I Hunt Dead People Blog

Robin & I on the ferry between Aurora and Bayview, NC

Cemetery Sortie Project: Preserving the Memory of the Deceased

By Cindy Foster / July 15, 2023 /

Cemetery Sorties have led us to a lot of off the beaten path locations. We’ve made some interesting discoveries and want to log our progress.

Dig Down to Read More
Jean on the sandbar 1969

Come Quick, He Promised He’d Kill Me!

By Cindy Foster / May 31, 2023 /

“Come quick, he promised he’d kill me” are the last words I remember my baby sister saying to the person on the other e…

Dig Down to Read More
Boy Scout Merit Badge

Boy Scout Suggests Addition to Genealogy Research Favorites List

By Cindy Foster / April 11, 2023 /

Isaac, a Boy Scout working on his Genealogy Merit badge found the I Hunt Dead People Genealogy Research Favorites list. He wondered if we would add a really cool resource he found to our Favorites page.

Dig Down to Read More
Robin with Sterling S Cooper, Jr. at the Piney Grove Baptist Church Cemetery, Fuquay-Varina, NC

What in the World? Sterling Cooper HERE?

By Cindy Foster / March 22, 2023 /

Robin and I work on a variety of historic preservation projects related to cemeteries. Our latest adventure took us to Fuquay-Varina, NC’s Piney Grove Baptist Church Cemetery. We knew no one whose final resting place was there but that did not matter in our quest to document and preserve their memory.

Dig Down to Read More
Negatives and supplies used to convert negatives to photos digitally

Convert Negatives to Photos, Revealing Lost Images

By Cindy Foster / February 22, 2023 /

It’s every genealogist’s dream to inherit labeled family photos. Not everyone is that lucky. I have 1000s of negatives, from the early 20th century. How do I convert them to digital images?

Dig Down to Read More
Hiawatha, Kansas welcome sign.

What’s the Rest of the Story, Rev. Stokes?

By Cindy Foster / January 15, 2023 /

Inspired to discover more about Rev. Robert Stokes Kansas homesteading, we ventured to Hiawatha, Kansas to uncover the rest of his story.

Dig Down to Read More
1859 Indian Head Penny

Indian Head Penny Family Lore Debunked

By Cindy Foster / September 5, 2022 /

1859 Indian Head Penny Every family has oral traditions, passed down through the generations. Little by little the story is enhanced or adjusted as it is retold. My previous post about Priscilla Estes “capture” and “rescue”, I believe has some basis in true events. However, another story gave me pause, the inspiration for the U.S.…

Dig Down to Read More

Rescued 10 Years After Indian Kidnapping

By Cindy Foster / August 29, 2022 /

About 1778, my fourth great-grandmother, Priscilla Estes was “kidnapped” by a band of Shawnee. She was held “captive” for a period of nearly ten years.

Dig Down to Read More
Man plowing the prairie

Great Plains Pioneering: Grasshoppers, Gooseberries, & Indians

By Cindy Foster / July 25, 2022 /

In 1869 Robert Stokes, two sons & Henry Striker headed to Kansas with three covered wagons, an extra horse and two cows. Their destination was Brown County, with a plan to build a house, plant crops, find water and settle on the Great Plains.

Dig Down to Read More
Russell Stokes, 10th MO Company B

Dear Little Sister…Sending Love from the Battlefield

By Cindy Foster / July 18, 2022 /

Little sister is Susan Emmaline “Emma”, the eighth child and only daughter of my 3rd great grandfather Robert Firman Stokes. He, Emma, and her mother Hannah Parker Jones Stokes saw five of Robert’s sons volunteer to defend the Union during the Civil War. All served in the Western Theatre, under General Ulysses S Grant at…

Dig Down to Read More