more on the identity project...
...which I really should reign back in, for now at least, to things that'll be immediately relevent. ^^; I spent a good couple of hours playing with the microfilms over in Reed this afternoon, looking through old Fredonia and Jamestown newspapers (once I figured out how to use the silly things without breaking something).. gooodnessss, I could spend weeks and barely scratch the surface. *laughs* Wish there were a decent subject indexing somewhere, there's one for a Jamestown paper but not Fredonia's.
I could find no trace of one of the girls on the gravestone in question.. the other, all I found was the date of her death and that it was in Cordova, and the date of her marriage, her maiden name, that she was from Fredonia and her husband from..Michigan, I think. Have yet to find anything on her family.. his last name is Smith. There were at least two Henry Smiths living in the area at the time... -_-;
So now that I'm back here, I've been looking around a few websites with local history, the chamber of commerce's page, Chataqua county's bit on rootsweb.com (where I've found myself before - incredibly helpful)..
Only now I'm finding contradictions. ^^;
In Pioneer Cemetary, which's where the stone I'm on about is:
VanGordon, Mary, w. C.A. Feb.17,1878, ae 26
In Forest Hill Cemetary:
Vangorben, Mary 1853 Feb. 17 1879 w. G.A.
*facepalm* So guess who's going to trek through the snow and double-check this..
Also, if these dates are right..these two girls would have never met. Yet they share a gravestone, which arches over and joins them together..
Their husbands aren't buried in either of the two cemetaries.
..it was interesting before, but now I'm *really* intrigued.
Of course, the gravestone was going to be a side-thing in the story, and here it is eating up my attention span. I did, however, read through a few articles on the fire at the Fredonia Normal School, which was in December of 1900.. so that tightens up my timeframe for the story, which is really just as well, it'll make it easier to look for information to have it so limited.
But I did find lots of helpful information, just in little details in the articles.. there were dorms in the buildings (which I'd figured), the girls had roommates, they'd had electric lights (which I wasn't sure of)..in the building, there was an elevator and three spiral staircases, 30 girls roomed on the third floor...
There was a photography store in Jamestown, which advertised goods for amateurs.
I could find no trace of one of the girls on the gravestone in question.. the other, all I found was the date of her death and that it was in Cordova, and the date of her marriage, her maiden name, that she was from Fredonia and her husband from..Michigan, I think. Have yet to find anything on her family.. his last name is Smith. There were at least two Henry Smiths living in the area at the time... -_-;
So now that I'm back here, I've been looking around a few websites with local history, the chamber of commerce's page, Chataqua county's bit on rootsweb.com (where I've found myself before - incredibly helpful)..
Only now I'm finding contradictions. ^^;
In Pioneer Cemetary, which's where the stone I'm on about is:
VanGordon, Mary, w. C.A. Feb.17,1878, ae 26
In Forest Hill Cemetary:
Vangorben, Mary 1853 Feb. 17 1879 w. G.A.
*facepalm* So guess who's going to trek through the snow and double-check this..
Also, if these dates are right..these two girls would have never met. Yet they share a gravestone, which arches over and joins them together..
Their husbands aren't buried in either of the two cemetaries.
..it was interesting before, but now I'm *really* intrigued.
Of course, the gravestone was going to be a side-thing in the story, and here it is eating up my attention span. I did, however, read through a few articles on the fire at the Fredonia Normal School, which was in December of 1900.. so that tightens up my timeframe for the story, which is really just as well, it'll make it easier to look for information to have it so limited.
But I did find lots of helpful information, just in little details in the articles.. there were dorms in the buildings (which I'd figured), the girls had roommates, they'd had electric lights (which I wasn't sure of)..in the building, there was an elevator and three spiral staircases, 30 girls roomed on the third floor...
There was a photography store in Jamestown, which advertised goods for amateurs.
posted by Melissa | 7:27 PM
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