Genealogy #68: Detective Work

This is the location of the final resting place of secretasiangirl. Hopefully, I won't be moving there anytime soon, but eventually, I will be rolling through these gates feet first. Actually, since I want to be cremated, I'll be in a jar or nice box. While this visualization may seem creepy to some, it's never really bothered me. All my life, I've been coming to this place to honor my grandfather and later say goodbye to my father, grandmother, my aunt, uncles and cousin. Ironically, my favorite teacher in college is buried only steps away from my own father's grave. I found a kind of peace with that news; and sometimes go to sit between the two sites and think about all the things these two men taught me. My grandmother had the foresight to provide for her very large family long ago and purchased multiple plots when my grandfather died suddenly in 1965. Although my parents purchased their own family plots at the same time here, there are available spaces for anyone in my large family who "needs one" unexpectedly. Sadly, we've had to use a few in the past couple of years. When I asked Mom why Grandma bought so much property here, she translated and answered, "She doesn't want to be crowded." Funny, but typical for my grandmother, the toughest woman I've ever known. I'm grateful because I know that she put her family first and never wanted any of us to go through the trauma of what she went through when my grandfather died. I'm also grateful because this is a very nice cemetery and if you have to spend eternity somewhere, a $7000 plot ain't bad. Plus, I would keep company with notable Houston attorney Leon Jaworski and Young Adult author Joan Lowry Nixon. I visited the websites listed in the module. The Oral History Project is very interesting. As I stated before, I would love for my mother - the oldest living member of my family - to record her memories in some way for her own closure as well as for my son's birthright. Right now, she's not up for it but who knows. The Tejano Voices website is also fascinating. I listened to the stories of two notable Texas Hispanic women. Listening to their voices gives their words so much more weight. Find-A-Grave is a truly creepy website. Because I've been to Glenwood Cemetery, off Washington Ave. for a school project on Howard Hughes, I took a look at the oldest grave I could find there. Margaret Lair Anderson's grave had this information:

Birth:	1787 Kentucky, USA
Death:	1867 Houston Harris County Texas, USA
Daughter of John A. Lair & Sarah Custer. Wife of Carter Anderson. Died in the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1867 along with her granddaughters Mary Morris, Texas & Dora DeChaumes (all children of Susan Nash Anderson DeChaumes).

The website itself is very difficult to navigate and unless you're famous, the chances of finding a relative are slim. And I have to wonder about the kind of people who find this sort of search recreational. If it's your thing, however, Glenwood is probably one of the oldest cemeteries in Houston and is the resting place of many famous names like Hobby, Hofheinz, Hughes and even Gene Tierney. If you like old mausoleums and trees dripping with Spanish moss, this is your kind of hangout.