Historic Old city cemetery now has protectors
brenda kellow
october 12, 2014
The Plano Old City Cemetery Association (POCCA) is the new kid on the block, protecting the grounds and monuments, and identifying as many unmarked graves as possible! It will operate under the laws of the State of Texas 501 (c) (13) cemetery association requirements. It is a non-profit, non-perpetual care association founded by descendants of those buried within its boundaries and other interested parties.
The Mission is to preserve, restore and protect the three acres, gravesites, monuments and other appurtenances within the Plano Old city Cemetery located at 12th and H Streets in Plano. Any person who supports the mission of the Association is eligible for membership, which is by application and payment of dues.
It operated as a cemetery prior to 1848 after Joseph K. Klepper obtained his Peters Colony land grant and designated a portion of the property as a cemetery. The early plots were given to family or those in need but were later sold after 1882. They deeded a portion of the cemetery to the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1874.
The year1881 is the earliest death date recorded on tombstones in the cemetery. These belong to the Peter’s Colonists Samuel A. Peters, William J. Young, A. J. Barron, Sarah E. Barron, George T. Wright and Edna Byers and many others. There are other prominent pioneers, physicians, a mayor and a council member, and many African American Community Leaders and their relatives. For more on the history of this cemetery and a listing of those known burials, please visit http://files.usgwarchives.net/tx/collin/cemeteries/oldplano.txt.
If you have relatives buried in the cemetery, or if you know of those buried there, please contact POCCA.
You can join the Cemetery Association by sending your application information and check to Plano Old city Cemetery Association, P.O. Box 861673, Plano, Texas 75086-1673. The dues are $25 for individuals and $40 for a family membership.
THE TOES KNOWS: This test using your toe configuration to define your ancestry is definitely fun, but I will not speculate on its accuracy. Bunions and hammertoes may disfigure your toes as you age, but try to remember what your toes looked like when you were younger. Go to the MyHeritage link, http://blog.myheritage.com/2014/09/discovering-ancestry-through-our-toes/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MyheritageBlog+%28MyHeritage+Blog%29 to determine your ancestry. See how many of your family members have the same toe arrangement.
USE CENSUS TOOL TO CHECK KNOWN ADDRESSES: This is an old tool but still useful to find a town or find where ancestors lived in 1940 and earlier. It is not digitized and it is hard to search, but you can learn a lot by using it. After all, genealogists are determined. There are several sites to check. To get the facts on Plano, Texas, I searched at http://censusreporter.org/ and found a few facts I did not know. I found the story of Plano at http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/town-story-heres-census-data-can-help-see. At Census Tools, http://censustools.com, I found genealogy spreadsheets for archive census cemetery and manifest data.
FGS AND ROOTS TECH TOGETHER AT CONFERENCE IN SALT LAKE: The Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS) and RootsTech are teaming up for a one-time special genealogy conference on February 11-14 in Salt Lake City. You have the choice of attending either or both conferences under one roof at the Salt Lake Palace Convention Center. FGS will focus on methodology records, ethnic research, and migration of ancestors. RootsTech focuses on technology-based solutions for the genealogy groups and individuals. To register go to the convention website at www.FGSconference.org, or to find more conference information.
DO YOU HAVE DROOPY EYELIDS? I just read an article using the theory that French Canadians of the province of Quebec, the Bukharan (Central Asian) Jewish population of Israel, and Hispanics living in New Mexico may have inherited a trait that makes your eyelids droopy and makes swallowing difficult. It is more common in this group than the general population. You can read more on this on the Genetics Home Reference site, http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition/oculopharyngeal-muscular-dystrophy.
Brenda Kellow has a bachelor's degree in history, teaches, and lectures on genealogy. Before retiring to publish her family’s histories in 2007, Brenda held certification as a Certified Genealogist and as a Certified Genealogical Instructor. Send reunion announcements, books to review, and genealogy queries to: [email protected].
