Teenager Helps Community Remember
Ft. Lauderdale, Florida September 1, 2009--The
Evergreen Cemetery of Ft. Lauderdale enjoyed a busy day recently as over 25
volunteers converged to begin a tombstone photo project to record the historic
cemetery, but that day was just phase one of a very enthusiastic and ongoing
community project serving history and genealogy buffs everywhere.
Tyler Workman, 17 years old, Weston, organized
and directed members of his scout troop 798, family and members of his church,
to photograph and upload thousands of photographs onto the server of US GenWeb,
a nonprofit organization committed to providing free genealogical sources to
everyone with access to a computer and internet. The information is available
for free perusal at
USGenWeb Archives
Project, their mantra being “keeping internet genealogy free”. The project
boasts at least ONE HUNDRED man hours of volunteer time to completion.
Tyler has strong feelings about the importance
of family history, and was excited about choosing this kind of project for his
Eagle Scout Award. “Families really ARE forever and it is important to learn
where you came from and to know of your ancestors and their struggles and
triumphs.” said Tyler. Tyler recently found a similar site and viewed his great
granddad’s (2 times removed) tombstone in remote Arkansas. He has never been
able to actually visit the cemetery, but was thrilled to see it online and felt
a connection. He hopes others will be successful in finding their families
online this way. Tyler went on to comment about all the soldiers that were
resting at the cemetery, “There were soldiers from the Korean War, The Spanish
American War, as well as World Wars I and II, I must remember them and recognize
them today and always. This project really helped me see the history of the
people there, I feel like I know them in a small way.”
Established in
1910, Evergreen is Fort Lauderdale's oldest intact cemetery. It is the final
resting place of many of the founding families of Fort Lauderdale, including the
Stranahans, Kings, Cromarties, Bryans, and Olivers. In 1917, the City of Fort
Lauderdale purchased the cemetery from Mr. and Mrs. E. T. King and it has been
beautifully maintained by the city. The cemetery is located just east of the
intersection of Federal Highway and Davie Blvd. along SE 10th Avenue in Fort
Lauderdale, Florida.
next to a name, they have registered their e-mail address at
The
Registry. This will be their current address.
