Motivation Monday...Cemetery Hopping

Nothing gets me motivated like a field trip. Yesterday I drove to Great Falls with my husband and spent some time traipsing through cemeteries. My cousin Molly and her daughter Grace joined me on this excursion. First we went to Mt Olivet and drove around and around and then got out and walked up and down and hither and yon. We did finally find Joseph and Katherine Marxer, who, by the way, should have been at Calvary Cemetery via their death certificates. How the heck did that snafoo happen not once but twice?
(updated 25 Oct 2011) Dad informed me that the Marxers were moved to Mount Olivet when Calvery Cemetery was closed, years ago.

I felt certain that Grandpa and Grandma Borgreen should have been close by, but we drove and walked all over and just couldn't find them. So then we headed to Highland Cemetery, just down the road. It was much larger than I had anticipated and packed FULL of stones. We drove a bit and walked alot and came away empty handed. So we headed out to lunch and had a wonderful time chatting and eating. Then I took Molly and Grace home and realized that I had some spare time before picking up my husband. So I went back to Mt. Olivet for another try. I was drawn to the back lane along the fence and as I drove through the gate I said aloud "Grandma, I'm back. I need some help. Can you show me where you are?" I drove to the Marxer stone, which is large and hard to miss. I parked and got out to walk the rows. I walked up and down and back again and suddenly, three rows in and directly across from where I parked was Carl T. Borgreen and Ellen E. Borgreen. The stone were set into the grass and so easy to miss if you weren't paying close attention.
I found other relatives and took pictures of their stones, but these were the prize of the day. I have more stones to find...another day.

A couple of funnies from the trip. Molly and I were walking the rows when suddenly she says "Why can't everyone die in alphabetical order?" I'm sure the fact that her last name starts with B and mine with P escaped her attention.
The second funny was as we barreled down the dusty road to cemetery #2 on our list, Molly's cell phone rang. She answered and her caller asked "What are you doing?" After a nervous moment of silence Molly says "Cemetery Hopping". I heard some excitement on the other end of the line to which Molly responded, "No, not for me!" That girl always cracks me up.

Motivation Monday – do you have a set of genealogy-related goals you want to tackle? Do you have tips on getting motivated? Whether you want to lend advice or you need advice, participate in Motivation Monday at your blog and tell us what’s on your genealogical plate. This is an ongoing series created by Dionne Kurti at Finding Josephine.

Wedding Wednesday....Matt and Mary Bell

Marriage certificate of Matt and Mary Bell, 1893

May I just say that the changes to Family Search are awesome?
I was never really a fan of that site and everyone said it was the go to site for genealogy. It was just never user friendly enough for me. But now things are different and I'm in serious like with Family Search. I especially like the scanned documents that are being shared on the site. 


This marriage certificate is one that I found just minutes ago. I'd been to the public library today and happened to find a book in the research room called At the foot of the Beartooth Mountains: A history of the Finnish community of Red Lodge, Montana -  (1998) by Leona Lampi. I remembered that my great great grandpa, Matt Bell, had lived there and my great grandma, Elina Bell was born there. I scanned the index and found Matt's name and a couple of photos of his boys. I know little about this branch of the family tree, so I placed a hold on the book through the interlibrary loan program and jotted a down a few notes from the copy in the research room. I came home and logged onto Family search to see what I could find and lo and behold the marriage certificate popped right up. It's a boon too, with names of both the bride's and groom's parents' and the towns they came from in Finland. All new info to me. Also, the marriage month and date were information I didn't have before. Now I can't wait for the copy of the book to come so I can scour the pages for more information. Another productive day of sleuthing.

Mystery Monday.....I've found you Andrew!

1900 Federal Census

Today just confirms further why it's so important to search the collateral lines. I've been searching for my great great grandfather Andrew Marxer. I knew he came to the US in the 1880's and that he stayed in MN while his son Joseph, my great grandfather came to MT. I knew there were at least two of Andrew's children with him in MN. What I didn't know is who he lived with in his later years. Through family information and a compiled county history I tracked down his son-in-law, Frank Nascher. Frank married Andrew's daughter Maria "Mary" and I found Andrew living with them until at least 1900. But I had to search for Frank Nascher to get any result. Andrew just wasn't showing up on the indexes. Evidence points to a 1909 death date for Andrew, so now I'll be searching St. Paul city directories for even more information. I've also located a MN death entry for an Andreas Marxer in the FHL catalog. I'll be ordering that film to make sure that it's really great great grandpa Andrew and to glean any more information I can find there.

Tombstone Tuesday...Find a Grave.com

Ruth Borgreen

 Borgreen family marker

 Johan August "Gust" Borgreen

 Johanna "Jennie" (Felt) Borgreen

Old Highland Cemetery in Great Falls MT

I was so happy the day I found Find a Grave. What a fantastic resource this site is when you are trying to

locate ancestors' final resting places from far away. At the time I found these grave site photos, I didn't even know what cemetery these ancestors were buried in. This was a very productive internet search. I can't tell you how much I appreciate the work that is done by the people who volunteer for this project. You can browse by location, date, and/or name. So helpful. You can search famous graves or just stroll through looking for  interesting epitaphs. And in true "pay it forward" style, you can join the Find a Grave contributors and help out with the project. So Fantastic!

"This Is a Pretty Park" by Dani Rhodes..age 3

We were headed home from the cabin on Labor Day 2010. As we headed through Great Falls, I decided to drive over to Mount Olivet Cemetery to see if I could find Great-great Grandma Coleman's grave. I knew that her daughter and son-in-law, Mary Alice and William H. Johnstone were buried there and figured she might be too. I had no idea where their graves where, but Mom said they were in the old section by the main road. So, I drove through. It seemed a huge task to try to find them. I figured we could spend hours looking. I scanned the headstones for the name "Johnstone". Suddenly I saw it and pulled over to take a look. But it wasn't Mary Alice and William. It was actually Uncle Steve and Auntie Bert. Nice to see them, but not what I was looking for, so after a quick hello and goodbye, I drove around again.

I decided to pull over and walk the rows. Allison and Dani got out to help.
I walked down a few stones and looked over one row and there it was. "Johnstone". Mary Alice and William Johnstone. I hardly had to look for them at all, I walked right to it. I looked on the back of the stone and there was "Coleman". and right in front, set into the grass was Mary Coleman 1857-1932. Just the proof I needed. I few days ago, I'd checked the Montana death index and found one Mary Coleman in Cascade County with a death date of 14 Jun 1932. The 1930 census showed Mary Coleman still living with her daughter and family, so I knew that she died sometime after 1930. I needed to make sure I had the right person and this stone showed me that I did. Now with this new information in hand, I'm ready to send to the Cascade County courthouse for her death certificate and hopefully learn her birth date, place of birth, parents' names and whatever other little gems I can find out. You are right, Dani. This is a very pretty park.