Grave Research Sites

When I started researching my family history, I had no idea why I would be interested in the final resting place.  It was all about family names.  Then I started collecting surnames.  Next I wanted to know about the history behind the name.  Now I want to know where they are buried.  It’s the only way left to honor those that have gone to meet their Maker. (See note below about footnote)

Finding a grave is simple if all the family members have stayed in the same area for 200 years.  What happens when they start moving around to different states or countries?  Worst yet, what if they do not have a final resting place?  That happens more than you would think.  Many don’t get buried or they get cremated and have their ashes spread all over Manhattan.  Did great uncle Jim get buried under the oak tree in the back yard?  Some families can not afford a grave marker.

I performed a “Random Acts Of Kindness” for someone.  (www.randomactsofkindness.org/, The making of this web site is a random act of kindness in my opinion.  If you want help, they may be able to find someone to help.)  I spent 7 hours at the cemetery looking at every head stone.  And I knew what cemetery the person was buried in.  I actually started over again and after two rows I gave up.  The office did not have records for those buried on that side of the cemetery???  Three different cemeteries at the same location I guess?  A week later I found the person that had the records and they told me exactly what site she was buried on.  No marker to be found. You learn something new every day.

www.interment.net  provides cemetery records on line.  You have to work to get past the advertisements but it pulls information from many different sources.  It’s a last stop for me if all else fails.

www.namesinstone.com  It’s mission is to preserve history by mapping grave sites.  You can upload pictures of grave stones, then transcribe the information on the stone.  The information becomes searchable as data is entered.  You can view a map of the a grave site and then view the stone.  A virtual grave yard, where you can honor the fallen with virtual flowers.  Saves on travel expenses.

www.findagrave.com  is the biggest place to look for graves.  It’s focus is on famous people, so if you think you have famous folks in your background, check them out.  They have a huge amount of resources available.  I use and contribute as often as I can.

www.billiongraves.com is a picture place.  What would happen if you got together a million people armed with iPhone’s?  Maybe a billion pictures of grave sites viewable on a map.  WOW the potential of this is unbelievable.  If you take a picture with a GPS enabled smart phone you get more than the picture.  When you upload the picture to billiongraves that information is attached to the file.  That helps them pinpoint the location on a map that you can view.  Then you transcribe the information from the headstone on the site.  (Fill in the name, dates, and etc.)  Then anyone can search billiongraves to view the grave site.  Did I say WOW?  They are only a few month old, but I estimate will take over the category in no time.

A few other links that you may find useful.

www.cousinconnect.com is a site that you can post question about a family name or see questions already posted by others.  There is a lot of information available.
www.genealogyarchives.com has a family history section.  They give history about surnames.
www.mycinnamontoast.com a search engine of other search engines.
www.mytrees.com a search engine of family trees.
www.familysearch.org will help you find individuals.

There are a lot of additional web sites that have information for a fee.

www.achives.com
www.origins.net
www.ancestry.com  You can develop a family tree at no cost on the site.  Can I just say, thank you very much ancestry.com team for changing genealogy research forever.  (Remember that the people create the trees, is it fact or fiction, check your sources, verify the facts.)
www.footnote.com  I can’t list footnote without an atta boy.  They created footnote pages to honor our hero’s.  There is no charge to view or add to the footnote pages.  Take a look.  www.footnote.com/pages/  Is your ancestor listed there?  It’s a Wiki style site to honor our ancestors.  Go look now.
www.onegreatfamily.com

From www.findagrave.com a great memorial to the late Betty Ford. (Elizabeth Ann Bloomer)
Born April. 8, 1918 and died July 8, 2011.

First Lady of the United States of America. Born on April 8, 1918, she first married William Warren, before marrying future President Gerald Rudolph Ford in 1948. Together they had 4 children. She became First Lady following the resignation of President Richard Milhous Nixon, and served as the First Lady from August 8, 1974-January 20, 1977. In 1987 she released her autobiography entitled, "The Betty Ford Story" (1987), which was made into a movie the same year. The Betty Ford Center in Rancho Mirage, California, a well-known substance abuse clinic, was named in her honor.

July 4th from Footnote.com, a great resource

The United States lost two founding fathers and former presidents on July 4, 1826. Thomas Jefferson, age 83, died at his Monticello home. John Adams, age 90, died a few hours later in Quincy, Massachusetts. His last words were reportedly, “Thomas Jefferson survives,” as he had not yet heard of Jefferson’s death.

In this age of instant access, it’s hard to fathom how slowly word traveled before the telegraph, telephone, and internet. It wasn’t until over a month later, on August 14, 1826, that the news was picked up by The Times in London. The paper published extracts from newspapers which arrived in Liverpool via the ship Canada. One account, reprinted in The Times, tells of “regrets that cannot but mingle with our joy in such a singular dispensation of Providence, as the departure of Jefferson and Adams on the same day, and that day the first jubilee of our independence.”

The Times also ran a piece commemorating Adams and Jefferson the following day from a New York paper dated July 13, 1826.

As noted in the published account above, not only was the coincidence of two of our most important founding fathers dying on the same day remarkable, but the date was also the 50th anniversary of our nation’s most patriotic occasion, the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

Explore Related Items on Footnote

• American Milestone Documents
• Continental Congress - Papers
• Explore more about Adams and Jefferson

Funeral Records, What A Find

Do you have holes in your family tree?  As you fill in the family tree, you may get lucky and find more family history hidden in the funeral record.  There is a good deal of information on cemetery headstones.  I found the headstone of my great grandfather.  (I didn't really find it, my cousin found it and posted it on our family web site)  If you get a picture of the headstone, you are in luck.  Most of us walk away thankful for what we have.  However, dig a little deeper, while you are there, and look at the possibilities.  I find my great great grand fathers name and my great great grandmothers maiden name.  This is huge information.  My great grandfather was from Ireland.  This opened up a new avenue of research.  Cause of death Apoplexy.  This is not much help.  In early 1900 apoplexy had a lot of meanings.  I you lost consciousness and then died suddenly they called it apoplexy.  It could have been a heart attack,  ruptured cerebral aneurysms, an aortic aneurysm may have been the case with this one.  Many in my family suffer from aortic aneurysms.  Some funeral records that I have found even tell you how long the person was sick.  The occupation is even interesting.  My grand father was a stonecutter.  John E Farrell was his father in law.  He may have worked with him at some point, maybe even learned the trade from him.  The family story is becoming more clear with every bit of information that we find.  This one document filled a lot of holes.