Making a Family Tree » Cemetery Searches

What To Ask The Crypt Keeper – Genealogy Research at Graveyards

Chris — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 16:25:51 +0000

Some people have asked me about “gravestone photos”. We got a couple emails on that so I thought it would be helpful to write a
little about the role of graveyards in your genealogy research.

They are critical!

As you get your hands on death certificates or even learn more about where ancestors lived, you’ll be able to consult the local
graveyards to find information on spouses, birth dates, and other family members.

Keep in mind that in many cases, families are buried together (sometimes for several generations). This was more true for our ancestors than it is for us today. People didn’t travel as the do today.

Our past generations tended to live in the same area. This makes graveyards a great resource.

Also remember that many graveyards are denomination specific. Don’t waste time looking for a Catholic ancestor in a Protestant graveyard.

Insider Photos from Government-Records.com

Chris — Mon, 25 May 2009 19:21:18 +0000

Here are a few screen shots from within my own Government-Records.com account. I am a strong supporter of this genealogy search service and provide a more complete review elsewhere on this blog.

For those who are still considering if this is worth the investment (and believe me it is!), here an example of their cemetery search features:

Cemetery Records Search Type 1

(Click to Enlarge)

By clicking on “Cemetery Records Search Type 1″ from within my account I’m able to choose a state and county to search online the cemeteries in that county. You can see here an example of the search results when I select Lamar Cemetery, from Aransas County, Texas; 106 results are returned (click on image to the right to see a larger view).

When I click on the first name on the list, “Delora Jean Alderman” I am brought to the records of that particular grave (see next image below).

(Click to Enlarge)

Here I get the complete record from that listing as well as the information on the person who submitted the information. This is a huge value becuase if this person is searching for people in my family tree and going so far as to recording the infromation online, then there is a strong possibility that he or she has found other ancestors in my family tree as well.

I can click on the person’s name, in this case “Jon Rice” and learn more about him and the research he has done. The service even allows me to post a note on this record so Mr. Rice can see it and get in touch with me directly.

Government-Records.com is a great service. Again, please read my review and head over there direclty if you’d like to learn more about the service.

Genealogy Trees | The Role of Cemeteries

Chris — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 11:50:00 +0000

As regular readers of this site know I’m a big fan of making sure cemetery research as a method of finding your genealogy trees. Below is an example from Southern Graves (see link below for original post) on how we can find our genealogy trees using this method.

The author of the original post rights…

Mrs. Eliza B. R. Mendenhall died almost 160 years ago on December 29, 1848. She was 67 years of age at the time of her death, so her birth year was about 1781. She, along with her infant grandson John Bruce Limehouse, was interred in St. Philip’s Church Cemetery; Charleston, South Carolina.

I love the wording on this stone. In case you cannot read it via the photo, here is a transcription:

This marble
marks the spot where repose
the remains of
Mrs. Eliza B. R. Mendenhall,
Who closed her earthly career
on the 29th December A.D. 1848,
aged 67 years.

By her side sleeps her infant
grandson
John Bruce Limehouse.

“Thou art gone to the grave, but we will
not deplore thee
whose God was thy ransom, they Guardian
and Guide.

He gave thee, He took thee
and He will restore thee,
and death has no sting for the
Savior hath died.”

This stone is consecrated
to a beloved mother
by her daughter.

(This posting is from Southern Graves. Click the link to view the full article from its original source.)

As you can see from the transcription, thre is a wealth of information to help us complete our family trees. Grave stones typically contain extensive records of birth and death dates. They also often cite family members.

By doing the math on age and date of death you can get the date of birth. While not cited here, you’ll sometimes get where someone lived from a grave stone as well which can lead to a local govenment office and a copy of a birth certificate (which, as you know, will reveal the parents and thus the next generation.)

Don’t overlook cemeteries in our work to build out your genealogy trees. They will save you a tone of time.

…

Where to Next?

Blank Family Tree with Step-by-Step Instructions

…

Making Family Tree – Graveyard Rabbits

Chris — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 12:11:00 +0000

Making family tree is never an easy route. There are a lot of things to figure out. However, regardless of where you are in the process of making family tree you’ll find that knowing a bit about graveyards will make a huge difference. Today, I’d like to reference the works (as I’ve done often before) of Southern Graves (see link at bottom of this post for their blog feed). He provides a great little story about the Graveyard Rabbit that I’m sure you’ll enjoy.

By way if introduction, he writes:

My nickname in high school was “squirrel,” but it turns out I am really a rabbit. A Graveyard Rabbit, that is.

If you haven’t noticed the new statement in the heading, I am a charter member of The Association of Graveyard Rabbits. This group was founded by Terry Thornton, and she writes all about the name at her new The Graveyard Rabbit of the Hill Country blog. The short of it is the name came from a poem entitled The Graveyard Rabbit by Frank Lebby Stanton. My favorite lines of the poem are in the very beginning.

In the white moonlight, where the willow waves,
He halfway gallops among the graves –
A tiny ghost in the gloom and gleam,
Content to dwell where the dead men dream…

This definitely describes my passion for cemeteries and the histories they share. Let’s break it down:

“In the white moonlight, where the willow waves”
I don’t visit cemeteries at night too much, only because it’s hard to read the stones and take pictures then! However, there are often live willows waving when I visit, as well as many stone willows standing tall.

“He halfway gallops among the graves”
At the risk of sounding silly, if I’m at a Cemetery I’ve never visited before, I often do the same thing! I go from stone to stone, in no kind of pattern, just to get a feel of the place. Plus, an interesting monument from afar gets my interest and I must check it out. I have to make myself at some point stop and systematically go through the graves for proper transcription, photographs, and to begin to get the full history of the Cemetery and those interred.

“A tiny ghost in the gloom and gleam”
Me and my visit are but a tiny speck of the whole history of most cemeteries. Especially those that have been around for hundreds of years. There have been many visitors before me, and there will be many after me.

“Content to dwell where the dead men dream”
That statement is a simple fact that applies to me. I am very content walking among the headstones, reading them, photographing them, and learning from them.

[...]

I hope you will continue to join me on my journey through the cemeteries of the southern United States at the Southern Graves site and this Southern Graves blog.

Really great stuff. If these are the type of stories that give making family tree so much fun. Sure there is the process of hunting down certificates and finding dates and dealing with name changes but then there is the rich history of past genealogists. Truly a wonderful group.

(This posting is from Southern Graves.)

…

Where to Next?

Blank Family Tree with Step-by-Step Instructions

…

St. Andrew’s Cemetery; Darien, Georgia

Chris — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 21:20:00 +0000

The Historical Marker Database recently uploaded a page for St. Andrew’s Church Cemetery in Darien, McIntosh County, Georgia.

Southern Graves Home

(This posting is from Southern Graves.)

…

Where to Next?

Blank Family Tree with Step-by-Step Instructions

…

Cemetery for Cubs Fans

Chris — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 15:31:00 +0000

Chicago is not exactly a “southern” city, but I’m sure there are Cubs (you know, the baseball team) fans all over the U.S. I wonder if this could start a trend or fad? Read on for a few articles about the ground-breaking for a Cemetery for fans of the Chicago Cubs.

“At last, a burial option for fans who live and die with the Cubs.
Cubs fans hoping for a World Series title before they die at least can be buried in a place that looks like Wrigley Field when they do.

Ground-breaking for “Beyond the Vines,” an internment area that will be built to look something like the ballpark’s ivy-covered brick center field wall, is scheduled for Friday morning at Bohemian National Cemetery on Chicago’s Northwest Side, said Dennis Mascari, who purchased the plots to carry out the concept.

Mascari said several people already have contacted him about placing their loved ones in urns in what he calls the “eternal skyboxes” that will be available at the Cemetery, 5255 N. Pulaski Rd.

“I’m trying to help with the bereavement process, because going through a Cemetery — cemeteries are beautiful, but they’re still kind of gloomy,” Mascari said. “I’m trying to change that process.” READ MORE at Chicago Tribune

“Pushing Ivy?
By Benjy Lipsman
Marriage may be til death do us part, but apparently allegiances to one’s baseball team last even longer. Which, we guess makes sense—how often does one hear of anybody abandoning their team for another? Even those Cubs fans who’ve lived close to a century without ever seeing a World Series title on the north side of town remain loyal forever to their Cubbies.

So perhaps we shouldn’t find it so surprising that some have decided they need to be interred in a virtual replica of the “friendly confines.” Dennis Mascari broke ground on Friday for his Beyond the Vines. He purchased a number of burial plots in Bohemian National Cemetery on the city’s Northwest Side in order to construct what he calls “eternal skyboxes.” The 35-foot-long, 14-foot-high brick memorial wall will be covered in ivy reminiscent of Wrigley’s outfield wall and will include a stained glass window to evoke the park’s scoreboard.” READ MORE

“Cemetery Gives Cubs Fans Burial Site
© United Press International
Ground was broken Friday for a burial site at a Chicago Cemetery modeled after a portion of landmark Wrigley Field to accommodate die-hard Chicago Cubs fans.”

Dennis Mascari said he chose to create “Beyond the Vines” at Bohemian National Cemetery for extremely loyal fans of the National League baseball team, whose stadium has an ivy-covered brick center field wall, the Chicago Tribune said Friday.

Southern Graves Home

(This posting is from Southern Graves.)

…

Where to Next?

Blank Family Tree with Step-by-Step Instructions

…

Facebook for the Dead?

Chris — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 21:13:00 +0000

From the Footnote Press Room:

“Footnote.com Takes Social Networking into the Past
10 Sep 2008
Where: Lindon, UT

San Francisco — September 10, 2008 – Losing a loved one can result in a range of emotions, from the grief and sorrow to comfort, which often comes from reminiscing stories and memories with family and friends. The challenge arises when there is no single place where all of these stories can easily come together to be shared, enriched and preserved.

Now at Footnote.com, anyone can find or create Footnote Pages where users connect and share stories, photos, and information about the people important to them.

To kick-off the new Footnote Pages, Footnote.com today released over 80 million of these pages created from data from the Social Security Death Index. Most visitors will find existing pages about several deceased friends and family members already on the site.

Footnote.com was selected from over 1,000 applicants to launch Footnote Pages at this year’s TechCrunch50 held in San Francisco. Russ Wilding, CEO of Footnote, demonstrated Footnote Pages to an audience of over 1,500 investors, bloggers, and major media outlets.

“We encourage people to upload their personal shoeboxes of photos and documents to Footnote.com,” explains Wilding. “Now with Footnote Pages, friends and family can come together to share stories and memories about the people they care about.”

Described as Facebook for the Deceased, these pages feature a photo gallery, an interactive timeline and map, and other tools that bring people together to create a more colorful and rich picture of the past. “Social networking is not only for the younger generations any more,” explains Wilding. “We are seeing Baby Boomers contribute and connect online in increasing numbers. Footnote Pages are an easy way for this audience to interact with each other and learn things they would not otherwise know about deceased friends and family.”

Beyond profiling people, Footnote Pages can also be used to document and discuss historical events or places including: the Vietnam War, the Assassination of JFK and the Lincoln-Douglas Debates.

Unlike other social networking sites, Footnote.com provides content that enables users to tell and share stories from the past. Through its partnership with the National Archives, Footnote has digitized over 43 million documents including historical newspapers, military records, photos and more. Footnote adds about 2 million new records to the site every month.

Visit Footnote.com to learn more about Footnote Pages and get a new perspective on the lives of your own friends and family who have passed away.”

For more information, visit the Footnote Blog.

Southern Graves Home

…

Where to Next?

Blank Family Tree with Step-by-Step Instructions

…

Searching Cemeteries – Genealogy Tip

Chris — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 02:05:27 +0000

Quick genealogy tip for searching cemeteries.

Sometimes the obvious isn’t all that apparent. Remember that in past centuries, almost all people were buried according to ethnic origin or religious affiliation.

So, the tip is don’t waste your time looking in a Presbyterian cemetery for a Catholic ancestor. Sounds obvious now that I’ve said it but it is such an easy (and frustrating) mistake to make.

Take care.

…

Where to Next?

Blank Family Tree with Step-by-Step Instructions

…

Searching Cemetery Monument Foundations

Chris — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 00:40:00 +0000

(Click above for introduction.)

Your Guide to Cemetery Research

This book will intrigue anyone involved in serious genealogical research, posing a whole new way to uncover family roots and facts through research into cemeteries and their contents. This book has all kinds of great information from funeral art to conducting cemetery surveys.

I personally found the following review very helpful:

“Carmack, a noted genealogist and an admitted cemetery addict, addresses a specialized area of genealogical research that can yield a wealth of historical and ancestral information. To locate an ancestor’s final resting place, one must be thoroughly familiar with American death records.”

“After explaining how to access and interpret coroner’s records, death certificates, obituaries, wills, prayer and memorial cards, funeral home records, and mortality schedules, the author outlines the often less than straightforward process of locating elusive cemeteries and individual graves. Also included are a discussion of American burial customs and an analysis of cemetery artwork and epitaphs.”

You can read more about this guide on Amazon.com:

Your Guide to Cemetery Research

…

Where to Next?

Blank Family Tree with Step-by-Step Instructions

…