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Thanks to Sue Scimeca for sharing this very touching genealogy story.

"I have to tell you all a incredible story about my ancestry search. About 6 years ago when I was just starting out as a beginner to research my Swedish side of the family I wanted to find my Grandfathers grave. He had died in 1941, 5 years before I was born, in Indiana, USA. So I went through all the necessary "hoops" to get his death certificate from the state of Indiana. I tracked down the funeral home in Indiana ( a branch of the one no longer open), called them in the hopes they still had the info and was told the name of the cemetery that his remains were sent to to be cremated. They also were kind enough to sent me copies of what was in his file along with his obituary. I called the crematory/cemetery (Oak Hill, a very OLD -150 years- cemetery in Chicago) and they confirmed that he was there and the lady on the phone proceeded to tell me that "He was sitting on a shelf in their back storage room".I was taken aback by that sentence and had no idea what they meant. It seems His remains, and that of many other people, had never been claimed after cremation, and due to the law, the crematory could not "depose" of them. So they sat there and sat there and sat there, waiting for me to come along. I was totally shocked, and burst into tears. I don't know how many times I had driven into Chicago over the years and had passed by not far from this place.They then asked me when was I coming to claim them. I had to drive into Chicago four days before my 65th birthday to claim the ashes of my grandfather, who I had never met, almost 70 years after his death. I have no idea why no one had ever come forward to claim them, much less tell me they were there. All the older generation of my family was gone by this time and many of my cousins were also unaware. It was such a emotional day for me, one that I will never forget. For some reason I felt almost driven to delve into my family's past history, to find my grandfather and tie up all the loose ends... so you see finding your "roots" is in many ways just that...you certainly do have to do a lot of digging... and it can totally catch you off guard."


Cheers,
Pat