(My) New York Family Research

I visited two cemeteries to see plots of great grandparents that I never knew, surnames: Vinti and Bruno. The two cemeteries are: St John Cemetery at 90-01 Metropolitan Avenue, Middle Village, New York (location) and Calvary Cemetery, 49-02 Laurel Hill Blvd, Woodside, New York (location). Both were accessible (with a few blocks of walking by subway/train from midtown). I did take a taxi from St. John to Calvary (too far to walk).

For any cemetery visit, stop at the main office first and save yourself time if you don’t know what you are looking for. I didn’t know where to even look so a stop at the office was necessary. I found out that a typical plot (marked with a headstone) that my great grandparents have are stacked 3 high (as in coffins). In both sets of relatives, there remains space since only a husband and wife are buried there. Who inherits the plot? All living descendants. At St John, the very helpful Polly explained the whole thing to me. Makes sense. I also filed for a maintenance request because of rampant hosta plant from a neighboring plot totally obscured my relatives.

The trick at Calvary is to figure out what part of Calvary you need to go to. There is Calvary 1, 2, 3, and 4. Parts 2-4 are close, but 1 (the oldest part) is a bit far from the other two parts. Part 1 is for old, old burials. Most likely you’ll be looking in Parts 2 - 4. The main office for Calvary is in Part 2 anyway. Apparently there are 3+ million people buried there.

One question that entered my mind when looking at the aerial photo of Queens is why are there so many cemeteries? Apparently, the area is called the Cemetery Belt and there is a good reason for it. It is because of the Rural Cemetery Act passed in 1847 in New York which commercialized the burial process.

Results: success on both accounts. Both plots were located and I spent some quality time with my great grandparents on a very hot New York summer afternoon.

New York Public Library – Genealogy Section

 

We are impressed by the New York Public Library 5^th Avenue. It’s the branch with the two famous lions out front. The marble lions are called Patience and Fortitude. Today, during our visit there are two exhibitions going on. The first exhibition is: Eminent Domain: Contemporary Photography and the City (May 2 – August 29, 2008). The second is a display of a number of landmark versions of the Declaration of Independence including an autographed manuscript prepared by Thomas Jefferson in the week following the 4^th of July, 1776. His copy had underlined items that he noticed were missing from an early copy he submitted. Both exhibits are free and interesting.

The genealogy section of the New York Public Library is in Room 121. They have a variety of resources and computer access. We got a couple of leads but nothing specific to add to our existing family trees. But, if you are just starting off your genealogy quest, stop by and ask the librarians what you should be looking at. They have a handy handout sheet (below) that lists a number of resources. If even just to sit there and search the database with the free computers, it’s worth a stop in this room.

Final stop: the grand reading room. Magnificent.

 

 

Charlotte Gainsbourg – 5:55

 

The album 5:55 by Charlotte Gainsbourg is one of those albums that I keep wanting to listen to in an obsessive way that’s not always good. It happens every once in a while. It’s odd because when I first listened to this album I thought, oh it’s interesting and then put aside for a few weeks. Then I listened to it a second time and I was hooked. The combination of the music (by Air) and lyrics (by Jarvis Cocker and Neil Hannon) are perfect for Gainsbourg vocal style – a whisper. The standout tracks for me are 5:55, The Songs We Sing, Little Monsters, Jamais, Night-Time Intermission and Somewhere Between Waking and Sleeping (on the bonus CD). The whole album though, holds together as a unit, it's just that I find the mentioned tracks are the ones I'm most often humming. They were the soundtrack for my New York City visit.

 

Charlotte Gainsbourg is the daughter of the famous French musical provocateur Serge Gainsbourg.

Central Park

Central Park is impressive. We had outdated impressions of a rundown, dangerous park that people avoided. That was not the case at all. It was well-maintained, safe, and was filled with all types of people enjoying the park in various ways. We were impressed by the size of it (840+ acres), the number of activities available, the various walking, running, and biking paths, and the overall appearance.

The land for the park was purchased in 1856 and the park was officially opened in 1876. Over 125 years later, the park looks great. Credit goes to the Central Park Conservancy who over the last 25 years halted the slide of the park in the 1970s and completely turned its fortunes around.

Especially interesting to us were the large rock outcroppings of Manhattan schist. The schist bedrock layer (also called Cambrian Manhattan Formation) provides a great base to build upon. Central Park is apparently a popular site for geology field trips because the Manhattan schist crops out in so many places making studying it easy.

Metro-North Service From Grand Central to New Haven

I was curious to see how the Metro-North train service between Grand Central Terminal, New York City and New Haven, Connecticut would work. Overall, I was pleased with the experience. Pros: Economical way to travel, you can pay in a number of ways including on the train, very convenient to just leave or arrive in middle of New York City. Cons: the trains seemed a little dated and in need of a facelift inside and the travel time for just 73 miles was a bit over two hours which seems a little long.

I bought tickets at Grand Central a few minutes before the train left and was fine. On this Monday there were a lot of commuters going to work in Connecticut. However, there wasn’t a crunch on seating. Most got off in Stamford. The train arrived in New Haven a few minutes late but acceptable. More interesting would be if you wanted a connection to different city like Waterbury. The time for transfer is listed as 7 minutes and I think that’s cutting it a bit close.

Empire State Building

I went up the Empire State Building (ESB) on this beautiful and hot Sunday morning. It was quite an affair. First there was a snaking line with tour operators yelling at me trying to sell a tour package, then I got ESB staff yelling about security checks and buying their merchandise (this circular map they were touting – see photo). When I reached the ticket booth I had a menu of options to choose from. If you want the full meal deal (which I did) for one person, it’s $46. That includes access to 86th floor observation deck (open), the 102nd floor observation deck (small and enclosed, usually not crowded), the audio guide, and the circular map to help decipher the surrounding landmarks.

After buying my ticket, the line passed through different passage ways, through gift shops, past places to eat, a place where they take my picture (which I could buy later) and finally I got to the elevator (about 45 minutes after starting). Whew. The elevator only took us up to the 80th floor. At that point I could wait for a second elevator (slow) or walk up the six flights. I think they are revising the experience, so maybe I got an experience that is temporary. Whatever the case, it was a bit convoluted.

Finally, after reaching the 86th floor, I went outside. It was worth the obtuse path to the top. What a view. You can easily spend an hour or more marveling at the view.

When I was done with this floor, I took another elevator to reach the 102nd floor observation deck. To tell the truth the 102nd floor observation deck wasn’t really worth it. Stick with the 86th floor and save a little money. So you are a little higher on the 102nd floor, but looking through thick and not very clean windows wasn’t that interesting. The audio guide was worth it, but I like audio guides. The circular map? Depends if you are into maps. There are interpretive signs at every compass point and plenty of people around who will know what is what. (I am into maps, so I bought one but didn’t open it until days later.)

If you can’t see the ESB because of all the other buildings as you are walking toward it (and it can happen), the main entrance is on 5th Avenue between 33rd and 34th Streets (location).