An instruction for my executors

Spotted at a genealogy conference.

Funeral Booklets

When I attended a family funeral yesterday both Mr GeniAus and I took a funeral booklet/order of service.

I have been sorting out my huge "to be sorted" pile of ephemera this week and I came across several duplicate funeral books for family members. I really only need one of each for my files. I then remembered the bottom drawer of my filing cabinet where I have a collection of funeral books for unrelated people. I have saved all of the funeral books for services I have attended over the years plus I have been given some by people who are aware of my hoardng and genealogy obsessions.  I realised that these private publications can be a goldmine of genealogical information and wondered  if I should I should share them with the geneacommunity. Some of the earliest booklets I have are quite simple while some of the newer ones are quite sophisticated publications but they all contain genealogical data. One would hope that the people compiling these publications  provide accurate information.

The latest addition to my collection gives birth and death dates for the deceased, the name of the celebrant and the names of those taking part in the service. It is highly likely that some of these people are family members. The booklet also has two pages of photographs of the deceased covering his life span. Some of these booklets give other information like the date and time of the service and details of the burial or cremation.

I am going to gather up my collection of duplicate family booklets and those for unrelated persons and offer them to a genealogy society or library that I hope will index them. I may even offer to index them if the repository provides me with guidelines.

What do you do with the funeral booklets you collect? Please don't toss them - send them to me and I'll add them to my collection.

Trove Tuesday - Flags at Half-Mast

Mr GeniAus' grandfather, James Ball died an untimely death. It was reported in the Sydney Morning Herald on this day in 1931.

1931 'MR. JAMES BALL.', The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), 6 October, p. 4, viewed 29 September, 2014, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article16824559

I've done it again

When using the mobile Blogger app to publish a quick blog post I sometimes make a silly mistake and publish to the wrong blog. Yesterday I did it again and published to my personal blog.

Will I ever learn that I must take more care when posting from my bed late at night?

It was just a lighthearted observation that I will repost below.

Sponsors

Just came across this tissue pack that was among the delegate goodies in a conference bag earlier this year.

What does it say about the demographic of genies when a funeral director is a conference sponsor?

A Pauper's Funeral

I spied this poem about a Pauper's Funeral on a visit to The Florence Nightingale Museum in London earlier this year. BTW it was a great little museum just around the corner from The London Eye and across the bridge from The Houses of Parliament.