Esther
>Thank you for the clarification, Laura--I'd guess a lot of us
>were picturing not ashes in an urn but something like Mother
>in -Psycho- or any number of half-remembered photo essays in
>National Geographic about Peruvian mummies and so on, however
>much more dramatic that would have been.
>
>My own family tale of recycled forebears is the grisly duty
>undertaken by my great-aunt Lucy, the maiden aunt, of course,
>to identify her mother's remains when the family plot in a
>very downtown Cleveland OH cemetery (Erie Street, if anyone
>cares) had to be removed to a suburban location. Beats me why
>that had to be done, and why Lucy and just her mother, but
>that's the tale, which centers on Lucy recognizing her
>mother's hair, and not much else. Bleeaagh.
>
>Having just written the above it occurs to me I am now
>probably the only person who knows this story. Well, now you
>all do too, which is fine as far as it goes, but thanks to
>Laura and Uncle Charlie, etc., I now realize I should probably
>document the first burials, moving the remains, etc.
>
>Why should I bother, you might ask?
>
>Well, the next couple of generations from now might well be
>looking for turn-of-the-century (19th-->20th) Leutners in
>Cleveland, and would welcome the knowledge that interments
>from (some part of?) Erie Street Cemetery were removed to
>(uh-oh. I used to know. Aunt Mary would know but oops, she's
>dead) Cemetery more or less around 19?? (yup, Aunt Mary
>again). Actually, when it comes right down to it, I myself
>need to know, since what we have on paper tells me the lady in
>question died in both 1894 and 1904, so I'd better get busy
>while I, at least, remember that great-grandma's paper trail
>may be a little convolute.
>
>Not NY, of course, but maybe representative enough to be of
>interest, and no less topical than the dowsing stuff. :)
>
>Bob Leutner
>Iowa City IA
>
>On Sat, 31 May 1997 SleeperCo@aol.com wrote:
>
>> Hi everyone--
>> I know I'm a little off the subject of genealogy with this message but
>> I've had an amazing number of requests for more info on my great-grandfather
>> who was in the safe for 43 years so I will fill you all in! I've sent out
>> many individual replies but I keep getting messages so will post one last
>> message to give details on my true story! As a reminder, this whole thread
>> began with a question about what was done with bodies in locations where the
>> ground was too frozen to bury people during the winter.
>> Just to recap--my great-grandfather, Charles Phineas Gould (born New
>> Sharon, ME, in 1857) died in 1923 in San Diego. His ashes remained in a safe
>> ( 4' x 4' banker's safe) in a hidden room under the stairs in our house in
>> San Diego until 1966 when they were "liberated" by my mother during
>> remodeling. Charlie had wanted his son (my grandfather) and his daughter each
>> to contribute $25,000 to build a mausoleum for him. My grandaunt might have
>> contributed the money but my grandfather said "h*** no!!" to spending money
>> that way! They apparently couldn't agree on the type of monument or even the
>> burial place so Charlie ended up in the safe until a decision could be
>> reached. My guess is that they forgot he was there and that's where he stayed
>> until my mother began remodeling the house when we moved in in 1966. When we
>> "liberated" Charlie from the safe, he took up residence on top of our TV for
>> 6 months, waiting for the ground to thaw in the Minneapolis cemetery. My
>> mother, in the spring (finally), mailed him 3rd class mail back to be buried
>> in the MN cemetery. He was quite the conversation piece during the months he
>> lived on the TV!!!
>> This is all a true story!!! You can ask my sister--she's on this
>> mailing list too!
>> Laura Hulslander
>> SleeperCo@aol.com
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> GEN-NYS-L Subscribers -- Visit the GEN-NYS-L web page:
>> http://www.rootsweb.com/~nozell/GEN-NYS-L/
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>>
>
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