Dead People Hunting

When my children were younger I had to take them with me to do family research in southern Georgia. Anytime I would mention family history, they ran. I really like to go in October and March or April so I can feel the cool air, which living in Florida doesn't provide, and I enjoy my time out finding cemeteries. So I had to find a creative way to get my kids excited about the research. What better thing to do than to go "Dead People Hunting"?

I coined this phrase so they would like to go and it worked. So now that they are older and I say I'm going dead people hunting, they don't mind going so much.

Dead people hunting is about searching for grave yards and finding your family's burial spots. We just went this past week and we had a good time spending time together but the drive was long and the grave yards were well hidden. But I felt so successful when we found them.

The last one we went to was the Bush Cemetery in Cuba, Georgia. It was hidden off the road behind some cow pastures. We were so happy to finally find it. I was looking for two names, James and Mary Bush, that were great-great-great grandparents and was so thrilled to see that someone really honored these two people because they put up a big monument with the genealogy on it, must of cost a lot of money to do that. I appreciated it.

I took my pictures and a moment to honor them myself. I turned around and saw a headstone that was kind of hard to make out but I saw a name I recognized. It said the wife of AC Sheffield then I looked above that and could barely make out the name of Arkansas Bush. She is the daughter of James Bush, and my great-great grandmother. I was so thrilled for this extra find.

This photo is not of AC and Arkansas, just used for example.

The cool thing is when I see the names of people on paper or the computer its cool but when I see them on a marker or in a picture they become so real to me. I then begin to grow a love for them. My heart turns to them and I have the desire to know more about them.

Doing this research is more than just finding names, its finding your family. I do love dead people hunting.