Find A Grave, Anyone?

[Florita]

I think I've developed an addiction to Find A Grave. I'm starting to research families I'm not even related to just so I can link their gravesite memorials together. Anyone else doing this? I've always been a taphophile so getting into genealogy was a no-brainer and now Find A Grave is making cemetery research so easy. 

Does anyone else have this issue? Are any of you contributors?

[clueliss]

I've found it helpful.  But then I also did some digging online, found a listing for a cemetery in St. Louis - one that I cross referenced with copies of burial records someone in my family had.  Then went to this cemetery and walked the sucker a few years ago.  

I also found courtesy of the national archives the exact location of the grave of my grandmother's sister and brother in law (she is buried with him) in a military cemetery.  That is nifty because they give you a section and a headstone number.  

[Bethella]

I've used it for genealogy but I've also learned not to fully trust the information. The information on my grandfather's memorial is incorrect- he has a stone in the cemetery but it isn't where he's buried; in another case, we have a local "famous criminal" who is listed as being buried at the local prison which is where he died- but the local prison doesn't have a cemetery, he's buried in the public cemetery. 

[morri]

13 hours ago, Florita said:

I think I've developed an addiction to Find A Grave. I'm starting to research families I'm not even related to just so I can link their gravesite memorials together. Anyone else doing this? I've always been a taphophile so getting into genealogy was a no-brainer and now Find A Grave is making cemetery research so easy. 

Does anyone else have this issue? Are any of you contributors?

I am on wikitree... I put in my inlaws estranged family that I looked up on fb cough.

[Florita]

What I like about Find a Grave is the ability to make corrections for those bad dates and wrong cemeteries. I have an ancestor whose stone clearly reads 1834-1951. Um, no. She did not live to be 117. In fact she was born in 1832 and died in 1851. I suppose some well-meaning relative put the stone on her grave, but guessed at the dates? Idk.

[Mary C Doates]

I do photo requests for Find-A-Grave. It's really interesting--learn a lot about local history and burial/monument customs, plus I enjoy helping people fill in the blanks in their family trees. I live in an area with old cemeteries and burial grounds (with some dating back to the 1700's), so there's a lot of history!

[RosyDaisy]

There's an app for that. I use it all the time and love it.

[danvillebelle]

LOVE Find A Grave.  I have several virtual cemeteries on my account and when I used to live out in the sticks, I added some memorials from a little country cemetery close to me.  

There are also complete strangers on there who have contacted me when they happened to take photos of the gravesite of a family member or ancestor of mine.  We genealogy freaks are a good bunch of folks.  

 

[HerNameIsBuffy]

On 4/13/2016 at 1:11 AM, Bethella said:

I've used it for genealogy but I've also learned not to fully trust the information. The information on my grandfather's memorial is incorrect- he has a stone in the cemetery but it isn't where he's buried; in another case, we have a local "famous criminal" who is listed as being buried at the local prison which is where he died- but the local prison doesn't have a cemetery, he's buried in the public cemetery. 

I agree - interesting but need to verify.  I found my great-grandfathers and someone had posted his obit.  Very cool...until I read it.  Went on and on about the kids from his second wife and "and he had 3 children from a previous marriage who predeceased him."

No...one died as an infant, but since he died 20+ years before I was born and his daughters (my Grams and great aunt) died 20+ years AFTER I was born, I'm pretty sure they didn't go first.

I guess, "When his first wife died he abandoned his two little girls on his parents' doorstep to raise while he quickly remarried and went on to have 13 more kids with his second wife - never taking responsibility or even being more than a fleeting figure in the life of his eldest daughters.  Despite living in a small town where they had to go to school with their half siblings" doesn't look as good in an obit.

 

 

[GreyhoundFan]

I love Find A Grave. I've also corrected some erroneous info about friends and family members. I did get to reconnect with a distant cousin I hadn't seen since I was five. He saw that I had put virtual flowers on some of our shared family members' entries and reached out to me. We've been catching up and sharing pictures ever since.

[nana sew dear]

I am related to some "famous criminals"  and for some reason lots of other people want to be and will stretch the truth to get there.  I found a cousin on Find a Grave who is more than just a casual genealogist.  She has been working hard on this family and has downloaded volunteered raw DNA results.  When she is finished all sorts of mysteries and relationships will be revealed.

I don't mind when people want to research a famous or infamous person but have a hard time with misleading information.

 

[LadyCrow1313]

Through Find A Grave, my sister & I found my maternal great-grandmother, & she's in a local cemetery that I love to visit (& I'd actually passed by her spot many, many times without knowing it; our maternal great-grandfather is in the cemetery next to hers, but we have no idea w/how to find him (unless we contact the cemetery office).

She also found our paternal grandmother in a place in Connecticut, so we've got plans to head over there at some point.

Also thanks to Find A Grave, I've been able to find the grave of a high school friend that had committed suicide while we were sophomores in high school; it's been 30+ years since he died, & I would like to visit his stone at least once.

I love that the website has pictures of headstones, but it's sometimes (almost) impossible to locate the actual stone you're looking for.

[PennySycamore]

I haven't used Find a Grave to genealogy purposes yet, but I do often look at the Find a Grave entries for celebrities.  As a matter of fact, I just looked at the Find a Grave for  actress  and singer Priscilla Lane who is in the movie Daughters Courageous with Claude Rains.  (Priscilla is buried in Arlington alongside her husband.)  Now I'll have to try looking for my ancestor's graves on Find a Grave.

One of my best friends growing up lived about a block from the town cemetery in Walhalla, SC.  We used to spend a lot of time in the cemetery, reading headstones, talking and occasionally riding our bikes.  No wonder I like Find a Grave so much!

[LadyCrow1313]

3 hours ago, PennySycamore said:

I haven't used Find a Grave to genealogy purposes yet, but I do often look at the Find a Grave entries for celebrities.  As a matter of fact, I just looked at the Find a Grave for  actress  and singer Priscilla Lane who is in the movie Daughters Courageous with Claude Rains.  (Priscilla is buried in Arlington alongside her husband.)  Now I'll have to try looking for my ancestor's graves on Find a Grave.

One of my best friends growing up lived about a block from the town cemetery in Walhalla, SC.  We used to spend a lot of time in the cemetery, reading headstones, talking and occasionally riding our bikes.  No wonder I like Find a Grave so much!

With regards to celebrities, President Chester Arthur is buried in the same cemetery as my great-grandmother (plus there's a whole plethora of other politicians/historical figures there as well). Mia Farrow's mother (Maureen O'Sullivan) is buried at another local cemetery, & it's a very nice, not outrageous headstone.

[cindyluvs24]

My mother's father is buried in the same section as actor Joseph Wiseman(Dr.No). For some reason I find that very cool.

[47of74]

I've been a member for 15 years now.  I used to be into it quite a bit but not quite as much as I used to be.  I've added about 1,500 memorials.  I still add memorials of family members when they pass so that someone in the family has control over them.  

One of my high school classmates is buried in the same cemetery that one of the actor from the movie Cocoon is buried in. 

My maternal grandmother's parents were buried just a few spots down from my paternal grandmother's maternal grandparents.  I always thought this was sort of a neat coincidence given that the burials had taken place many years before my parents met.  

[ColeJo]

I recently started getting into Find A Grave. I only manage my grandma and grandpa's page at the moment. There is a minor issue with some of the pages my great- grandma's record only shows the grave where she was originally buried not the current gravesite as she was moved to be with her husband. However, I just now got to her record and found the record was changed last month.

The issue is that the records cannot be updated in a timely fashion and the issue exists about making sure the information is right.

[unholypoledancer]

I've had major success in Find A Grave for my in-laws. My husband really doesn't know much except for when his dad died and maybe a couple of other details. Find A Grave has been instrumental in completing the family tree, esp. since his Grandma has been married a couple of times, so it gets a little confusing.