearness to the water and the cold winds. I'm so very glad I made the trip.

Tombstone Tuesday ~ Toronto, Ontario

From my trip to Ontario last week, I have a double Tombstone Tuesday story.

From correspondence many years ago with my Uncle George, I knew that my 2nd great-grand uncle, Alex Ritchie was buried in Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Toronto. I even had an old (and slightly fuzzy) picture of the stone that Uncle George had sent. So, really, why did I even want to go??

Well, my only plan for Thursday was to go from Thorold, ON to Oakville, ON. Since that is not a very long trip, and I couldn't get into my hotel room until 3:00 anyway I thought I might as well go into Toronto and visit Mount Pleasant Cemetery. I even had the information regarding the section and plot for the stone so I should be in good shape.

When I got there, I couldn't make sense of the notation O-61-3 that I had from Uncle George. The only sections I saw were all numbers - and this was clearly the letter O. So, I ended up having to go into the office and ask - good thing for me! The lady there looked up Alexander Ritchie and told me he was indeed buried in section O - which was across the road. Since we were chatting I asked, almost off-hand, if there was a James Ritchie, who died in 1891, buried in the cemetery. Yes, she had an entry and I started to feel very excited - I'm sure you all know the feeling! - and then she said, "He's buried with Mary Davidson Ritchie."

Well, that was NOT right! My great-great-grandfather was married to Jane Swinton so this didn't seem like the right person at all. It also made me question the death date and information I had been given. Although I have a copy of a death entry I have to admit that I had always wondered if it really was "my" James ~ James Ritchie being such a common name. There was nothing on the death registration that I could point to as tying it to my James. With a sinking feeling that I'd been wrong about this, I asked for the location of the stone. If nothing else I would find it and then possibly the information on the stone would tie to the death registration and I would know it wasn't the right person.

Armed with the information and a map I went over to the correct part of the cemetery. It was a drizzly, misty day but the cemetery itself was really beautiful. It was full of old trees and well groomed. The rainy weather just made everything lush and green. I know that most people reading this will understand when I say that I was really enjoying just driving around and admiring this cemetery. It had a very peaceful feeling.


Without much trouble I found Uncle Alec's stone. He was buried with Romeyn Lawyer - who I'm told was a lawyer and a business partner and Romeyn's sister Adelaide.

In Memoriam
Romeyn Lawyer
Died March 6th 1915

Adelaide Lawyer Willson
Died December 10th 1908

Alexander Ritchie
Died October 3rd 1924

Now to try and find James. Fortunately he was buried in section N so it was very close. Unfortunately most of the stones I was seeing in this section were old, moss-covered and almost totally illegible! I walked around, my feet getting wetter and colder by the minute, but just couldn't seem to orient myself with the map. I didn't know if I was even close to the spot that was marked. Still, I kept looking. Finally, I found a marker on the ground with a number...I used that to orient myself and kept looking...found some more numbers on the ground. Now, I knew I was at least moving in the right direction. There were 2 completely illegible stones - I even took pictures of them thinking that maybe those were them [if Mary had a separate stone.]

But I still kept walking ~ you know that feeling that you are so close to something? I just couldn't leave. I found another marker in the ground and knew I had to be almost on top of it! I kept looking at the ground for more numbers..and then suddenly there is was - a stone that was set in the ground. It read, "In Memory of Jame Ritchie, Stonecutter, Who Died Oct 5, 1891, Aged 51 years, Late of St. Andrews, Scotland, KIND LOVE"


That just HAD to be him! Now mostly I don't get very emotional about my cemetery finds, but those words, "Kind Love" made me cry. Suddenly I could see a woman in a strange country with 6 children, whose husband had just died. I still don't know what happened after that, but this stone made me feel the loss in a way I can't quite explain.

As I was pondering this, I remembered that Alex was married - and his wife was Mary Davidson! I don't know how that escaped me originally. Now it all made sense and made me even more sure that I had the correct person. Alex would, most likely, have seen to the details of his brother's burial and then later also buried his wife there. I did not see any indication of a stone for her.

Sorry for the long story...but I was beyond thrilled to find this!!

What I've Been Doing for the Last Week!

My goodness - what a busy week! As I said earlier today, I drove 1,776 miles, heard wonderful lectures, met 3 geneabloggers and visited 2 wonderful cemeteries! That's just the short version - I really did even more than that.

I've been to Ft. Wayne and spent a day at the Allen County Public Library in their great genealogy collection. Well, OK, I admit - I stopped in the Dunkin Donuts first. During one of my walks to the library I also just had to stop in at the Firefighter's Museum. What a great old building! It's been there since 1893.


I've been to Thorold, Ontario and spent a night in the Keefer Mansion. My brother-in-law is supposed to be related to those Keefers, but I haven't yet started working on that line. [I do know that his great-grandfather, George Keefer, was born in Canada.] The Keefer Mansion has been featured on one of those ghost-hunter shows - I found the clips here and here - but unfortunately I didn't meet up with any ghosts during my stay.



I visited Mt. Pleasant Cemetery in Toronto. It was so beautiful! I was going there to see and photograph the gravestone of my great-granduncle, Alexander Ritchie. I knew he was buried there, but I also made another discovery that I hadn't expected. I also went over to the beautiful new Archives of Ontario, but only spent a few hours there.

All of that before I even got to Oakville for the Ontario Genealogy Society Conference. While I was at the conference I go to meet Janet Iles and Brenda Dougall Merriman (who autographed a book for me!) and Stephen Danko, who was in a Friday workshop that I attended. I also manager to fit in attending a few actual session ;-) Actually, I was there early and attended workshops as well as some of the great sessions on Saturday.

Then, I decided to leave early on Sunday and head out across Ontario to Kincardine in search of another cemetery. Fortunately many of the various branches of the OGS had tables in the vendor area. I was able to talk to some helpful people at the Bruce & Grey Branch and I found that the cemetery I wanted to visit had been transcribed. I bought the book and from that was able to find what I was looking for when I got there. I also found a few things I hadn't know would be there - and that were not in the transcription book as they were somewhat more recent.

Wow - so much packed into one week. I promise to talk more in-depth about each thing. I have a GREAT Tombstone Tuesday planned for tomorrow!