Source:
“Picayunes,” Times-Picayune (New Orleans, Louisiana), 6 December 1912, p 8, col. 6; digital image, GenealogyBank.com (http://www.genealogybank.com: 23 March 2011), Historical Newspaper Collection.
Tonight's instructions from Randy:
1) Go into your Genealogy Management Program (GMP; either software on your computer, or an online family tree) and figure out how to Count how many surnames you have in your family tree database.
2) Tell us which GMP you're using and how you did this task.
3) Tell us how many surnames, and if possible, which Surname has the most entries. If this excites you, tell us which surnames are in the top 5!
I , like Randy use RootsMagic 4 so I used the same procedure he did. Open RootsMagic, click Reports, then Lists, scroll down to Surname Statistics list. I selected Frequency of Surname for the report to run. It took only a few seconds to generate the report, although a Total at the end of the report would have been nice.
I ended up with a 12 page report. Scrolling through, I noticed that there are some surnames that are misspelled or otherwise should be combined. (I’ve got work to do!)
With roughly 47 names on 11 pages and 38 on page 12, that’s 555 surnames. My top five are:
In sixth place is the surname UNKNOWN with 61 persons from 1656 to 2002. I also noticed that there are 6 persons with a blank last name. These two “surnames” should be joined but even so, they would not make the top five.
I’m surprised to see the Kraft surname in the top five. I have unrelated Krafts on both my paternal and maternal lines. I guess they really “add up”! 
Thanks Randy for an interesting and enlightening exercise!
Happy Hunting!
Marker of
John Bickel, Cathrine Bickel, H. Spangenberg and Baby Spangenberg 1867
John Bickel 1917
Boerne Cemetery – Boerne, Kendall County,Texas
This marker is a curiosity. The H. Spangenberg is possibly a member of my family but I’ve not been able to locate any records besides the two newspaper clippings below. Unfortunately, they ask as many questions as they answer.
Both these clippings refer to an original article in the San Antonio Express newspaper. I have yet to find this original article.
“Texas Items – Horrible”, The Galveston (Texas) Daily News, 9 September 1868, p. 2, col. 6; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : 22 March 2011), Historical Newspaper Collection.
This paper gives a little more detail but still not enough to link Mr. Spangenberg to any particular family.
“Details of Eastern News – Human butchery”, The Evening Bulletin (San Francisco, California), 29 September 1868, p. 1, col. 3; digital images, GenealogyBank.com (http://www.genealogybank.com: 22 March 2011), Historical Newspaper Collection.
The marker has the date of 1867 on it. It is clear from the newspaper articles that the event took place about the 20th of August 1868. Also the baby, who is three years old, is not given a name in these two articles so we have no way of knowing if the child was indeed a Spangenberg or a Bickel. The name of the Bickel family has been changed to “Pickel” in the newspaper articles but I know it is Bickel because I found the death certificate for Henry who died in 1917.
I will keep looking for more information on this tragedy. Rest In Peace all who are buried here.
Sources:
newspaper article sources have been provided under each article.
The photo is courtesy of Find A Grave member, M. Dahl. Thank you, Marilyn!
I have several relatives both direct and collateral listed in this newspaper clipping of the Comal County, Texas voters. In posting it here, I hope that it will help someone else with their research. The images are are copyrighted by NewsBank and/or the American Antiquarian Society. 2004.
I’ve broken it down into parts so that it is easier to read.
Column 1:
Column 2: 
Happy Hunting!
Source:
“Official List of Registered Voters of Comal County, Texas,” The Daily Austin (Texas) Republican, 3 June 1868, p. 4, cols. 3-4; digital images, GenealogyBank.com (http://www.genealogybank.com : 17 March 2011), Historical Newspapers Collection.
A recent Find A Grave marker photo request yielded a genealogy jackpot! There are 22 people interred in this tomb.
They are:
I know who the majority of the Holdsworth’s are but the rest are another puzzle to be put together.
A very special thank you to Find A Grave contributor, Barbara Munson for finding Violet’s tomb and kindly giving me the many photos of the tomb. She is also adding many memorials of the Masonic Cemetery to Find A Grave including those in the Holdsworth tomb. To view all the memorials click here - Masonic Cemetery on Find A Grave.
