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Historic Burial Grounds of the New Hampshire Seacoast By Glenn A. Knoblock
Arcadia Publishing has releases a new title in the Images of America series, the historic account of the cemeteries along the New Hampshire Seacoast. This collection is a must for anyone interested in local history, genealogy, or colonial-era art. Please visit Arcadia Publishing to purchase your copy of Historic Burial Grounds of the New Hampshire Seacoast and browse other cemetery books!
Green-Wood Cemetery By Alexandra Mosca
Arcadia Publishing announces the release of the historic account of one of New York's most famous cemeteries. Aracdia Publishing's Images of America series has an extensive catalog of many cemetery publications! Please visit Arcadia Publishing to purchase your copy of Green-Wood Cemetery.
Announcements
Quoting Death in Early Modern England: The Poetics of Epitaphs Beyond the Tomb By Scott L. Newstok
An innovative study of the Renaissance practice of making epitaphic gestures within other English genres. A poetics of quotation uncovers the ways in which writers including Shakespeare, Marlowe, Holinshed, Sidney, Jonson, Donne, and Elizabeth I have recited these texts within new contexts. Visit Palgrave Macmillan and purchase your copy today!
Living by the Dead By Ellen Ashdown with illustrations by Mary Liz Moody.
A memoir about living beside a cemetery--and about the members of my family who came to rest at Roselawn Cemetery in Tallahassee, Florida. Please visit Kitsune Books for more information.
Graveyards of Chicago: The People, History, Art, and Lore of Cook County Cemeteries By Matt Hucke And Ursula Bielski.
Discover a Chicago That Exists Just Beneath the Surface - About Six Feet Under! Take a tour of Chicago's permanent residents! Please visit the Lake Claremont Press website to purchase your copy of Graveyards of Chicago today!
Epitaphs: The Magazine for Cemetery Lovers By Cemetery Lovers
For information regarding subscriptions, single issues, submission guidelines, deadlines, classifieds or advertising for future issues, please visit The Cemetery Club.
Guardians of the Soul: Angels and Innocents, Mourners and Saints with photography by John Bower and foreword by Claude Cookman
Indiana's remarkable cemetery sculpture is now available. Please visit Studio Indiana for more information.
West Springfield Massachusetts: Stories Carved in Stone by Rusty Clark
Features information on early New England gravestone carvers with more than two hundred photos and illustrations. Please visit the Dog Pond Press website.
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Unclaimed remains removed from Danbury funeral home highlight problem |
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Thursday, 09 September 2004 |
September 9, 2004
DANBURY, Conn. -- The recent removal of 87 sets of cremated remains from a Danbury funeral home highlights a not-so-uncommon problem in the funeral industry: relatives not claiming their loved ones' ashes.
State and local officials last week removed the remains from the former Tomlinson Homestead on Main Street, which the state closed two years ago because of an operating scandal. Crews are dismantling the 150-year-old city landmark to make way for an auto parts store.
Some of the remains have been unclaimed for more than 25 years, The News-Times of Danbury reported. All the abandoned remains are in the possession of state officials.
Former Tomlinson Homestead owner David C. Harrison recently acknowledged having an "accumulation of unclaimed remains" in his vault, said local funeral director Dan Jowdy, who is on the state board that oversees the funeral industry.
"He came to me knowing my position on the state board. He said he wanted to see to it that they got a proper burial," Jowdy said.
Unclaimed "cremains" are not uncommon in the funeral home industry. Jowdy said state law is silent on what funeral directors are supposed to do with ashes that aren't claimed by families after cremation.
"People tell you they are eventually coming over, but something happens in their life and they put it on the back burner," he said.
The number of the cremains removed from the former Tomlinson Homestead did surprise at least one area funeral director.
"We do have identified cremains going back 40 years," said Rodney Bourdeau of the Cornell Memorial Home, "but not in that number."
Bourdeau estimated he had a half-dozen unclaimed cremains in his vault.
"The number can vary by the funeral home. We probably have 30 sets," said Robert Mastropietro, a funeral director with Hull Funeral Service, which has parlors in Danbury, Bethel and New Milford.
Jowdy, who serves on the Connecticut Board of Examiners of Funeral Directors and Embalmers, said the boxes containing the cremains were all properly tagged and identified. Most date from the 1980s and 1990s, but some are even older.
Officials are asking anyone who believes the Tomlinson Homestead was in possession of a loved one's ashes to contact the Danbury town clerk's office.
Harrison took over operations at the Tomlinson Homestead home after his father died in 1983. The funeral home was closed in March 2002 and Harrison surrendered his embalming license after a state investigation found numerous problems, including the discovery of four bodies that had not been disposed of in a timely manner.
State officials also determined that Harrison performed marriages through 2002, even though he was not legally a justice of the peace after 1997.
The newspaper could not reach Harrison or his lawyer for comment Wednesday.
Jowdy said the state is holding the cremains and will keep them until Oct. 15, when any that are still unclaimed will be interred at a local cemetery. The names will be kept on file should any questions about the disposition arise later, he said.
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/ny-bc-ct--unclaimedremains0909sep08,0,4549859.story?coll=ny-ap-regional-wire |
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