Please Standby …

Time elapsed from the last post and with my deepest apologies. During this time thought was been given to changing the theme of this blog from event promotion to that of a more historical focus. Just take a stroll through the historic part of the cemetery and you can grasp what lies within our beautiful cemetery and for this blog.

The focus from event announcements will not change but be less frequent. There will be more focus about changes to the historic elements within the cemetery and its connection to our Hanover community.

I, myself, am a living descendant of several residents within the hallowed historic cemetery and very proud of it. I have a passion to bring awareness of what our community has here and what is being done, or should be done, to preserve for our future generations.

That being said…Please Standby.

Wreaths Across America 2018

Wreaths Across America will be held once more at Mount Olivet Cemetery in Hanover, Penn, York, Pennsylvania located at 725 Baltimore Street. Join your community to celebrate and honor all the men and women who served from the French and Indian War to today’s conflicts.

                    Saturday, December 15, 2018 beginning at 11:45 AM. Placing of the                          wreaths will follow the brief ceremony. The event is held ‘rain or shine.’              Directions to the cemetery can be found on the cemetery website, http://www.mtolivetcemeteryassociation.org. 

In the few years I have attended this ceremony, I somehow feel a connection to my ancestors who served their country. I am grateful for their sacrifices and courage. So bring your scarves, gloves, hats as the cemetery is a wide open space and the wind is, well, cold. Grandparents, this is a great experience to share with your grandchildren, too!

12th Annual Pet Memorial Service Reminder

If you have a pet that died and is buried in Pet Haven at Mount Olivet Cemetery in Hanover, you can have its name memorialized at our 12th Annual Pet Memorial Service and Blessing on Sunday, September 11 at 2 PM.  Call the cemetery office at 717-637-5294 before August 31st!!

Memorial Day Weekend Events Planned

What are you doing this Memorial Day weekend?  Mount Olivet Cemetery will once again host two events.  Why not plan to attend one or both with your family. Our cemetery is located on 725 Baltimore Street in Hanover, Pennsylvania.

Sunday, May 29, 2016

Attention all Bikers!! Everyone who rides a motorcycle is invited to join us for the 6th Annual SSGT Jeremy Redding Memorial Motorcycle Ride on Sunday, May 29, 2016.  The ride begins at 1:00 PM leaving from the rear parking lot of M.O.M.S Restaurant 1039 Baltimore Street, Hanover, Pennsylvania 17331. This ride is open to all motorcycle riders. Questions can be directed to Steve Redding at 717-451-5859. The ride benefits the Pennsylvania Wounded Warriors, and donations will be accepted.

Photograph courtesy of Alan Pototsky, www.WhileYouCheer.com photography

Monday, May 30, 2016

Who doesn’t love a parade?!  

Hanover’s annual Memorial Day Parade and Observance will begin about 8:30 AM on Carlisle Street and proceed to Mount Olivet Cemetery.  The Memorial Day Observance will begin following the parade. Have a safe and wonderful Memorial Day 2016.

Garden of Innocence Program

 

On Saturday, May 7, 2016 Hanover Hospital and Panebaker Funeral Home will hold a ceremony for those who have experienced a pregnancy loss.

The ceremony begins at 11 AM in Mount Olivet Cemetery, 725 Baltimore Street, Hanover.  Enter through the stone (main entrance), pass the fountain, and proceed back through the cemetery. Details are on the flyer.

Questions about the program or to register by May 2nd, can be directed to Eric Stenman, Chaplain by calling 717-316-6905.

Mount Olivet Cemetery Discoveries

It can be assumed that the house featured on this postcard might be the home of the first superintendents (the George Zinns) for Mount Olivet Cemetery. The fine iron fence and entrance to the cemetery still exist today. The post date shows August 10, 1910, 10 AM, Hanover, PA, and the postage was one cent.  The American News Company, which once operated in New York, was the printing company, and so began my search for why was our cemetery featured on a postcard, and who was Lulu Brower.

Lulu Belle Brower lived her entire life in Taneytown, Maryland on her family’s farm.  According to Ancestry.com, Lulu was born on October 2, 1885 and died on February 2, 1969.  She is buried in the Trinity Lutheran Church Cemetery, Taneytown.  There is little that I initially found about her, but I do know that she had a friend named Carrie, who lived in Hanover and sent her this postcard.

Alan Petrulis, from Metro Postcard, explained how Mount Olivet was featured on a postcard.  “In many small towns, businesses like drug and general stores were places where local residents purchased postcards. Some of these stores would buy postcards from salesmen for resale, but many sought to stock local views to increase the chance of sales…Cemetery gates were a common subject, but few bothered with views of the grounds unless the cemetery had wider historical importance. Odds are the card you hold was the only one of Mt. Olivet in the series, though other publishers might have printed other views of it. The American News company was primarily a distributor of postcards but they published a great many for smaller businesses as well. While it is impossible to determine the exact business arrangement that led to the printing of your card, it has an order number on the back, which suggests it was made upon the request of a local business.”

The logo in the upper left corner of the postcard indicates that this is a Litho-Chrome image and that the card was produced in Germany.  Litho-Chrome is a trade name for a type of German made postcard distributed by the American News Company that was printed as a blue collotype (a photomechanical process) over yellow and red lithographic spatter. Individual colors are sharp and tend to stand out, especially the blue as it is used instead of black.

The contents of this blog may not be reproduced without permission from the author, Mary Staub for Mount Olivet Cemetery, Hanover, PA.  You may contact me at volunteer@mtolivetcemeteryassociation.org.

 

 

 

 

Here Today, and Hope to Stay

“The new year stands before us, like a chapter in a book, waiting to be written. We can help write that story by setting goals.”   Melody Beattie

I recently attended a funeral mass with my husband held for his younger cousin who died from a short-lived battle with cancer.  What an awful way to start off the new year, right?

As I listened to the homily, I gazed at the people sitting around me.  They were my age or older and mostly my husband’s relatives.  Years ago I began researching and continue to research their family ancestors.  I probably know much more than they know, or even care to know, about their ancestors, until it is too late to care.

This often happens, not just in genealogy research, but to places such as historic cemeteries.  The elements of time and nature continue on as we go about our daily lives.  Then one day, we stop to think where did the time go, and why didn’t I do something?

Example of a bed grave stone typically for an infant. The lettering is unreadable, but in researching the surrounding grave stones, we believe that it was for an infant named Ida Sherman.

Cemeteries were started perhaps from a deep passion for a respectable final resting places for the dead, or probably from a need.  Such being the case, Hanover’s citizens built this lovely cemetery, and nature has added touches of its own on the gravestones.  Cemeteries are filled with history, like a living book about the dead, and go unnoticed until one day someone mentions, why not do some research to see what we might find?  Well, that is not exactly how it all started, but the Friends of Mount Olivet Cemetery Association organized to research, educate, and preserve our town’s finest historic places to be enjoyed by generations to come after us.

The new year is underway, and the Friends of Mount Olivet Cemetery Association are seeking volunteers to join us in helping to maintain what our ancestors created over 150 years ago.  From historic research to planning events or gardening, interested, or curious, individuals may send a short email to volunteer@mtolivetcemeteryassociation.org, requesting a brochure, or to ask a question.

 

Who do you remember?

Meet George H. Wildasin (lower left).  He was my grandfather’s brother and served during World War II and buried at Mount Olivet Cemetery.  Growing up I heard his name mentioned, and that is all I remember.  Now I wish I knew more about his life.  As a family genealogist, I am finding out bits and pieces, about his young wife who was burned to death following a seizure.

To the right of George is a very old grave marker for Henry Sherman, veteran of the War of 1812.  I stumbled across his stone one day walking through Mount Olivet Cemetery.  I went home to research his name, and learned that Henry was an uncle to George’s mother, Amelia Sherman-Wildasin.  I also learned that Henry’s father was Conrad Sherman, who was a General during the American Revolutionary War. Conrad is buried at Sherman’s Church.

George H. Wildasin, World War II

Henry Sherman, War of 1812

I ask all of you, who do you know at Mount Olivet Cemetery?  You might be surprised!

Wreaths Across America @ Mount Olivet Cemetery

Veteran of World War II

The local chapter of the Hanover PA Wreaths Across America needs your help and by September 30th.  Click on the link above, follow the instructions naming ‘Mt. Olivet Cemetery’ and add how you can help/volunteer on the day of this program.  There are several options from which to select.  The Bonus – more wreaths for placing at the grave sites of our military veterans at Mount Olivet Cemetery! 

P.S.  Don’t forget to share this post with your friends, co-workers, neighbors, family.  The program needs your support.

P.S.S.  Mark your calendars so you don’t forget to come out to Mount Olivet Cemetery … Saturday, December 12, 2015, 725 Baltimore Street in Hanover, Pennsylvania.  Time to be announced.  Visit us on Facebook.