Some tough nuts to crack, cracked by a cracked nut who got through them with a little help (or sometimes a lot) from friends and correspondents:


John Augustus Baum (1840-1842)
Oakwood Cemetery, Troy, New York
Dates legible, but names chiseled off completely. It actually proved possible to determine with a reasonable degree of certainty why it was that the names had been chiseled away.
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=102227281

Frederick Biehler (1853-1889)
Fisher Cemetery (St. Matthew Lutheran Cemetery), Bethlehem, New York
An obituary used a name for this Albany patrolman's cemetery that's a name nobody today knew at all; once identified, extant church records were crucial for confirmation. Killed in the line of duty, yet his name isn't included on the NYS Police Officers Memorial as it should be; only the Albany Police can submit his name, yet the Chief evidently doesn't care to do so.
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=105016630

Joel Covington, Sr (1830-1911)
Hebron Cemetery, Clio, South Carolina
It's not every day one can fulfill a photo request for a picture of the person (rather than of the headstone) with a picture of the person standing by his own headstone.
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=pv&GRid=35582962&PIpi=90462806

James Harty (1835-1853) A headstone, most of the inscription crumbled away to dust, though with "Lafayette Engine Co. No. X" still showing. It still proved possible to identify the deceased even without a legible name or date. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=116765809

Millie Levy (1887-1888)
Beth Emeth Cemetery, Bethlehem, New York
A name only inscribed; no dates. It turned out she's the granddaughter of a Rabbi.
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=101854871

Emil "Soup Greens" Siefert (d. 1896)
Evergreens Cemetery, Brooklyn, NY
Allegedly his grave is marked just by parsley! If it's unmarked today, see if you can plant some soup greens for him?
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=104324286

Charles Smith (1821-1875)
Beth Emeth Cemetery, Bethlehem, New York
Almost entirely illegible due to wear, discoloration, and biological growths; the headstone was identified in large part by process of elimination with reference to past transcriptions.
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=101413721

Helen Lowray Snow (1842-1845) http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=102774270. The photo and linked story are both poetically apropos, I hope.

Laura Wise (1847-1849)
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=103839199 No recognizable headstone, location of grave unknown, no burial records. Cracked - but not quite solved.


Does NYS Governor Frank Swett Black (1843-1913) have no monument at all?

Where are headstones or monuments (if any) for Cornelius Jacobsen May, Willem Verhulst, Peter Minuit, Sebastiaen Jansen Krol, Wouter van Twiller, Willem Kieft, Francis Lovelace, Anthony Colve, Edmund Andros, Anthony Brockholls, Thomas Dongan, Francis Nicholson, Jacob Sloughter, Richard Ingoldesby, Benjamin Fletcher, Richard Coote, John Nanfan, Edward Hyde, John Lovelace, Gerardus Beekman, Robert Hunter, William Burnet, John Montgomerie, Rip Van Dam, William Cosby, George Clinton, Danvers Osborn, Henry Moore, James Robertson, and Andrew Elliot?

Some tough nuts to crack, cracked by a cracked nut who got through them with a little help (or sometimes a lot) from friends and correspondents:


John Augustus Baum (1840-1842)
Oakwood Cemetery, Troy, New York
Dates legible, but names chiseled off completely. It actually proved possible to determine with a reasonable degree of certainty why it was that the names had been chiseled away.
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=102227281

Frederick Biehler (1853-1889)
Fisher Cemetery (St. Matthew Lutheran Cemetery), Bethlehem, New York
An obituary used a name for this Albany patrolman's cemetery that's a name nobody today knew at all; once identified, extant church records were crucial for confirmation. Killed in the line of duty, yet his name isn't included on the NYS Police Officers Memorial as it should be; only the Albany Police can submit his name, yet the Chief evidently doesn't care to do so.
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=105016630

Joel Covington, Sr (1830-1911)
Hebron Cemetery, Clio, South Carolina
It's not every day one can fulfill a photo request for a picture of the person (rather than of the headstone) with a picture of the person standing by his own headstone.
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=pv&GRid=35582962&PIpi=90462806

James Harty (1835-1853) A headstone, most of the inscription crumbled away to dust, though with "Lafayette Engine Co. No. X" still showing. It still proved possible to identify the deceased even without a legible name or date. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=116765809

Millie Levy (1887-1888)
Beth Emeth Cemetery, Bethlehem, New York
A name only inscribed; no dates. It turned out she's the granddaughter of a Rabbi.
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=101854871

Emil "Soup Greens" Siefert (d. 1896)
Evergreens Cemetery, Brooklyn, NY
Allegedly his grave is marked just by parsley! If it's unmarked today, see if you can plant some soup greens for him?
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=104324286

Charles Smith (1821-1875)
Beth Emeth Cemetery, Bethlehem, New York
Almost entirely illegible due to wear, discoloration, and biological growths; the headstone was identified in large part by process of elimination with reference to past transcriptions.
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=101413721

Helen Lowray Snow (1842-1845) http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=102774270. The photo and linked story are both poetically apropos, I hope.

Laura Wise (1847-1849)
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=103839199 No recognizable headstone, location of grave unknown, no burial records. Cracked - but not quite solved.


Does NYS Governor Frank Swett Black (1843-1913) have no monument at all?

Where are headstones or monuments (if any) for Cornelius Jacobsen May, Willem Verhulst, Peter Minuit, Sebastiaen Jansen Krol, Wouter van Twiller, Willem Kieft, Francis Lovelace, Anthony Colve, Edmund Andros, Anthony Brockholls, Thomas Dongan, Francis Nicholson, Jacob Sloughter, Richard Ingoldesby, Benjamin Fletcher, Richard Coote, John Nanfan, Edward Hyde, John Lovelace, Gerardus Beekman, Robert Hunter, William Burnet, John Montgomerie, Rip Van Dam, William Cosby, George Clinton, Danvers Osborn, Henry Moore, James Robertson, and Andrew Elliot?