Southern Graves

One of the nineteen children of William and Hannah Dowis buried in the family plot at Duluth Church Cemetery in Gwinnett County, Georgia is their son John Victau. He was more commonly known as Victor or Vic Dowis, and he attended the Duluth Baptist Church as a young man. Victor died at the prime of life age of 30 years. In fact, his death came just over a month before his 31st birthday. He left behind a wife and children, including a daughter born just days before his death. I first found there was an interesting story surrounding the death of Victor with a simple search at Ancestry . Several user-submitted family trees mentioned a tale of murder and revenge. Most were telling the story from the "other" side, the side of the Simpson brothers. Both were victims of a traffic stop gone bad, at the hands of Victor Dowis. In 1922 Duluth, Georgia, Victor Dowis was a deputy sheriff. An article in the Atlanta Journal Constitution (viewed online at Fold3 ) dated 21 Febru...

Family Tree Magazine recently released their annual 101 Best Web Sites for 2009. Most have probably seen it already, but I've been meaning to add links here for the ones applicable to this blog. Here we go! - American Battle Monuments Commission - Ancient Faces - Cemetery Surveys - Dead Fred - Find a Grave - Interment.net - Kentucky Historical Society - Mortality Schedules - Names in Stone - Nationwide Gravesite Locator Here are some additional links from other categories: - Arizona Genealogy Birth and Death Certificates (death records 1844-1958) - Cook County, Illinois Vital Records (20+ years old death records) - Maine State Archives (death index 1960-1996) - Massachusetts Archives (death records index 1841-1910) - Minnesota Historical Society (death cards records index 1904-1907; death certificates index 1908-2001) - Nova Scotia Historical Vital Statistics (53,835 deaths 1864-1877; 392,787 deaths 1908-1957) - Seeking Michigan (1 million death certificates 1897-1920) -...

From the Footnote Press Room : " Footnote.com Takes Social Networking into the Past 10 Sep 2008 Where: Lindon, UT San Francisco -- September 10, 2008 - Losing a loved one can result in a range of emotions, from the grief and sorrow to comfort, which often comes from reminiscing stories and memories with family and friends. The challenge arises when there is no single place where all of these stories can easily come together to be shared, enriched and preserved. Now at Footnote.com , anyone can find or create Footnote Pages where users connect and share stories, photos, and information about the people important to them. To kick-off the new Footnote Pages , Footnote.com today released over 80 million of these pages created from data from the Social Security Death Index. Most visitors will find existing pages about several deceased friends and family members already on the site. Footnote.com was selected from over 1,000 applicants to launch Footnote Pages at this year’s TechC...

Footnote has images of over 179,000 Texas Death Certificates online. Years range from 1890 to 1976. These records are searchable by first and last name of the deceased, year, county, and city. A certificate may include the decedent's date, place, and cause of death; age; date of birth; last residence; and marital status. If known, it will also include occupation, birth place, parents' names, and place of burial. Browse by county, then year, then surname, beginning with the first letters of the last name of the person you seek. If unsure of the year or location, use the search box under the browse menu. Check it out! Happy Hunting!

Navy Widows' Certificates are online at Footnote.com . More than 40,700 images from case files of approved pension applications of widows and other dependents of Civil War and later Navy veterans (1861-1910) are available for viewing. According to Craig Scott, a certified genealogist: "The collection is a compilation of approved navy pensions covering applications made during the period 1861 to about 1910. It includes important information for the researcher, such as information about the military service of the sailor, the circumstances of the death of the sailor, information about the marriage of the sailor to the applicant, information about the children of the sailor under the age of sixteen and information about the associates of the applicants, such as relatives and neighbors. In addition, information about naval commands with which a veteran served, details of battles and campaigns, and other documentation concerning the veteran's service may also be included in so...