With Grandpa moving to Maryland, I’m starting to get another look at some of the more interesting things in his collection. The funny thing is, my treasure is his self-professed junk. What I’m about to show almost got sold for scrap metal. Luckily my Dad saved it because he knows I’m hungry for these kinds of cool things.

North Caldwell Public Safety Center Plaque

The police chief that took over after Grandpa retired thought Grandpa might like this. I think it’s pretty cool, but boy does it weigh a lot. I have no idea how to hang something like this on the wall without it breaking whatever mount you put it on.

Here’s a note for you guys, if you have an antique seller in the family, make them aware of your interest in these things! Next time I show you some of his stuff, I’ll show you his baby blanket that his grandmother (Jennie Love-Thorward) made for him when he was born!

Actually this was probably the same day, but here we go.

I notice my great-grandfather William Lawrence Moore standing in the back on the right. I also see George W Thorward, sitting in the middle. I think the woman sitting next to him is one of Jennie‘s sisters but I’m not sure.

What’s a girl got to do to get an invitation to Beach Day?

I recognize Jennie Love and her husband Lewis Thorward, but the others, well your guess is as good as mine! I’m pretty sure one of Jennie’s sisters is sitting next to her. They look like they could be related.

What fun they must have had. I think I have a whole months worth of beach pictures alone I could post about.

I know, I have a very strange sense of humor. Most genealogists I come across get the cemetery fun thing though. I mean I don’t see them as horrible, scary places. I see them as peaceful places to visit our ancestors.

So, onto the fun. Once I got the death certificate of John Menzies, it was time to dissect the information. Which I’ve done on the blog. After the dissection is time to follow leads. The lead I’m exploring today is the cemetery where John was buried, Greenwood Cemetery in Brooklyn.

My first stop was Find a Grave to see exactly where the cemetery was and if there was already a listing for John.

There wasn’t. Only one Menzies and it wasn’t John or his son Alexander (though I am curious… brother? maybe?). There are always more questions it seems. Then I decided since the Evergreen Cemetery in Brooklyn had a website, why not see if Greenwood did.

Not only did it have a website, it has an AMAZING website. I’m not apologizing for the caps, because caps are sometimes needed. The Evergreen Cemetery also has a burial database but I never found my family in it! This time I did. What I love about this database, is that it gives the lot and section number. There are 12 Menzies currently in the database. (Note that the database is not complete.)

My John Menzies is ninth down on the list! From just this search, I can also see the other people buried in the lot! This doesn’t mean it is everyone, just the ones by the last name Menzies. So who else is buried with John?

1. Alexander Menzies – John’s third child, second son.
2. George Menzies – John’s ninth child, fifth son.
3. Jean Menzies – Alexander’s first wife I believe.
4. John D Menzies – John’s fifth child, third son.
5. Margaret J Menzies aka Poor Margaret from William’s Letter.

I can’t be sure of these relationships of course, until I confirm death dates/years. I actually had no idea of them except a general idea from census and marriage information. Except for Margaret, whose death is referred to in the letter between William and his sister Jane.

I also have to tell you that the cemetery does take genealogy requests! For $19.75 you can get an individual burial transcript, but if you pay $28.00 they’ll send you a whole plot of names and dates of internment! That’s pretty exciting for me, since I don’t get the opportunity to travel much.

Now all I have to do is overlay the cemetery map in Google Earth like I did for the Evergreen Cemetery. Then I’m set for a trip to Brooklyn this summer!

Note: I could say I have no affiliation with the cemetery but I’d be lying. My ancestors are buried there, so technically I do. However, I am receiving no encouragement or compensation for having a teenage fangirl moment over their website. I’m an amateur website designer, I can’t help it.

I made some progress in the Menzies line of my family tree!

Things that match up:

• Age: This puts his birthdate at around 1805, which is what I’ve seen across all records so far.
• Occupation: Sawyer. John was listed as a Sawyer when they lived in Liverpool.
• Birthplace: John was indeed born in Scotland.
• Year of Immigration: This lines of perfectly with what I found in the ship manifest.
• Place of Death: Fits in with the area where John was living with his son, Alexander.

New facts:

• Place of Burial: This cemetery is close to the cemetery I have to visit in Brooklyn. After looking on the website, I was even able to get a plot number!

I do wish that it had his parents names on here, but beggars can’t be choosers! I have a tentative set of Menzies in the Scotland parish records on FamilySearch that I’ve found and think is John’s parents and siblings. It would have nice to have known, but I’ll just keep digging!