Last Post in 2014: Plans for 2015

When in less than three hours 2015 will be here.  2014 has been a good year.  A lot was accomplished in my genealogy research and graveyard rehab projects but looking back I have been very unorganized with a lot of things.  I came back to genealogy in 2011 after a fifteen year hiatus. Although my research stopped because I went back to school I was still acquiring family info, photos, and miscellaneous stuff as it came to me.  I did not do anything with it aside from putting these various papers etc. in files according to family names.

After being away from genealogy for so long I was amazed at what I had found.  There were many paid subscription sites such as Ancestry and others out there that made research that much more convenient for me.  Also, numerous records were transcribed and put on the Internet.  Now I am not saying that you can trace your whole family online but the Internet has definitely made life easier.

When I started up again my intentions were to not do any new research until:

• my computer files/data/sources were cleaned up 
• paper files and photos organized, scanned and loaded into my genealogy software and organized in folders

However with curiosity I did a google search of my gggg grandmother's name, Allegonda Klep, which is a very uncommon name and found hits and ideas to other research sites where I was able to trace her line back into the early 1700s and her husband's line the Koreman's back into the 1600s.  I have since broke away from my initial plans of no research until everything else was caught up because I could not resist bringing my family lines back four or five generations further.

Now I have numerous projects started, none finished, perhaps 2015 will be the year that I see them finished.

Capt. Abram Harrington Found

Although it is the end of December, today's weather was beautiful; almost 50 degrees.  With great weather came a great idea for another search for the grave site of Captain Abram Harrington and his wife Mary.  In a previous post I mentioned that I could not find the site.  Well today with the help of a couple of hikers we found the burial site of a Revoluntary War veteran and his wife.  On a hike, twelve years ago with my family, my wife noticed their grave stones just off the trail.  Today the both stones have fallen and need to be uprighted.  I plan on going back in the spring to "clean-up" the site. There are only two stones so it will not take long.

I am glad that the grave site was found.  At first when I could not find it I began to think that it was bulldozed over to make way for a baseball field.  Fortunately my initial hunch was wrong.  Below are some photos of the site.

Harrington Grave Site

Mary Coons Harrington

Capt. Abram Harrington

Finding Abram Harrington

Yesterday, I took a hike in the East Greenbush Town Park.  I was looking for a gravesite which is located on or near the Town Park property.  Twelve years ago my wife and I took the kids on a hike at the park and we found two tombstones off the trail.  Although at this time my genealogical pursuits were on hiatus, I still had to have my photo taken with the newly found gravestone.  The picture is below.

Well I had recently been curious about the old stone we found years ago; so I went looking for it.  Unfortunately I could not find it.  Things appeared different from how I had remembered them.  Along the trail, I thought that there were old rusted out and abandoned cars and farm tractors/equipment.  They were not there, which is a good thing.  But why could I not find the old gravestones?

Last night I found the photo that was taken of my daughter and I at the gravesite and I found that the person's name was Harrington.  After doing a google search, it was determined that the two stones were those of Capt. Abram Harrington who died 29 July 1846 at age 82 and Mary Coons Harrington, wife of Capt. Abram who died on 2 October 1832 aged 66 years.  Further I found that Abram was a Revoluntary War soldier also.  Now, I do not know how accurate this last information is without doing further research but it is quite possible.

The next question is why could I not find the grave site? I did not have a lot of time to look around for it but as I mentioned the abandoned vehiciles were all missing and as I walked further into the trails I came to an opening where a baseball field was recently created.  I walked to the main entrance way and determined that I was on Route 151 at the Miracle League baseball fields.  I found that this field offers children with special needs an opportunity to play sports.  I believe that this is a great organization and very much needed for disabled people.

I am hoping that the burial spot of this possible Revoluntary War veteran was not destroyed in the creation of the baseball field? Over the weekend, I will be heading back with two daughter's in tow to search the area.  Three sets of eyes are better than one.  I am hopeful that we find the gravesite.