Epitaphs from the 1800s

When doing research in genealogy I sometimes come across odd, amusing and/or downright disturbing facts. For example, I have found some tombstone inscriptions that are at the same time funny and sinister, specially when written on a child's headstone. Here are some of the ones which caught my eyes.

Death is debt

to Nature due

Which I have paid

And so must you

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I am dead now, soon you will be. 

Prepare for death and follow me.

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The fairest flesh,

Is buried in the dust,

Prepare for death,

For follow me you must

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My friends as you pass by,

Remember you was born to die,

I in the flower was cut down,

Lie withering like the grass thats mown

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Our life is ever on the wing,

And death is ever nigh;

The moment when our lives begins,

We all begin to die.

Shomberg-Domaszek-Kaczor-Disher-Ostrowski-Dombrowski-Kiedrowski-Szult

The history for this side of the family is short, they did not arrive in America until mid 1800's and before that there not many records available due to the changes of governments and the general lack of a centralized depository of data.

Polish, Germans, Russians, Austrians, Prussians or Pomeranians? Who declared to the immigration authorities that they were born in Poland? After all, the fact was that Poland did not exist, and the American immigration officials were at lost as how to classify the new arrivals.

At the time of the Shombergs, Dombrowski, Dishers emigration (1820-1880), their land was part of the Prussian Empire. The Polish–Lithuanian Empire ended about 1772 with the take over from Prussia. Not until 1919 did it become part of Germany or Poland. How they really defined themselves we will never know for sure but the descendants eventually settled in one or the other.

Nevertheless, they all became Americans, Wisconsinites. They married, had children, owned land, worked and died in Wisconsin.

All the genealogical data I encountered on my research was included in my book "An American Family Since 1630" Volume I - Paternal Ancestors which is available from Amazon.com, also in Kindle version.

(http://www.amazon.com/American-Family-Shomberg-Domaszek-Disher-Ostrowski-Paternal-Ancestors

The story of the Shombergs from Wisconsin

This blog is the story of my husband John Shomberg’s family.  My mother-in-law Yvonne Marie Shomberg (Bentle) researched her side of the family for years, she spent many hours copying records, by hand, from the libraries, archives and genealogical societies around Wisconsin. Her boxes of handwritten notes, newspapers clippings, photos and more are gone now but her work did not vanish. She collaborated with others doing the same research and her efforts were acknowledged in various genealogical publications.

My research is stored in my computer but I don’t want it to be gone when I am. I wanted to collect mine and Yvonne’s notes all in a book to be available for the next generations.

The family has a long lineage starting with the first settlers, surviving Native American attacks and serving this country in the Revolutionary War, Civil War, World War I, World War II, Korean War and Vietnam War.

The list of family names is long and each has a story to tell. I hope to do them justice.