If you are not familiar with Find A Grave you should be. It is used to record locations of graves, with a photo of the grave site, obituaries, and possibly even a photo of the person when they were very much alive. Thanks to many volunteers the site is growing by the day. You too can be a volunteer…if you like, it is painless and simple. At the very least you should check and make sure your deceased family members are in the right cemetery. Corrections can be left as a message for the person who maintains the graves online…or by email…easy peasy.
I have a number of really old obituaries thanks to women before me that saved obituaries…it may seem like an odd thing to save…but what a treasure trove of information they are. I will have to make a trip into the archives of our county newspaper for some of the really old obituaries.
Oak Grove Cemetery Memorial Day 2013
For my relatives that read the blog, if you have a photo of a loved one that you would like me to scan and put online…send it to me either through snail mail or email or drop it off…I will scan it and return it to you.I have started to keep a Find A Grave Notebook…so I can keep track of my progress.
On a side note I didn’t know much about my Great Grandmother Amanda who died in 1913. Through Find A Grave I was able to find out the names of her siblings and her Father. Interesting stuff.
Thanks for the link to that website. I'll have to check it out. Maybe I can find my great grandparents
ReplyDeleteA bit morbid but I guess it is just one of those unpleasant things we all have to think about lol ! All my relatives are buried in England and Scotland just my mum and dad are here and in the right place ! Thanks for the heads up though . Have a good day !
ReplyDeleteMy parents were cremated and we scattered the ashes. It's nice to know they are everywhere and nowhere at the same time. Your notebook will be valuable to your descendants one day, I'll bet. :-)
ReplyDeleteThank you! I may have (not sure) looked at "find a Grave" when Shelby and I were looking for my twin sister's grave. Mama never knew where, in the cemetery, she was buried. There was never a marker put up. Thank you for the link. I plan to join and do some searching.
ReplyDeleteI will check it out. I know there is bad information out there. I recently discovered on one such site the death place was wrong for my grandmother. There was no place to change it that I could find.
ReplyDeleteThanks for volunteering.
I've never heard of this, but can see it would be very useful to people who have been settled in the same general area for some time. My own family came to Canada in the early 1900s, so we know about the burial places of our grandparents, but that's where it ends.
ReplyDeleteBe sure to read the site rules on posting obituaries. They remove them if they don't fit their rules. I believe it states that you can't post the actual newspaper article (or scanned copy). Some people just type the info on the memorial. And I don't think you can mention living survivors. I have a collection of obits I thought about adding to memorials, but didn't after I found out the restrictions.
ReplyDeleteMJM I have seen scanned newspaper obits but perhaps they have been removed by now. You can type in the obit however if any living people request that their name be removed it will be. It is a privacy thing.
DeleteI hope you will give it a whirl!! :)
I'll pass this along to my friends who are big into ancestry.
ReplyDeleteAs you know - I'm a Find A Grave "regular"!
ReplyDeleteMy mother clipped obits from the newspaper, too. I still have a few tucked in books.
ReplyDeleteI've been a volunteer there for years. Thanks for mentioning it so others can join in.
ReplyDeleteLinda
Family history is so easily lost. I am glad you are keeping track. :)
ReplyDeleteWhat a great service and a good idea.
ReplyDeleteYes, I always visit the cemetery when I go back home. I know where the graves are but the next generation will not and probably not be aware that many of these people existed. Keep up the good work.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting Connie, interesting info.Blessings Francine.
ReplyDeleteI use Find a Grave to find dates that I don't remember or never did have. I have not found my great grandfather who is buried in Illinois. If I got on ancestry I am sure I could find him. No time for ancestry right now. Some people who work on our family are people that I have never met. I think they are inlaws who like to do it.
ReplyDeleteFind A grave has been a great help to me.But I
ReplyDeleteHave had hard time getting them to change mistakes.
I also volunteer for Find a Grave, but in an entirely different way. My husband and I go to cemeteries, look for certain headstones and take pictures of them and the cemetery entrance. People who don't live near the cemeteries where their family members are buried can request this service. We take pictures of other headstones, too, and upload them to the site. It's a hobby for us to get out of the house, do something together, and provides a service. It's a great activity for retirees.
ReplyDeleteThanks Peg for your comment and for volunteering! :)
DeleteTom has used Find a Grave quite a bit. we were able to visit family graves in Pennslyvania and Ohio on a trip a few years ago with the help of Find a Grave.
ReplyDeleteThat's great--and inspiring. I really need to follow suit, especially after a fellow genealogical society member in town just finished posting her ten THOUSANDth photo at Find A Grave. Yeah, I need to do something with my Find A Grave membership, too. Gotta put it on a regular to do list or it won't happen!
ReplyDeleteGreat idea to collect photos from relatives and scan them to include at Find A Grave. So helpful!