How important is a cemetery marker, gravestone, headstone, foot stone or any other descriptor of the information we seek in family history?
I have always been drawn to cemeteries and enjoy looking in the old ones whether they contain people I am seeking or not. Over the years, I have found tremendously valuable information and have stumbled across a final resting place in the process too. Sometimes being lucky is better than being good.
I have always been drawn to cemeteries and enjoy looking in the old ones whether they contain people I am seeking or not. Over the years, I have found tremendously valuable information and have stumbled across a final resting place in the process too. Sometimes being lucky is better than being good.
Generally, research for me starts with trying to locate a death record which will hopefully give the name of the cemetery where the seekee is residing. This also can be offered up from an obituary and those often have other colorful information too. In larger cities, obituaries can be cost prohibitive so you may not garner as much from the modern versions as you might from older records.
When looking for people, start with the cemeteries near their homes. Remember that there can be religious cemeteries too. Some are located one right after another with separate entrances, but specif to a faith, like Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Jewish. If there is a faith connected to your family, the local house of worship can also provide information about cemeteries.
When looking for people, start with the cemeteries near their homes. Remember that there can be religious cemeteries too. Some are located one right after another with separate entrances, but specif to a faith, like Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Jewish. If there is a faith connected to your family, the local house of worship can also provide information about cemeteries.
Think you have all the information you need and then you show up at what should be a cemetery and there is a house there instead? This is not as unusual as you might imagine. As cities expanded, cemeteries were often moved so there was more room for houses and businesses.
Once you find the cemetery, there is usually excellent information available on the stones themselves. My research was aided by names and dates that were hand chiseled onto markers and I greatly appreciate the assistance from those that went before me. As I see newer stones, I also am seeing photographs, etched images on the stones and often additional information provided -- ah, the laser age. Or how about a digital storage device that holds data and is attached to the stone? So many options to record information about an individual on a gravestone.
Memorial inscriptions have been part of genealogical research resources for centuries, but is it still an important and viable option? Maybe the best alternative is to provide for preservation of information for genealogists in a publicly-accessible depository.
Additional Questions:
Do you have a tip for locating ancestral graves?
Once you find the cemetery, there is usually excellent information available on the stones themselves. My research was aided by names and dates that were hand chiseled onto markers and I greatly appreciate the assistance from those that went before me. As I see newer stones, I also am seeing photographs, etched images on the stones and often additional information provided -- ah, the laser age. Or how about a digital storage device that holds data and is attached to the stone? So many options to record information about an individual on a gravestone.
Memorial inscriptions have been part of genealogical research resources for centuries, but is it still an important and viable option? Maybe the best alternative is to provide for preservation of information for genealogists in a publicly-accessible depository.
Additional Questions:
Do you have a tip for locating ancestral graves?
What are your thoughts on grave markers?
If there are no markers, what would be an alternative?
