Hi folks!! The summer of 2000 saw me visiting several cemeteries, including one where some stones looked to have acid damage and others were discolored. I was fortunate the cemetery caretaker happened to be on the site that day. I asked about both. The discoloration was caused by the high mineral content of local water. Several years ago, the cemetery had installed a sprinkler system and now the grass is beautiful, but the stones have suffered for it. When the sprinkler system had first been installed, the caretakers had tried to prevent/remove this discoloration by spraying the stones with "The Works" (a toilet bowl cleaner) and left it for the sprinklers or rain to wash off. When the acid damage started appearing, the caretaker had consulted the local monument dealer and learned that unless this product is completely washed off, it will begin to eat the stones. My purpose to this message, is to pass on some sites I have discovered that may help others. While some of the information pertains more to preservation on a larger scale than most individuals could handle, the information regarding cleaning should apply to everyone. While I personally have never done a rubbing, I was surprised to learn (in the first link) this practice has been banned in some cemeteries. Jackie Cemetery Dos and Don'ts, provided by the Connecticut Gravestone Network http://members.aol.com/ctgravenet/dosdonts.htm Association for Gravestone Studies FAQ's http://www.gravestonestudies.org/faq.htm Indiana Pioneer Cemeteries Restoration Project http://www.rootsweb.com/~inpcrp/repairtoolbox.html from the personal genealogy home page of Kim Chance http://members.home.net/kimchance/CemeteryPreservation.html

Posted on: Graham Co. Ks Queries Reply Here: http://genconnect.rootsweb.com/gc/USA/Ks/Graham/9 Surname: Alice Super ------------------------- Alice Super (Pruiett) was my grandmother. Her son James E. Pruiett was my father. If I can help in any way, will be glad to. Ann Davis landavis@pacbell.net

Posted on: Graham Co. Ks Queries Reply Here: http://genconnect.rootsweb.com/gc/USA/Ks/Graham/8 Surname: NICKELSON, NICHOLSON, KOONS, SUPER, STOKES, RICHARSON, McGRATH, SPENCER, GARRISON, McCOY, BLENKINSOP, WART, CRITCHFIELD ------------------------- Pulling out all the stops!! The descendants of Herman Luton NICHOLSON/NICKELSON are preparing to update the family records and print the material this coming year. If you are related, get ahold of me- I'll be glad to correspond prior to the Fifth Annual reunion in Hill City, Graham County, Kansas - Labor Day Sunday, 2001. Herman Luton NICHOLSON/NICKELSON was born to James Wilson NICHOLSON/NICKELSON and Margaret E. KOONS NICHOLSON/NICKELSON in Oct of 1859 in Clark County, Indiana. James, Margaret and family came west to the Elk Creek, Nebraska area after a short stay in Phelps, Atchison County Missouri. Following James' death in May 1869, Margaret remarried Joseph Medford (Jan 1870). On March 27, 1883 Herman took Mary Etta SUPER as his bride. In about 1886, the young family homesteaded south of Penokee, Graham County, Kansas. Crops being what they were, there was a return to Nebraska briefly, and later- 1902- the family returned to their homestead. The children of Herman Luton Nicholson/Nickelson and Mary Etta Super (d/o Michael and Mary Wart/Ward SUPER) were born between the years of 1884 and 1904 in both Nebraska and Kansas. NICKELSON, Frank married Lucille M. STOKES NICKELSON, Myrta Ellen married Elmer W. RICHARDSON NICKELSON, Bertha Ethel married Harry D. McGRATH NICKELSON, Lena Maggie married Clarence O. SPENCER NICKELSON, Eldon Ray married Alta P. GARRISON NICKELSON, Willis Erby married Florence A. McCOY NICKELSON, Lula Mabel married Ira J. STOKES, #2 BLENKINSOP NICKELSON, Mary (died in childhood) NICKELSON, George Willard married Hanna E. KEITH Have additional information on the Nicholson family of Clark Co, Indiana (1820 to present) James Wilson NICHOLSON/NICKELSON is the son of William and Margaret WILSON NICHOLSON. William and Margaret are the family's brick walls, little information. Will post that information later, since the family has other ties to Kansas. (CORTNER,Rev Martin of Jewell Co; MEDFORD, WHIPPLE, ECKHART...) Thanks! Carol N-M cnickmc@ponyexpress.net

Hello Listers, There is a new list at Rootsweb for KS researchers to which you may be interested in subscribing. Jackie Wilson Smith >I have started a new mailing list called >KS-ROLLCALL. It is a mailing list for anyone who just wants to post >surnames and dates in hopes of connecting with others researching the >same surnames in Kansas. > >To subscribe to this list - have your members send the word subscribe to > >KS-ROLLCALL-L-request@rootsweb.com or >KS-ROLLCALL-D-request@rootsweb.com for the digest form. > >I look forward to helping this list grow and become another tool for >those researching in Kansas. > >Kathleen Burnett >List Mom

Hi, **This message is being sent to the KSGRAHAM mailing list.** The email address that RootsWeb has for the KSGRAHAM list admin jaws64@comlinkusa.net is bouncing, so RootsWeb is looking to make contact with the list admin. Will the list admin please contact Andrew Billinghurst (billingh@rootsweb.com) so that we know that you are still maintaining this list. List members there is nothing for you to worry about and nothing for you to do, it is probably just an email problem for the person looking after the day-to-day management of this list. Thanks! Andrew Billinghurst, RootsWeb Staff billingh@rootsweb.com

Hello Graham County KS researchers.... We've added three more biographies to the Graham County KSGenWeb bio page at: http://skyways.lib.ks.us/genweb/graham/bio.html Surnames in these bios are: FRANKLIN, WYATT and McCOY. Gayle Garret is the kind soul who has donated these bios to the page. Jessie Thompson continues to donate recent obituaries from the Hill City Times to the Graham County obit page as well at: http://skyways.lib.ks.us/genweb/graham/obit.html Our best to you in your research Diana and Bill Sowers Bill & Diana Sowers 1746 Fairmont Rd, Topeka, KS 66604 - wrs@cjnetworks.com Lincoln Co KSGenWeb: http://skyways.lib.ks.us/genweb/lincoln/index.html Gove Co KSGenWeb: http://skyways.lib.ks.us/genweb/gove/index.html Graham Co KSGenWeb: http://skyways.lib.ks.us/genweb/graham/index.html Allen Co KS ALHN: http://www.usgennet.org/usa/ks/county/allen/index.html Barton Co KS ALHN: http://www.geocities.com/irus86/ Barton Co KSGenWeb: http://skyways.lib.ks.us/genweb/barton/index.html

I thought this was an interesting excerpt from RootsWeb Review, Vol. 3, No. 41 (received 10/12/00) RESPONSE TO COMMENTS ON FamilyDiscovery.com. Many of our readers have expressed concern, outrage, and frustration at the FamilyDiscovery.com site. MyFamily.com, including RootsWeb and Ancestry, is currently investigating these concerns, and will respond as appropriate under current Fair Use Copyright and Truth in Advertising laws. In the meantime, users who have their own concerns or conflicts with this site can file their own complaint directly with the Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) Bureau of Consumer Protection by visiting https://www.ftc.gov/ftc/complaint.htm The FTC has the power to investigate your concerns regarding FamilyDiscovery.com, and to take appropriate action.

I would like to invite you to visit my new website called The POORHOUSE STORY (which is a clearinghouse for information about 19th century American poorhouses) at http://www.poorhousestory.com We just added some poorhouse information from your own Graham County Historical Society (including a photograph of the old poor farm building). It always makes us really happy to find others with an interest in poorhouse history. And we appreciate their giving us permission to copy the photo and link to their site so you can see what they have been doing. For those who have not visited The POORHOUSE STORY before, DIRECTIONS: once you are at the homepage, click on POORHOUSES BY STATE, then click on OTHER STATES, then click on KANSAS when you get to the table of states. You may also enjoy some other links off the homepage; these might include HISTORY (of the poorhouse system) and LETTER TO GENEALOGISTS We depend largely upon the submissions and tips of readers to help us increase the amount of information on this website. Let's see the information for KANSAS and your county increase soon! Hope you enjoy the site! Linda Crannell (aka=The Poorhouse Lady)

Hi listers! For those of us tracing our roots, is there anything to compare to a photo? This web site is about recording "photo-stories", and I found it most interesting. Hope you all do too! http://library.thinkquest.org/C001313/fmain1.htm Jackie Wilson Smith

Dear List members, Recently I received an invitation to subscribe to FamilyDiscovery.com (original message included below). This site is rather disreputable and I'd like to explain why I say that: First, this site does not contain original data: it is in fact a "links" page to websites that contain genealogical data. Second, permission to link to those websites has NOT been obtained by at least 2 of the owners. I happen to be on 2 different mailing lists with the owners of websites that have been linked to on this page - both owners have strenuously objected to being included on this site, to no avail. The data these women provide on their pages is free to the public and feel they are giving back to the genealogy community - and object to FamilyDiscovery.com charging a fee. If you try to send an email message to the address they list (email@familydiscovery.com) it will bounce back to you. If this was a reputable site/firm, that would not happen. Folks, normally I would not take a stand against a genealogy subscription site, but in this case, I do. I do not object to people making a profit off of their own labors - but I vehemently object to them making a profit off the "gift" others have provided. Just my 2 cents. Jackie Wilson Smith >Greetings Fellow Genealogist: > >We have taken a notice of your interest in genealogy >as you have been highly >recommended to us by another genealogical publishing >company. We just wanted to let >you know you are invited to organize a successful >search for your family with one of the >best genealogical sites on the Internet . > >http://www.familydiscovery.com > >What FamilyDiscovery.com is: > >What we have for you is an online genealogy >subscription giving you access to the >#1 database of compiled genealogical information on >the internet. The Online >Subscription will help you find the family that you're >looking for faster and easier - >without spending lots of time and money. We have taken >the time and organized >thousands of databases into hundreds of category's >that make it a snap for you to find >exactly what you are looking for in under a minute. No >more searching for your family >and coming up with dead ends on the internet or on >those expensive CD-ROMS. >We've done all the searching for you. > >What type of Information will you find? > >FamilyDiscovery.com will give you all the information >you could possibly search in a >lifetime as we do add more records daily covering all >50 US States and Most >Countries Overseas including but not limited to: >Immigration Records, Census Records, Land Records >Church Records Court House >Records Cemetery Records Birth Records, Death & >Mortality Records, Marriage >Records, Military Records, Wills of Testament, >Published Genealogies & Family >Histories, Pedigrees , Vital Records and Statistics. >(Ex: Complete Mayflower Passenger List, Indian >-Cherokee 1851 Census, Virginia >Tax Records, etc.. ) > >Since we know you're into genealogy we're offering you >access to this >complete database if you join by Monday 9/25/00 for a >One Time Access fee of >ONLY $49.95 with absolutely nothing to pay EVER again, >Accept NO Substitutes! > >You'll receive your user name and password almost >immediately so you can start >searching for your family right away! > >So what are you waiting for? Stop spending lots of >time and money on >dead ends let us lead you on your journey. > >Join TODAY! >http://www.FamilyDiscovery.com > > > > >- Staff, > Email@familydiscovery.com > http://www.familydiscovery.com

Hello Graham County KS researchers.... Margaret Knecht of the Kansas State Historical Society has informed me that the Society has set up a search engine for their site. If you go to the main page: <http://www.kshs.org/>http://www.kshs.org and click on the link for HELP/INDEX/SEARCH you'll be taken to a page with a search box and instructions on the right hand side of the screen. I tried a few searches..... great tool. Bill Sowers Bill & Diana Sowers 1746 Fairmont Rd, Topeka, KS 66604 - wrs@cjnetworks.com Lincoln Co KSGenWeb page: http://skyways.lib.ks.us/genweb/lincoln/index.html Gove Co KSGenWeb page: http://skyways.lib.ks.us/genweb/gove/index.html Graham Co KSGenWeb page: http://skyways.lib.ks.us/genweb/graham/index.html Allen Co KS ALHN page: http://www.usgennet.org/usa/ks/county/allen/index.html Barton Co KS ALHN page: http://www.geocities.com/irus86/ Barton Co KSGenWeb page: http://skyways.lib.ks.us/genweb/barton/index.html

Dear list, There is a new Rootsweb mailing list you may be interested in subscribing to. At the present time, there are not corresponding bulletin boards, but they are working on developing a website. >I have started a new mailing list called >KS-Cemeteries. It is a mailing list for anyone interested in locating, >and preserving historical information about, Kansas cemeteries or >sharing information about them. > >To subscribe to this list - have your members send the word subscribe to > >KS-Cemeteries-L-request@rootsweb.com or >KS-Cemeteries-D-request@rootsweb.com for the digest form. > >I look forward to helping this list grow and become another tool for >those researching in Kansas. > >Kathleen Burnett >List Mom

Hello Graham County KS researchers.... We've added a new page to the Graham County page: Graham County Methodist congregations, 1920. The text comes from a book called A HISTORY OF METHODISM IN NORTHWEST KANSAS, published in 1920. The information taken from the book is on three congregations in the county... Morland, Bogue and Hill City. Info is pretty bare bones..... ministers who served up to 1916, building improvements, congregation sizes, financial info. For those of you interested in Methodist Church records/archives in Kansas here is an Internet site you might like to visit: kansas methodism How to Research Methodist Records and History http://history.cc.ukans.edu/heritage/um/research~1.html Good luck with your research Bill Sowers Bill & Diana Sowers 1746 Fairmont Rd, Topeka, KS 66604 - wrs@cjnetworks.com Lincoln Co KSGenWeb page: http://skyways.lib.ks.us/genweb/lincoln/index.html Gove Co KSGenWeb page: http://skyways.lib.ks.us/genweb/gove/index.html Graham Co KSGenWeb page: http://skyways.lib.ks.us/genweb/graham/index.html Allen Co KS ALHN page: http://www.usgennet.org/usa/ks/county/allen/index.html Barton Co KS ALHN page: http://www.geocities.com/irus86/ Barton Co KSGenWeb page: http://skyways.lib.ks.us/genweb/barton/index.html

Hello Graham County KS researchers.... We've added a few new things to the Graham County page: On the obituaries page: http://skyways.lib.ks.us/genweb/graham/obit.html (surnames: BALLOU, MAGEE, PUCKETT, TRAVASS, WELTY) The new marriages page: http://skyways.lib.ks.us/genweb/graham/marr.html HOOT --- DOUD, MULLANEY --- RUDMAN, MULLANEY --- CHESS Good luck with your research Bill and Diana Sowers Bill & Diana Sowers 1746 Fairmont Rd, Topeka, KS 66604 - wrs@cjnetworks.com Lincoln Co KSGenWeb page: http://skyways.lib.ks.us/genweb/lincoln/index.html Gove Co KSGenWeb page: http://skyways.lib.ks.us/genweb/gove/index.html Graham Co KSGenWeb page: http://skyways.lib.ks.us/genweb/graham/index.html Allen Co KS ALHN page: http://www.usgennet.org/usa/ks/county/allen/index.html Barton Co KS ALHN page: http://www.geocities.com/irus86/

Thought this might help someone! Jackie >Newspaper Abstracts - where we are finding our ancestors in the news! > >Over the years many records regarding our ancestors were lost or destroyed in >fires, floods and other natural disasters. Newspapers contain much >information that may not be found elsewhere such as births, marriages, >deaths, court notices, land sales, tax notices, businesses, etc. They hold >many glimpses of information in their community news and provide us with many >fascinating details about the lives of our ancestors from the businesses they >frequented to the hardships and triumphs they endured while building a new >life in a new land. > >Newspaper abstracts came online October 1999 and since that time has grown to >over 2,100 pages and 100MB of data all of which has been contributed by >volunteers. This site contains abstracts, extracts and links to newspaper >articles across the United States published prior to 1923. More volunteers >are also needed in all geographic areas - no submissions are too small or too >large! > >Visit us at: >http://www.newspaperabstracts.com/ >to see how we are finding our ancestors in the news! > >Good luck in your search, >Barbara Freeman

Hello Graham County researchers.... Can anyone help Brenda? Jackie, I would have written directly to you but our computer crashed a while back and we lost all of our email.... thus no email address for you was no longer available to me! I don't believe Brenda is subscribed to this list so you'll need to contact her directly. Thanks Bill Sowers - --------------------------------------------------------- To: wrs@cjnetworks.com Subject: Graham County I am searching for an oddity of sorts. My grandfather Arthur Mayberry had my father and mother, Bill & Elinor Mayberry drive out to Graham county looking for a gravestone. Unfortunately my grandfather and father have since passed away. My mom does not remember much about the trip other than the gravestone was right near a road that she claims is Highway 24 and the gravestone was just under the fencing along the road. She says they were near Nicodemus Ks. Please send anything that you might know about this or share with various genealogy chat groups or bulletin boards. Thanks for all your help in this matter and other genealogy work. brenda lea mayberry **************************************************************** Brenda Lea Mayberry bleam@ksu.edu Bill & Diana Sowers 1746 Fairmont Rd, Topeka, KS 66604 - wrs@cjnetworks.com Lincoln Co KSGenWeb page: http://skyways.lib.ks.us/genweb/lincoln/index.html Gove Co KSGenWeb page: http://skyways.lib.ks.us/genweb/gove/index.html Graham Co KSGenWeb page: http://skyways.lib.ks.us/genweb/graham/index.html Allen Co KS ALHN page: http://www.usgennet.org/usa/ks/county/allen/index.html Barton Co KS ALHN page: http://www.geocities.com/irus86/

Hello Graham County Kansas researchers.... I have great news. The Kansas State Historical Society has put up an online index to the 1895 Kansas state census for a portion of the state. Go to the following URL: http://hs5.kshs.org/library/cens8ks.htm This is the State Historical Society's 1895 census page. The search index appears down a bit from the top of the page. If you have a surname that might have been misspelled by the census taker (Myers, Myer, Mayer, Meier, etc) try clicking the soundex box. Counties included in the index are: all of Edwards, Ellis, Gove, Greeley, Lincoln, Mitchell, Osage, Pratt, Republic, Rush, Sedgwick, and Wallace counties, and portions of Allen, Barber, Butler, Chase, Clark, Gray, Greenwood, Jackson, Labette, Marion, Montgomery, Russell, Shawnee, Wabaunsee, and Woodson counties. (Please note that Wichita [Sedgwick County] is completed, but Topeka [Shawnee County] is available only on microfilm.) I know Graham County is not included in the index but I thought I'd mention it as some of you might have relations who were living in one of these counties in 1895. The index has been in the works for a long time but is now officially up. Hopefully it will continue to grow as volunteers add to it. If you have questions about the index you can contact the Society at: reference@kshs.org Happy hunting. Bill Bill and Diana Sowers email: wrs@cjnetworks.com Check out our genealogy pages: Lincoln County Kansas KSGenWeb Project http://skyways.lib.ks.us/genweb/lincoln/index.html Gove County Kansas KSGenWeb Project http://skyways.lib.ks.us/genweb/gove/index.html Graham County Kansas KSGenWeb Project http://skyways.lib.ks.us/genweb/graham/ Allen County Kansas ALHN http://www.usgennet.org/usa/ks/county/allen/index.html Barton County Kansas ALHN http://www.geocities.com/irus86/

Dear list, Margaret sent me this message, & I wanted to pass it along given the discussion the original posting generated: Jackie, It is interesting to know there are Kinderknechts in Graham Co. I am sure my famiy is Rinderknecht (means keeper of cattle or cowboy).My family was in Graham Co for the 1920 census and still there in 1933. Is there someone in Graham Co I could contact to do a lookup in the St Peter Cemetery for me? Joseph Rinderknect was a salesman for a farm implement company the last I knew. Margaret I found the similarity of names very interesting. Jackie

For those of you unfamiliar with Volga German history, try this web-site: http://www.webbitt.com/volga/index.htm You'll find the same surnames in Ellis Co., KS (communities of Hays, Victoria, Catherine, Munjor, Pfeifer, Walker, Liebenthal, Schoenchen to name a few) and in the St. Peter area of Graham Co. And they are usually related. Today, their unique heritage is kept alive and celebrated by such festivals as Oktoberfest in Hays and Hertzogfest in Victoria. Most of the older generation still speak with a German accent & German words riddle their vocabulary. The above mentioned site mentions the "isolationist" attitude in which the Catholic church was the center of community life, and contact with outsiders were kept to a minimum. This was true in the communities in western KS as late as the 1950's. I once knew a man who couldn't speak to his own grandmother, because she had never learned English & he didn't know German well enough to carry on a conversation. When I was in high school, a lady taught me the "trick" of spelling & pronouncing the surnames with double vowels: the long vowel you hear is the 2nd one, the 1st vowel is silent. For example Dreiling is pronounced Dry-ling, Pfeifer is Py-fer, Riedel is Ree-dle. however, there are names that have 3 vowels such as Heier (pronounced Hy-er) and Richmeier (pronounced Rich-my-er). I guess the 3rd vowel is not part of the combination.... The "KN" names such as KinderKNecht, Knoll, Knoble are pronounced with both the K and N (Kinderknecht is pronounced kinder-connect). However, Knoll friends of mine have dropped the K sound since leaving St. Peter, and simply pronounce their name Noll. Hope this helps (and didn't bore you too much) Jackie Wilson Smith >KINDERKNECHT family that settled primarily around Hays Kansas. A mention is >made of St. Peter in Graham County. The sites are at:

Hi Margaret, Given the existence of a Kinderknecht family in the same area as the Rinderknecht family you are looking for, I was thinking: If you got the name from a handwritten source, such as a census form or family bible or other document written by a family member, it might be that the "R" you saw was really a "K". They do look quite a bit alike, especially when they are printed. Just a thought. Jane ----- Original Message ----- From: "Margaret Gee (by way of Jackie & Zane Smith <jaws64@comlinkusa.net>)" <beegee@harenet.net> To: <KSGRAHAM-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Wednesday, July 26, 2000 7:47 PM Subject: [KSGRAHAM] Rinderknecht Family > Dear List Members, > I am looking for the burial place of Joseph Rinderknecht b: 1859 d:aft 1933, > Bertha Rinderknecht 1868-aft 1933, and thier children Frank b: abt 1894, > Eshter Logston b: abt 1896 and Raymond R Rinderknecht b: 23 Dec 1897. They > were in Morland, KS in 1933. Any help would be appreciated. > Margaret > > > ==== KSGRAHAM Mailing List ==== > ~-~-~-~-~-~ Graham Co. Resource Page at RootsWeb ~-~-~-~-~-~ > ~-~-~-~ http://resources.rootsweb.com/USA/KS/Graham/ ~-~-~-~ > ~-~-~- Make connections through the GenConnect Boards -~-~-~ > > ============================== > Ancestry.com now has more than 200,000 subscribers! To celebrate, > access to ALL of Ancestry.com will be free from July 18 to July 31! > http://www.ancestry.com/subscribe/freepromo.asp?sourcecode=A11AM >