Tree Dwellers?

Was there ever a more perfect day than Halloween for a cemetery shot? This photo was forwarded to Ancestry magazine by Ancestry.com subscriber, Lisbeth Schoenfeld Rogers. “I was visiting my sister in New York and I took a drive to the cemetery in Orange [New Jersey] because I have ancestors buried there by the name of Jones. When I saw the tree growing around the headstones I thought to myself that these people really want to be part of a tree. I’ll look them up on Ancestry.com when I get home and find out whose tree they belong to,” says Lisbeth.  

Putting on her family historian hat, Lisbeth took the following notes:

Cemetery: Old Burying Ground at the First Presbyterian Church of Orange, New Jersey

Names and dates on tombstones (L-R): Ebenezer Canfield, b. 1712, d.; 1785; Deborah, wife of Ebenezer Canfield, b. 1716, d. 1791; Ebenezer Canfield, b. 1761, d. 1831.

Lisbeth, who has been tracing her own family tree for two years, was able to find a family tree for the Canfields at Ancestry.com. With a stroke of good luck and some savvy research, she also found a connection between the Canfields and her own tree: Ebenezer’s grandmother Sarah Ward shows up in both.

Think you have a photo that tops Lisbeth’s or one that takes family history in a whole new direction? I’d love to see it. You can forward it to me directly at jcroasmun@ancestrymagazine.com. And if you’d rather look at photos than take them, be sure to check out the latest issue of Ancestry magazine—our Backstory for this issue shows commanders of the 17th Bomb Squadron receiving the Croix de Guerre in World War II.

About Jeanie Croasmun

Jeanie Croasmun has been working at Ancestry.com while futilely attempting to prove the horse thief story in her family history for over seven years. During that time, she learned enough about her family to determine that the story is likely a great work of fiction. But the search continues ...