I hope this information that I am about to share will reach all members
of the following list.
I have been butting my head up against a brick wall looking for a certain
relative. All I knew at the time was his name, who he married and that
it was after 1930, and that he died and was cremated with his ashes
sprinkled over Niagara Falls.
I could never find his date of death and my relatives most who are gone
now didn't know it either. And can you believe that some of them thought
it ridiculous that I was looking for "Dead People" as they called it.
But when I did ask questions they were willing with what limited
information they knew to give it to me.
I did find out that my uncle was cremated and that it was in the winter.
My cousin thought it might have been in 1955 -1960 because that is when
they bought their house. So based on that I tried with another query to
a certain list. I wrote down that he had been cremated and bingo! I got
a reply that I didn't expect. Don, called it his "two cents worth" I
called it a gold mine. Here is what he suggested.
That since I knew for sure that my uncle was cremated in Niagara Falls
and where his ashes were sprinkled, that I should call a crematorium.
Don didn't think there were to many in the area so I shouldn't have to
much of a problem finding one.
So this is what I did.
1. went to
yellowpages.com which is the business part of the phone
directory
2. put in the word funeral, or cremation , the city, and state It then
came up with a list of different funeral categories. Some were, supplies,
others were services, others funeral parlors other crematories.
3. I found one crematory and called them. They didn't have a record of my
uncle but suggested that I call another which I did. They readily gave
me the information. Date of death, date of cremation and date that the
mortuary got the ashes. They also told me that this particular mortuary
was no longer in existence. When I asked if my aunt who died about 24
years later was cremated there they said yes and that her ashes were sent
to another mortuary. They gave me that name and I called them. They
were most helpful. They even read off to me her obit.
I asked them about old records, hoping that they might be the ones that
bought the mortuary where my uncle's remains had been taken. They had not
but did tell me that when a mortuary went out of business there was no
law that stated that the records had to be retained by the state or
something. The only way the previous records would have been kept is if
the business was sold to another. Which as far as I know in my uncle's
case was not.
I do hope this little bit of info helps at least one person out there. I
am so glad that a fellow researcher thought about me calling a
crematorium to get my answer.
I would love to hear though if what I have said has been of any help in
finding some ones dead brick wall.
Joan Beebe Meddaugh
searching, Hills, Swartz/Schwartz/Beebe/Lathrop, Scott, Wagner, Gardner,
Edwards, and who knows maybe your family member as well I just might find
reclining under my brick wall.