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Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Found via the new Mocavo Website for Tombstone Tuesday

I thought I had looked everywhere on the web for the Dominis family, especially for references to two little Dominis girls who died in Schenectady, New York. I knew they were buried there, and I had planned to someday take a road trip to Schenectady, New York to photograph and see the gravesite for myself. The local Schenectady Historical Society gave me only vague information on this cemetery and burial. But via the new Mocavo genealogy website I found a photograph of the grave of one of Captain John and Mary Dominis's daughters.

Mary Elizabeth (1825 - 1838) and Frances Ann Dominis (1829-1842) died in Schenectady whilst their parents were residing in Honolulu, Hawaii. They were under the care of the Yates family, and attending a boarding school. Mrs. Dominis took a voyage to New York and Boston in 1841 - 1842, but apparently arrived too late to see her last surviving daughter alive. It is unknown what the little girls died from. They are both buried in the Yates family plot at the Vale Cemetery.

MARY ELIZABETH DOMINIS
Daughter of
CAPT. JOHN AND MRS DOMINIS
Of Boston Mass
Entered into rest May 9th, 1838
Believing in the Lord Jesus
In the 13th year of her age
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We shall be like him for
We shall see him as he is

This gravestone photograph was posted on the website http://www.newyorkgravestones.org/ . It is not available on the Find A Grave website. All my ancestors are from New England, so I am woefully ignorant of records in other parts of the USA. I would never have found this record on a distant cousin without a little help, and I had not heard of this website. I'm still planning to eventually travel to Schenectady sometime, and now I have a good clue.

I don't know about you, but I plan to run a bunch more ancestral names through Mocavo. It can't hurt! There are thousands of genealogy websites out there, and Google brings up too many hits. It is well worth letting Mocavo sort through the genealogy websites for me. And as more and more websites are added, it will become more valuable. Have you added your favorite genealogy websites to Mocavo?

 Of course, I'll NEVER give up Google!

I posted a story about Mrs. Dominis's trip back to New York and Boston in 1841 in January 2011. http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2011/01/mary-dominis-from-boston-amanuensis.html Mrs. Dominis was my 4x great grandmother's sister. She never returned to her home in Boston, but stayed in Hawaii until her death in 1889.

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Copyright 2011, Heather Wilkinson Rojo
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4 comments:

  1. Sara E. CampbellMarch 22, 2011 at 4:30 AM

    New York is tough! I have uploaded some photos to newyorkgravestones. I learned about it on one of the county mailing lists on Rootsweb. One of my favorite sources is fultonhistory.com. There are an unbelievable number of NY newspapers there. Have you seen Frances' obit? It is listed in the "Schenectady Cabinet" and says she died from "Atrophy." If you search "john dominis" in quotes it turns up 39 articles. About half look look like they apply to your family.

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  2. Heather Wilkinson RojoMarch 22, 2011 at 8:36 AM

    Thanks, Sara, I had never seen Frances's obit. I have a note that Mary Elizabeth's obit was pubished on May 15, 1838 in Schenectady's "Freedom's Sentinel" newspaper with a poem written by one of the Yates. I'm still searching for a oopy of that one. That fultonhistory.org website had over 300 references to DOMINIS, mostly articles about the Queen's trial and being deposed.

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  3. MarianMarch 22, 2011 at 10:51 AM

    Thanks for the website tip. I have loads of New York ancestors who I woefully neglect because NY is so challenging.

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  4. Barbara PooleMarch 22, 2011 at 1:02 PM

    Thanks for the NewYorkGravestones website, I found a few buried in the same cemetery as yours!! And, we already know the Dominis and Ten Eyck connection. Small world.

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