Death in Homestead Cemetery in Allegheny County, PA

It's a sad day.  I just saw a news report from Pittsburgh, PA, that the Homestead Cemetery in Munhall is dead.  No owner. No burials. Just a very sad forgotten 34 acre burial site of long ago Allegheny County.

My heartfelt thanks to the volunteers who have taken the time out to try and take care of the grounds. If I was in the area, I would be there as well.

Before the cemetery is forced to completely die and its fate decided by the powers that be, I call upon the genealogy groups in the Western PA area to document as much as you can.  Currently, the records that still exist can be found at the West Mifflin Historical Society.  Unless it has changed, the records are not available to the public.  Can this be changed?

According to FindaGrave, about 44% of the gravestones have been photographed and over 7000 graves are identified.

I am sure there are more.  Wish I could dig them up before the information is lost forever.

Ahh, genealogy. Such a sad day for a death.

Read more here:  http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/tag/homestead-cemetery/

©2017  AS Eldredge

Three Doors and Five Windows Found in Digitized Homestead Records

It's always a great day when old records are finally available online and at several onsite locations such as the National Archives and the FamilySearch Family History Centers.  Today, one of my trusty genealogy buffs sent a notice that the Homestead Final Certificates for the following states have been digitized and available to search:

David P Simmons Homestead

Arizona
Indiana
Illinois
Nevada
Ohio
Nebraska



It's time to have some fun now to sort through these records to see if any stories are unearthed!

So far, I've enjoyed seeing the statements given.  For example:

1)  Head of Family
2) United States Citizen
3) Never borne any arms against the government
4)Never given aid to America's enemies

William Henry Simmons, 1837 land

Ahh, genealogy. No sympathy this Saturday, just a day of wondering about the house with 3 doors and 5 windows built around 1865 in Nebraska.

©2017  AS Eldredge

Sources:

http://beatricedailysun.com/news/local/state-and-regional/digitized-homestead-records-for-other-states-now-available-online/article_97553f55-c26d-5a2a-8ee2-0161fc35487b.html

Ancestry.com. U.S. General Land Office Records, 1796-1907 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2008.
Original data: United States. Bureau of Land Management, General Land Office Records. Automated Records Project; Federal Land Patents, State Volumes. http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/.Springfield, Virginia: Bureau of Land Management, Eastern States, 2007.

Ancestry.com. U.S., Homestead Records, 1861-1908 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014.
Original data: Land Entry Case Files: Homestead Final Certificates. Record Group 49: Records of the Bureau of Land Management. The National Archives at Washington, D.C.