Be Sure to Visit my new 1900 Galveston Storm Website at: http://freepages.genealogy.rootseb.com/~barnette 

A REALLY UNIQUE MUSEUM IN HOUSTON

 There is a saying goes that "nothing is sure in life except taxes and dying". Well, with that saying in mind, Houston is home for a really unique museum. Established in 1992 the National Museum of Funeral History is located at 415 Barren Springs Drive near the Airtex exit of I-45. It houses some dynamically unique national treasures and contains the largest display of funeral service memorabilia in the nation. Anyone interested in history, particularly American history, or family history should visit this 20,000 square foot museum.

 The museum is open Monday through Friday from 10 A.M. to 4 P.M. and Saturday and Sunday from Noon to 4 P.M. Admission for children 3-12 is $3, adults is $6 and adults over age 54 is $5. Group rates and tours are available. The museum may be contacted by telephone at 281-876-3063 or just visit their website at http://www.nmfh.org/ .

 Today death is hidden from view, not discussed and barely acknowledged. In the past it was everywhere. Most people died in their own bed in their own home with their loving family and friends surrounding them. This museum depicts the cultural ways and manners with which Americans have encountered death through the years.

 Prior to the Civil War few people were embalmed. When they were it was for sanitary reasons. During the Civil War, however, Dr Thomas Holmes, known as the father of modern embalming and a cadre of other medical professionals began commercially embalming soldiers who died far from home in field hospitals. Once embalmed the bodies of the soldiers could be returned home and buried in the family plot. In our time nealy everyone is embalmed. A display at the museum replicates Dr. Holmes' field embalming facility which would have been near a battlefield hospital.

 Other displays in the museum include 19th Century mourning clothes, mourning jewelry and a 19th Century Victorian mourning room. There is a vast array of actual antique horsedrawn and motorized hearses, flower cars, funeral sleighs, mourning coaches and funeral buses.

 There is a Presidential memorabilia exhibit which includes items from the funerals of several Presidents including George Washington and Lyndon Johnson plus the original Eternal Flame that burned at John F Kennedy's grave from his death until 1998.

 A collection of ornately crafted American and European antique coffins and caskets dating from before the Civil War are prominently displayed. There is a full sized replica of King Tut's Sarcophagus plus the largest collection of Ghanaian  coffins outside Africa. These colorful and unique Ghanaian coffins are made in the shape of animals, crabs, fish, cars, planes, boats and anything else imaginable.

FIND A GRAVE

 A fun website to visit is Find A Grave at http://www.findagrave.com/ On this website one may search a database for a famous or non-famous person and the website will tell where that person is buried.

 The Findagrave database searches by the name of the person sought, their birth or death date, by location or by their claim to fame, infamy or fortune. For each person there is a short biographical write-up which includes the person's name, birth and death dates, cause of death and place of burial. Often the burial location includes the burial lot, space number and GPS location.

 From a biographical sketch the searcher may link to the cemetery or to the city, county or state where the cemetery is located and search the names of all persons buried in that location. The database lists 534 persons buried in Texas and 50 in Houston and Harris County.

THE POLITICAL GRAVEYARD

 Another morbidly fun website with an historical slant is Lawrence Kestenbaum's Political Graveyard at http://www.politicalgraveyard.com .

 Like FindaGrave, the Political Graveyard is a database of locations of graves of upwards of 81,279 dead politicians, judges, diplomats and the sort.

 The site can be searched in alphabetical order, by office held or sought, by date or year of birth or death, by state or county of birth or death and by leading political families. It may also be searched by cemetery name or by state or county where the cemetery is located.

NEWS FROM THE BOOKSHELF

 Oklahoma and Houston resident Dale Talkington has published a book that will pique the interest of anyone interested in Union soldiers or sailors  buried in Oklahoma. His book, The Long Blue Line: Civil War Union Soldiers and Sailors Buried in Oklahoma, is available from the author for $81.20, postpaid. His address is 10119 Olympia Drive, Houston, TX 77042.

 The book is a collection of data on more than 8,600 Civil war soldiers and sailors buried in Oklahoma. Each veteran is listed alphabetically by surname then by given name. Included for each soldier or sailor is his name, rank, unit, birthdate and place, his date and city or location of death, his age at death, his place of death and city and cemetery of burial.

 In addition to information about each veteran, Talkington has included  biographical information he may have collected on the veteran's spouse and/or children. Included for family members are their date and place of marriage, birth and death.

 There is an index at the end of the book to military units. With the use of the unit index one may locate the names of others who served in a particular military unit.