Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Boulder County (CO) Death Index Data

I have several relatives buried in Colorado, so I decided to check Joe's Death Index links for Colorado at his site http://www.deathindexes.com/colorado/index.html.

I was specifically looking for Effie E. Carringer, who died in 1874, a daughter of D.J. and Rebecca (Spangler) Carringer, my great-great-grandparents (parents of Henry Austin Carringer who married Della Smith, whose 1929 Journal I have been transcribing). I knew that Effie died in or near Boulder CO, so I clicked on one of the Boulder CO links - the Columbia Cemetery Burials (1870-2001). The burial records for this cemetery have been organized by the Boulder Genealogical Society, who have done a fantastic job of it.

The surname alphabet list is in small print at the bottom of the page. I clicked on the letter C and got a list of surnames, with given names, birth information, death dates, section and lot number. And a link for "More Info" for each name.

There was Effie E. Carringer's name - with her age at death (15y-6m-12d), her death date (7 June 1874), and her Section/Lot (B5-5 SW). I clicked on the "More Info" button and was rewarded with the following information (36 categories, many of them unfilled for Effie):

* Father's name: D.J. Carringer
* Mother's name: Rebecca Carringer
* Father's birthplace: PA
* Mother's birthplace: PA
* References: *003:005; marker; CN 12 Jun 1874:3; DWT 17 Jun 1874:4

There was also biographical information - provided by Mary McRoberts and the Boulder Genealogical Society (I have separated the items to be more readable here):

* Deed 7 Aug 1876 Columbia Lodge #14 to D.J. Carringer B5 Whole. (BB1; REC 38:169)
* The Carringers were not on the 1870 Boulder County, CO census.
* They were living in Boulder in 1880.
* 'The Petition for the town of Caribou, CO was filed 6 Oct 1874 and it was granted the same day. The petition set forth the boundary of the town and stated that a plat had been filed with the county clerk 26 Dec 1870.' Signers of the petition included D.J. Carringer. (BGS Qt vol. 16 p. 175)
* Henry E. Carringer was in a list of unclaimed letters at the Boulder Post Office May 1875.
* 1880 Boulder, Boulder Co, CO: D.J. Carringer 54 PA PA PA carpenter & joiner, wife Rebecca 48 PA PA PA, son Harvey E. 27 PA PA PA farming, Henry A. 26 PA PA PA millwright & carpenter
* 1885 Boulder census: D.J. Carriner 56 PA PA OH fruit grower, wife Rebecca 53 PA PA OH, son Harvey E. 28 PA PA PA clerk
* 1896 Boulder Directory: Carringer, D.J., fruit grower, res. 2nd Ave, and 3rd St. North Boulder
* The Carringers were not on the 1900 Boulder census
* Mrs. D.J. Carringer died SanDiego, CA a few days ago from cancer of the stomach. Mr. Carringer is in poor health. (BDC 20 Jan 1902:4)
* D.J. Carringer d 20 Jan 1902 California of kidney trouble. 'His wife died only a month ago.' He was buried National City on Wed 21 Jan. The Carringers lived in Boulder many years. (BDC 24 Jan 1902:8) (Aug 2002 update)

WOW is all I can say! Here is a decent biographical sketch using all of the resources available to the BGS. And they've done this for all of the people buried in the cemetery.

To top it off, down at the bottom of the page are thumbnail pictures of the gravestones in the cemetery lot. I found the picture of Effie's stone - front and back, and in the same lot are stones for Mary Carringer and Eliza Carringer Robinson.

I saved the web pages, and the gravestone pictures, for all three of these people on my hard drive. In the process I learned the identity of the "Ella" of Clay Center, KS who wrote a letter to my Carringer family in 1889 - she was the Ella (Robinson) Stanton, a daughter of Eliza (Carringer) Robinson.

What a wonderful resource for researchers with ancestors buried in this cemetery. Has anyone found one better than this? It is certainly an excellent example of what a local genealogy society can do with the resources available to them, enough volunteers, and a willingness to perform the research.

2 comments:

Joe said...

Hey Randy,
I'm glad my death records website helped you find some great info on your ancestors. I live in Denver and you can almost see Boulder from here :) So let me know if you need anything from up there.

I've been to Columbia Cemetery a couple of times. On one occasion I photographed Boulder Jane Doe's headstone - see: Boulder Jane Doe.

You also might be interested to know that Green Mountain Cemetery (near Columbia) has a newly published book with the burials there: Green Mountain Cemetery Book Info

Tim Agazio said...

Randy, What a great post. Looks like you hit the mother-load! I've also been looking for a grave in Boulder...My grandparents had a son who died at 1 year old during the flu epidemic of 1918 and, I'm told he's buried in Boulder County...but I had no luck on the county death index site. I'll keep looking...by the way you were my one confirmed reader...but now it appears I have 4!