Six Degrees of Seperation

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In 2001, I started doing the genealogy research on our cemeterians as practice for using internet sites on my own family's genealogy.  Once I had the hang of the software, I went to work on my Seckner and Gilmour forebears and set the cemetery folks aside for a couple of years. Two years later, as a break from my relatives, I returned to the cemeterians. 

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And in doing so, I found an astounding relationship between two supposedly completely unrelated individuals. Which in turn, led me to research the concept of six degrees of separation. 

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I had always thought it referred to genealogical relationships. I was wrong. Six degrees of separation is states that anyone on the planet can be connected to any other person on the planet through a chain of acquaintances (not blood relatives) with no more than five intermediaries. 

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The theory was first proposed in 1929 by the Hungarian writer Frigyes Karinthy in a short story called "Chains "

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In 1966, a sociologist, Stanley Milgram, set out to test the hypothesis. He traveled to the mid-western United States and randomly selected a number of people.  He then gave them a wrapped package to be hand delivered to a person (the target) identified only by name, occupation, and general location. In this case, the target was in Massachusetts. 

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The senders were asked to send the package to a person they knew on a first-name basis whom they thought would be most likely, out of all their friends, to know the target personally. Although the participants expected the chain to include at least a hundred intermediaries, it took only between five and seven intermediaries to get each package hand delivered!

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Watch this video for an entertaining explanation of the theory and further testings. 

 And in the next posting, I will tell you how a small child buried off in the corner of the cemetery caught my undivided attention and how this theory hit home.

Book Introduction

INTRODUCTION

The following is the introduction of the 2009 second edition of the cemetery reference book. This blog will publish snippets of the book over the coming months. Any additions, corrections or general comments will be well received.

"The Historic St Nicholas Cemetery, Olive and Linden Streets, Jacksonville, Florida 32207

This small cemetery of just under an acre was originally a parcel of the Francis Bagley Spanish Land Grant. The land for the cemetery was donated by the Holmes family to the  non-denominational Union Church which sat somewhere nearby. The church burned some years later and was not rebuilt.

The cemetery originally served as a pioneer-family burial ground but  later welcomed long-time friends, in-laws, and neighbors of  the originators. The first person interred was William Darius FERRIS in 1849.  Ironically, in 2007, the last person interred  (that year - there has been one burial since) was William Darius FERRIS, the great grandson of the first.

There are 240 graves of which 195 are marked by monuments or stones.  In the database, there are 49 family surnames with 110 women and 130 men. Of the 219 persons with known dates of birth and death, the average age at death was 51. The median age of the group was 30.

·        23 died before the age of 5

•        Another 19 died before their 20th birthday.

•        44 died between 20 and 40 including 17 women of child-bearing age.

•        32 died between 41 and 59

•        61 died between 60 and 79

•        30 died between 80 and 89

•     9 died in their 90s: we have one centenarian, Catherine Ann CALDWELL who lived to see 101.

Various wars swirled around the residents of Florida.  The histories of those wars and the people who fought them are expanded.  With the discovery of one African American Civil War veteran, Henry Liggins, I found proof that people of color are buried in the cemetery.  At least two others, Oratia Adams and Edwin Brown, lie in unmarked graves.  Perhaps the marked graves of two men, Hardy H Phillips and Newton Mayo, with surnames other than those of the families which whom they lay, also hold the remains of trusted servants.

In an earlier short pamphlet, the subject of health and disease was confined to the results of the Yellow Fever epidemic of 1888 with four of its victims found in our cemetery. This work expands those subjects.  The “Great Fire” of 1901 wrecked havoc on the lives of thousands and two of our pioneers in particular. Other disasters and their impact on the cemeterians will be investigated.

The lives of our cemeterians reach out to tell their stories to all who will take the time to listen.  They tell us how they lived and died to make our place in the world. They ask nothing more of us than our support in maintaining the dignity of their final resting place; a commitment that their 2009 neighbors continue to faithfully fulfill as they preserve the dignity of the Historic St Nicholas Cemetery, Jacksonville, Florida.

This narrative is addressed conversationally to these wonderful neighbors, but anyone interested in the history of the times described herein is welcome to read on. You will find the contents in the form a play in three acts with comfortable intermission, and an after party.  Enjoy!"