Where the Bodies Are Buried, Part 2

The fastest and easiest way to let my relatives know where ancestors are buried is to create a virtual cemetery on Find a Grave and email the link. I described that process in my previous post, Part 1 of this series. I've continued to add to my virtual cemeteries, because it takes only a few clicks to add a lot of ancestors.

In Part 2, I'm experimenting with other ways of documenting ancestors' burial places so this vital genealogical information is more likely to be remembered in the future. One is a paperback workbook published a few months ago, and the other is my own experiment (spoiler alert: not a complete success).

"Family History Record Book of Deaths and Burials"

Sheridan Parsons, who I met during #AncestryHour Twitter chats, has created and published a handy workbook for documenting death and burial information. "Family History Record Book of Deaths and Burials" is available in paperback from Amazon and highly affordable (under $10). 

The book provides space for jotting down a lot of details about each ancestor. Not just name/date/place of death and burial, but also officiant, undertaker, headstone or cremation, and so forth. You can also list notices that appeared in newspapers, with source citations. The book has space for a highly complete record of each burial!

This paperback is light and portable, just right for taking along on cemetery visits.  If you want to "look inside the book" for sample pages, click to see Sheridan's book here. I like the idea of the book itself being passed to the next generation so these names, dates, and details aren't forgotten. And the heir who gets this book will know what your writing looks like, a nice plus because you will be jotting details by hand.

Pedigree chart becomes burial location experiment

At top, a National Archives pedigree chart that I imported into PowerPoint and embellished to create an illustrated burial location document. I kept the basic structure showing my father's direct line (including his father, mother, maternal grandparents). 

Instead of birth, marriage, and death details, I typed in the main burial details and added a photo for each grave (from my own collection, not copied from elsewhere). I can export from PowerPoint into another type of document if I choose. Here, I took a screen shot (and I can print from it).

Pros: Basic format is familiar, able to add photos for visual interest, can add color to make details stand out. Cons: Only direct line shows on a pedigree chart. Also, space is quite limited, and not able to summarize by cemetery.

In short, this is only an experiment and a work in progress. Not sure I'll make another for other families, but I enjoyed the creative process even if the result is not a complete success.

My next post in this series will show another experiment, a sortable Word document that can be printed and/or emailed. I think this approach will work out better for me and for recipients! More soon.