Update - 1 December 2022 -

Join me while I celebrate over 55 years of researching my families history & 25 + years in helping so many strangers who we now call friends , in discovering their own families stories !!! YEA !!!

Please note: Any negative comments submitted will be forwarded to Find A Grave. This includes all "snide degrading remarks" directed at me via all ways of communication.
I'm not yelling - the font is solely for emphasis !
NO EDITS WILL BE MADE WITHOUT SOURCES.
ALL SUGGESTED EDITS MUST BE ACCOMPANIED BY ACCURATE VIEWABLE SOURCES - ANYONE WISHING TO SEE THEIR EDITS APPROVED CAN ADD A COPY OF THE DOCUMENT TO THE MEMORIAL OR BY SENDING ME A COPY OF THE SOURCES VIA EMAIL OR BY INCLUDING A WRITTEN SOURCE CITATION VIA YOUR SUGGESTED EDIT - REFUSING TO SHARE YOUR SOURCES WILL RESULT IN YOUR EDITS BEING DENIED . Dropping short notes to me via "suggest another correction" - making suggested statements without anything to back up your information along with no contact information back to you means - I will delete your message - It's fairly easy - If you have the time to send me a message - send your sources too !! Thank You !!

"Trust is earned - it's not an entitlement" .

Some May Wonder...Who Am I ?
~ I started these journeys at a very young age; visiting the cemeteries in New York and Pennsylvania with my Grandparents Jack and Anna Hampson Burns ;where my ancestors and relatives were buried . They both instilled in me the importance of remembering my past and the lives of those who came before us.
~ My Maternal family lines have lived in Pennsylvania since 1870, when my Great Great Grandfather Roger Hampson immigrated here from Lancashire County, England. The New York branches, the Flinn's arrived there as early as 1848 from England and Ireland.
~ My Paternal line arrived in the U.S.A aboard the "Charming Nancy " in 1737 carrying my 7th Great Grandfather , Hans "Jacob" Schumacher and members of his family. The family would be among the 1st settlers in the wild lands of Northampton and Lehigh county plus a number of sons and grandsons would later become Revolutionary War soldiers .
One grandson served with General George Washington ,while his forces were camped at Valley Forge and sadly perished there during the horrible winter of 1777-1778.

~ After the great age of using only pen ,paper, stamps and far away libraries to do research work , along came the INTERNET ! I started working online as a local volunteer with the original "Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness/RAOGK" website operated by Doc and Bridget Schneider, working with them for over 10 yrs until the site ceased operations. I've continued as a volunteer researcher, contributor, Cemetery Transcriber on Rootsweb ,Pa-Roots and the USGenWeb Project in Pennsylvania. With over 55 years experience as a genealogical history researcher; creating memorials here on FindAGrave is a wonderful opportunity . To me this isn't a race, It's a quest to create accurate, useful meaningful memorials for those who have gone before us , for all who find them here. I've been honored to work here with many really wonderful people ; I will continue to share these memorials with their rightful family members and with my various cousins.

Keep In Mind...
~ The rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated - Although SERIOUSLY - I've been very busy keeping ,over the last few years, my own real loved ones from dying !

~ I don't chase the obituaries of the recently deceased-except when it involves my own family members or close family friends.
Some of the memorials that I currently manage were transferred to me by retired Gravers and from the accounts of Gravers who have passed on to the great beyond.

So with these thoughts in mind...please ,remember these -
~ 1st- "Genealogy Without Documentation is Mythology" and "If You Can't or Won't Prove It ,Don't Claim It As Fact ".
My Grandmas favorite saying , "Please and Thank You, Opens Many Unexpected Doors".

~ 2nd- A word of advice from this memorial manager-Always check, double check and recheck all research which is presented to you by everyone. Never take anyone's research as being 100% factual without reviewing the information for yourself . Take all offerings of additional information with thanks and always verify with supported documentation from multiple sources and list your sources.

~ 3rd- I respectfully request that anyone posting family photos, birth records, death records, marriage records and obituaries to memorials that I manage , PLEASE use the caption area for those photos & records to cite the full and complete source citation - for example: You decide to post a family photograph - type the persons full name ;the location where the photo was taken and the estimated date that the original photo was taken-keep in mind ,if your photo comes from your personal photo collection and if you don't want to see it later someplace else on the internet...don't post it to a public memorial. Please - do not post photos that don't belong to you personally...so, what if you borrowed it or "lifted" a persons photo from someone's family tree...don't post it on a memorial that I manage unless you have explicit written permission from the photo owner to use that photo anyway you choose to use it. In doing so, you will also risk getting coached and /or banned from the site for violating copyright rules . A proper source citation for a birth or death certificate would be ,for example- Pennsylvania Death Certificate Number -XXXX; Department of Vital Records; Harrisburg ,PA. not a Ancestry .com or FamilySearch /LDS . If you have an obituary for a person ,I will accept photos when the name of the newspaper ;the town, county, state it was published and the date it was published. As of today, obituaries that were published BEFORE 1927 fall in the Public Domain and are no longer under copyright laws and can be used freely by all. All obituaries published AFTER 1927 must be transcribed for inclusion in a memorial biography minus all information pertaining to any living person named in that obituary ,except for surviving spouses. If you don't want to transcribe a copyright protected obituary-email it to me and I will gladly do the work for you and credit you for sharing the information.
So ,the bottom line with this is...
I will not do any updates that are requested if I can't verify them. I may also ask for proof of that edit. If you have a problem with sending proof then the edit will be declined. There are so many people trying to add what they think is correct when it is not. Accuracy is key and it needs to be proven.

~ 4th - Now if you feel you are better than everyone else and following my requests and the guidelines of this web site ,is beneath you...don't bother posting your photos and documents...keep in mind-if you send edits without the proper necessary source citations...your edits could be denied ! This also refers back to the " snide remarks" I commented on earlier and mentioned below. THANK YOU for targeting me - doing so means you are not harming someone who can't defend themselves against your sour ,snobby, mean attacks ! Yes, thank you very much !!

~ 5th - Please refer back to what I wrote earlier - Keep In Mind...
SERIOUSLY - I've been very busy keeping my own real loved ones from dying ! So, SORRY ,I really refuse to take any crap from certain pompous a$$holes who do nothing but lie and cheat their way thru OUR LIVES - Kudos to that guy from Dauphin County PA - YOU ARE NOTHING BUT A BIG BULLY - Many of us have had you pegged for YEARS - you aren't fooling anyone !

~ 6th - For the folks who use this site and continue to share the information they find freely with everyone THANK YOU ; YOU have the never ending gratitude of 1000s of researchers who use this site on a daily basis. I think playing together nicely in the genealogy sandbox takes into account spotlighting the good work others are doing. Remember the active members of this site are volunteers for entries and photo requests. They spend their time and their money to do this out of a shared passion for family history ; we do this freely in order to memorialize those who have gone before us - many memorials are for family members , our friends and total strangers ; created here in a lovely ,honorable and respectable way.

~ 7th - BEWARE of transcriptions seen published or online-Many innocent mistakes have been found in many popular published works...I've walked these cemeteries & I have verified most against actual burial records and other multiple sources.

~ 8th - IT'S 1st COME 1st SERVED REGARDING ALL TRANSFER REQUESTS - Explain your complete relationship and we'll go from there. Keep in mind, simply stating that someone is in your "family tree" doesn't entitle you to anything - no matter what you say - you can't own every dead persons memorial in the country. You can create a Virtual Cemetery to gather everyone you'd like together in one happy place :D

~ 9th - I follow FindAGrave's updated 2021 Required Transfer List, which can be found on the web site under HELP and "Transfers".
Noting - I will not transfer memorials for folks who are related to my own family lines.

~ 10th -The Flower Token option is for saying things like "I loved you", "We Miss You" or honoring military services ,it's not for OBIT or EDITS to memorials ,it's just as easy to send me the Edit and then add a Flower !

~ 11th - If I have made a mistake...remember I'm human too... or you would like me to add something please let me know through the edit tab for that memorial - don't forget to include your valid sources !!
Any rude or condescending attitudes and remarks will immediately be reported to the web sites administration team - just be polite all the time - it makes all our lives so much easier :D

Remember...Sources, citations, friendly conversations and discussions are always welcome! If you can't be Friendly and/or if you act like a pompous idiot...don't bother me or anyone else for that matter and go away .... FindAGrave is a friendly community !
THANK YOU to all my followers and even those members who lurk behind me watching after every single step I take... it's sort of heartwarming to know that some folks prefer to use their laser scope while I'd prefer just a simple - "Thanks".
~~~~~~
Philippians 2:3 & 4
"Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind let each of you regard one another as more important than himself; do not merely look out for your own personal interest, but also for the interest of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ."

Need local help...email me!
I LIVE in JEFFERSON COUNTY TOO!
I'm here to help in any way I can.

LOCAL CEMETERY UPDATES

CALVARY CEMETERY ~ PUNXSUTAWNEY
As of July 2012, all 9 sections have been fully photographed and uploaded to the cemetery database. There are 1000s of unmarked burials there. Additional work is being conducted to identify those burials.

CIRCLE HILL CEMETERY
A full photo survey was COMPLETED in Oct 2010.
There are 1000s of unmarked burials there and additional work is being conducted to identify these burials.

Be Safe - Stay well and Happy Hunting Everyone !!

Update - 1 December 2022 -

Join me while I celebrate over 55 years of researching my families history & 25 + years in helping so many strangers who we now call friends , in discovering their own families stories !!! YEA !!!

Please note: Any negative comments submitted will be forwarded to Find A Grave. This includes all "snide degrading remarks" directed at me via all ways of communication.
I'm not yelling - the font is solely for emphasis !
NO EDITS WILL BE MADE WITHOUT SOURCES.
ALL SUGGESTED EDITS MUST BE ACCOMPANIED BY ACCURATE VIEWABLE SOURCES - ANYONE WISHING TO SEE THEIR EDITS APPROVED CAN ADD A COPY OF THE DOCUMENT TO THE MEMORIAL OR BY SENDING ME A COPY OF THE SOURCES VIA EMAIL OR BY INCLUDING A WRITTEN SOURCE CITATION VIA YOUR SUGGESTED EDIT - REFUSING TO SHARE YOUR SOURCES WILL RESULT IN YOUR EDITS BEING DENIED . Dropping short notes to me via "suggest another correction" - making suggested statements without anything to back up your information along with no contact information back to you means - I will delete your message - It's fairly easy - If you have the time to send me a message - send your sources too !! Thank You !!

"Trust is earned - it's not an entitlement" .

Some May Wonder...Who Am I ?
~ I started these journeys at a very young age; visiting the cemeteries in New York and Pennsylvania with my Grandparents Jack and Anna Hampson Burns ;where my ancestors and relatives were buried . They both instilled in me the importance of remembering my past and the lives of those who came before us.
~ My Maternal family lines have lived in Pennsylvania since 1870, when my Great Great Grandfather Roger Hampson immigrated here from Lancashire County, England. The New York branches, the Flinn's arrived there as early as 1848 from England and Ireland.
~ My Paternal line arrived in the U.S.A aboard the "Charming Nancy " in 1737 carrying my 7th Great Grandfather , Hans "Jacob" Schumacher and members of his family. The family would be among the 1st settlers in the wild lands of Northampton and Lehigh county plus a number of sons and grandsons would later become Revolutionary War soldiers .
One grandson served with General George Washington ,while his forces were camped at Valley Forge and sadly perished there during the horrible winter of 1777-1778.

~ After the great age of using only pen ,paper, stamps and far away libraries to do research work , along came the INTERNET ! I started working online as a local volunteer with the original "Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness/RAOGK" website operated by Doc and Bridget Schneider, working with them for over 10 yrs until the site ceased operations. I've continued as a volunteer researcher, contributor, Cemetery Transcriber on Rootsweb ,Pa-Roots and the USGenWeb Project in Pennsylvania. With over 55 years experience as a genealogical history researcher; creating memorials here on FindAGrave is a wonderful opportunity . To me this isn't a race, It's a quest to create accurate, useful meaningful memorials for those who have gone before us , for all who find them here. I've been honored to work here with many really wonderful people ; I will continue to share these memorials with their rightful family members and with my various cousins.

Keep In Mind...
~ The rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated - Although SERIOUSLY - I've been very busy keeping ,over the last few years, my own real loved ones from dying !

~ I don't chase the obituaries of the recently deceased-except when it involves my own family members or close family friends.
Some of the memorials that I currently manage were transferred to me by retired Gravers and from the accounts of Gravers who have passed on to the great beyond.

So with these thoughts in mind...please ,remember these -
~ 1st- "Genealogy Without Documentation is Mythology" and "If You Can't or Won't Prove It ,Don't Claim It As Fact ".
My Grandmas favorite saying , "Please and Thank You, Opens Many Unexpected Doors".

~ 2nd- A word of advice from this memorial manager-Always check, double check and recheck all research which is presented to you by everyone. Never take anyone's research as being 100% factual without reviewing the information for yourself . Take all offerings of additional information with thanks and always verify with supported documentation from multiple sources and list your sources.

~ 3rd- I respectfully request that anyone posting family photos, birth records, death records, marriage records and obituaries to memorials that I manage , PLEASE use the caption area for those photos & records to cite the full and complete source citation - for example: You decide to post a family photograph - type the persons full name ;the location where the photo was taken and the estimated date that the original photo was taken-keep in mind ,if your photo comes from your personal photo collection and if you don't want to see it later someplace else on the internet...don't post it to a public memorial. Please - do not post photos that don't belong to you personally...so, what if you borrowed it or "lifted" a persons photo from someone's family tree...don't post it on a memorial that I manage unless you have explicit written permission from the photo owner to use that photo anyway you choose to use it. In doing so, you will also risk getting coached and /or banned from the site for violating copyright rules . A proper source citation for a birth or death certificate would be ,for example- Pennsylvania Death Certificate Number -XXXX; Department of Vital Records; Harrisburg ,PA. not a Ancestry .com or FamilySearch /LDS . If you have an obituary for a person ,I will accept photos when the name of the newspaper ;the town, county, state it was published and the date it was published. As of today, obituaries that were published BEFORE 1927 fall in the Public Domain and are no longer under copyright laws and can be used freely by all. All obituaries published AFTER 1927 must be transcribed for inclusion in a memorial biography minus all information pertaining to any living person named in that obituary ,except for surviving spouses. If you don't want to transcribe a copyright protected obituary-email it to me and I will gladly do the work for you and credit you for sharing the information.
So ,the bottom line with this is...
I will not do any updates that are requested if I can't verify them. I may also ask for proof of that edit. If you have a problem with sending proof then the edit will be declined. There are so many people trying to add what they think is correct when it is not. Accuracy is key and it needs to be proven.

~ 4th - Now if you feel you are better than everyone else and following my requests and the guidelines of this web site ,is beneath you...don't bother posting your photos and documents...keep in mind-if you send edits without the proper necessary source citations...your edits could be denied ! This also refers back to the " snide remarks" I commented on earlier and mentioned below. THANK YOU for targeting me - doing so means you are not harming someone who can't defend themselves against your sour ,snobby, mean attacks ! Yes, thank you very much !!

~ 5th - Please refer back to what I wrote earlier - Keep In Mind...
SERIOUSLY - I've been very busy keeping my own real loved ones from dying ! So, SORRY ,I really refuse to take any crap from certain pompous a$$holes who do nothing but lie and cheat their way thru OUR LIVES - Kudos to that guy from Dauphin County PA - YOU ARE NOTHING BUT A BIG BULLY - Many of us have had you pegged for YEARS - you aren't fooling anyone !

~ 6th - For the folks who use this site and continue to share the information they find freely with everyone THANK YOU ; YOU have the never ending gratitude of 1000s of researchers who use this site on a daily basis. I think playing together nicely in the genealogy sandbox takes into account spotlighting the good work others are doing. Remember the active members of this site are volunteers for entries and photo requests. They spend their time and their money to do this out of a shared passion for family history ; we do this freely in order to memorialize those who have gone before us - many memorials are for family members , our friends and total strangers ; created here in a lovely ,honorable and respectable way.

~ 7th - BEWARE of transcriptions seen published or online-Many innocent mistakes have been found in many popular published works...I've walked these cemeteries & I have verified most against actual burial records and other multiple sources.

~ 8th - IT'S 1st COME 1st SERVED REGARDING ALL TRANSFER REQUESTS - Explain your complete relationship and we'll go from there. Keep in mind, simply stating that someone is in your "family tree" doesn't entitle you to anything - no matter what you say - you can't own every dead persons memorial in the country. You can create a Virtual Cemetery to gather everyone you'd like together in one happy place :D

~ 9th - I follow FindAGrave's updated 2021 Required Transfer List, which can be found on the web site under HELP and "Transfers".
Noting - I will not transfer memorials for folks who are related to my own family lines.

~ 10th -The Flower Token option is for saying things like "I loved you", "We Miss You" or honoring military services ,it's not for OBIT or EDITS to memorials ,it's just as easy to send me the Edit and then add a Flower !

~ 11th - If I have made a mistake...remember I'm human too... or you would like me to add something please let me know through the edit tab for that memorial - don't forget to include your valid sources !!
Any rude or condescending attitudes and remarks will immediately be reported to the web sites administration team - just be polite all the time - it makes all our lives so much easier :D

Remember...Sources, citations, friendly conversations and discussions are always welcome! If you can't be Friendly and/or if you act like a pompous idiot...don't bother me or anyone else for that matter and go away .... FindAGrave is a friendly community !
THANK YOU to all my followers and even those members who lurk behind me watching after every single step I take... it's sort of heartwarming to know that some folks prefer to use their laser scope while I'd prefer just a simple - "Thanks".
~~~~~~
Philippians 2:3 & 4
"Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind let each of you regard one another as more important than himself; do not merely look out for your own personal interest, but also for the interest of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ."

Need local help...email me!
I LIVE in JEFFERSON COUNTY TOO!
I'm here to help in any way I can.

LOCAL CEMETERY UPDATES

CALVARY CEMETERY ~ PUNXSUTAWNEY
As of July 2012, all 9 sections have been fully photographed and uploaded to the cemetery database. There are 1000s of unmarked burials there. Additional work is being conducted to identify those burials.

CIRCLE HILL CEMETERY
A full photo survey was COMPLETED in Oct 2010.
There are 1000s of unmarked burials there and additional work is being conducted to identify these burials.

Be Safe - Stay well and Happy Hunting Everyone !!