Local cemetery records sought for genealogy project

Rick Read examines headstones at Mount Hope Cemetery in Deming.

Welcome Cemetery, one of the locations included in the record collection. Courtesy photo

by Brita Adkinson
COUNTY – A project is under way to compile records of local cemeteries, including  Mount Hope Cemetery (Deming), Welcome Valley, Van Zandt, Clipper (Van Zandt), Kendall and Hopewell (Everson).
Rick Read, a research aide with the Whatcom Genealogy Society, is working on tracing the history of past residents buried in cemeteries.  Through newspaper archives and other research, Read has collected obituaries of people buried in Mount Hope, Welcome Valley, and Clipper and is currently collecting obituaries relating to the Van Zandt cemetery.
The goal of Read’s project is to compile all the information he can find about people buried at these cemeteries and create CDs that will be offered for sale. Proceeds will benefit the Whatcom Genealogical Society, and be used for further research and documentation.
“I am also collecting photos and stories about the people buried at these cemeteries,” Read said, encouraging residents to provide available photos and stories. Photos will be scanned and returned to the owners, and courtesy credits will be given to all who submit information. So far, Read has recorded approximately 6,200 obituaries.
In 2001, Read, who has been a television producer at KVOS TV in Bellingham for 24 years, embarked on a journey to find out-of-state records and information about his own family. His efforts led others to ask him for help with geneaology research. Read joined the Whatcom Genealogy Society as a research aide in 2005, after meeting one of the members while collecting information at the Bellingham Public Library. He now serves as the group’s vice president as well.
Read said he enjoys helping people learn about their ancestry. When a family has lived several generations in Whatcom County, the research may be fairly straightforward, Read explained, as people may find records in local libraries, churches and schools. However, if the family lived elsewhere, the research becomes more complex.
“People often believe you can find everything on the Internet, but you can’t,” Read said.
Although Rootsweb, a website for genealogy research, provides valuable information, a researcher will need to contact libraries and other institutions in order to obtain a more detailed account of one’s life, Read informed. Cemetery indexes, state archives, and photographic records are sometimes necessary, he added.
Discovering facts about one’s own roots and background can lead to unexpected outcomes, Read said. When he himself found details about his grandfather who died in Edmonton, Alberta, in the 1960s, he discovered that his grandfather had left behind around $5,000, which was kept in a government account for around 40 years, because no one could trace the survivors. Read was able to arrange for the funds to be released and forwarded to the nearest surviving relatives of his grandfather.

For more information: Residents interested in participating in the project by forwarding obituaries, photographs or other materials can contact Rick Read by phone at 733-1227 or e-mail rmr-wgs@comcast.net. The Whatcom Genealogy Society meets at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 2117 Walnut Street, Bellingham, on the second Monday of every month at 7 p.m. Visitors are welcome. The group’s website is http://wagenweb.org/whatcom/WGS/wgs.htm.