Are you a Graveyard Rabbit?
Even if you’re not familiar with the term, you may be one if you spend any time in cemeteries while researching your family history.
I first became familiar with the term through blogging friend Terry Thornton, a co-founder of The Association Of Graveyard Rabbits – “an association dedicated to the academic promotion of the historical importance of cemeteries, grave markers, and the family history to be learned from a study of burial customs, burying grounds, and tombstones; and the social promotion of the study of cemeteries, the preservation of cemeteries, and the transcription of genealogical/historical information written in cemeteries.”
That’s a mouthful but anyone interested in family history can find something to identify with in that description.
The association took its name from a turn-of-the-twentieth-century poem by Frank Lebby Stanton, The Graveyard Rabbit. From the association web site: “Although the poem is about superstitions associated with graveyard rabbits, Stanton also establishes that such rabbits have a charmingly intimate knowledge of graveyards and a loving association with the dead. These traits are the motivation of the human beings interested in this group.”
Posts about cemeteries abound in the blogosphere. For example, bloggers Randy Seaver and Delia Furrer did Tombstone Tuesday posts this week. The association is worth checking out.
Blogging friend Stefani Twyford’s moving “This I Believe” essay on family history was featured on KUHF in her hometown of Houston, Texas, this week. The site also has a transcript so you can follow Stefani as she reads her essay.
Our February Passing It On newsletter is out. Send me an e-mail to receive your free copy.
Larry Lehmer is a personal historian who helps people preserve their family histories. To learn more, visit his web site, send him an e-mail or follow him on Twitter.
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