Find a Grave Member for 12 Years

Today is my 12th anniversary of joining Find a Grave to add ancestor memorials, link ancestors to parents/siblings/children, post photos, post bite-sized bios, indicate which ancestors were veterans, offer suggested edits to improve memorials others have created, and use the site for cousin bait. All for free!

Above, my member profile page. Initially, I added a photo to personalize the page, then later added a "bio" listing the main ancestor branches I'm researching. Note that the profile offers the option of listing a "home page" - which, for me, is this genealogy blog. This makes it easy (and free) for cousins and surname researchers to contact me.

Another advantage of Find a Grave (owned by Ancestry) is that its memorials are included in search results on a number of major genealogy platforms, extending the reach of my ancestor memorial pages.

For convenience, I've created a number of virtual cemeteries in which I grouped listings of memorials for my paternal ancestors, my maternal ancestors, hubby's paternal ancestors, hubby's maternal ancestors, and related families. I can share the URL of these virtual cemeteries with relatives who are interested in knowing where family members were buried.

Over the years, several cousins and FAN club members (friends, associates, neighbors of my ancestors) have gotten in touch with me via Find a Grave's messaging feature. And I've connected with a couple of distant cousins because I discovered memorials they had made for our mutual ancestors and I sent them a message.

As I conduct research, I really appreciate when I find a memorial for one of my ancestors and see that someone has carefully photographed the grave, transcribed the info, and maybe even added a couple of extra pieces of info. I've also requested grave photos a few times, and had most of these requests fulfilled. I've thanked these volunteers privately, but this is my public thank-you to the many thousands of volunteers who add memorials and photos on Find a Grave.

Let me say that I entirely agree with the criticisms of Find a Grave for not preventing memorial pages from being created immediately after reports of peopling being killed in a terrible crime or disaster. There must be technical fixes to stop this, and by now, after years of criticism and outrage, it should be a top priority.

For myself, even after a dozen years, I continue to use Find a Grave every week, sometimes every day, to search for clues on memorial pages or add details to improve my ancestors' memorial pages for the sake of future generations.

V Is For Veteran

Although Veterans Day has come and gone, I'm still submitting edits or making edits on Find a Grave to designate the veterans in my family tree. It's a way of honoring my ancestors who served in the military, memorialized on a site that is free, searchable, and accessible worldwide. 

At top, the edit screen for my cousin Harry Pitler's Find a Grave memorial, which I created and maintain. To edit, I moved the veteran designation to indicate Harry was a veteran. Once I clicked "save changes," the memorial showed a tiny V next to his name, as in the screen capture directly above.

For memorials I don't manage, I submit edits. Below, the "suggest edits" screen for my cousin Michael Marks. I moved the designation marker to indicate that Michael was a veteran and clicked "save suggestions." This edit will be sent to the person who maintains Michael's memorial on Find a Grave. Since Michael's gravestone lists his military service, I'm sure the veteran designation will be quickly approved and visible on his memorial page. UPDATE: Less than 24 hours later, this and all other "veteran" designation edits I submitted were approved!

When you have a few minutes, why don't you take a look at the Find a Grave memorials for your ancestors who served in the military. If they are not designated as veterans, you can submit edits to add the V for Veteran on their memorials, as another way to honor their service to country. 

Bite-Sized Bios Show Up in Search Results!

 

I've been writing bite-sized bios of ancestors in my family tree and my husband's family tree and posting to multiple websites. Why? Because LOCKSS (lots of copies keeps stuff safe). I don't want these ancestors' names and lives to be forgotten in the future . . . posting brief bios now is part of my plan to keep family history safe for today and tomorrow.

Earlier today, I did an online search for my husband's paternal grandfather, James Edgar Wood (1871-1939), and my bite-sized bios turned up in the first 40 search results. As shown above, this includes both WikiTree profiles and Find a Grave memorial pages!

Not only are bios an excellent way to memorialize ancestors, they also serve as very good cousin bait. Anyone who clicks on these two results will see me as the page manager and be able to send me a note. I've posted bite-sized bios on FamilySearch and other genealogy websites as well.

Little by little, I'm continuing my bite-sized bio project, also memorializing siblings/spouses/in-laws of my ancestors, and making sure to include those who had no descendants. 

So Many Sites to Memorialize Ancestors

After 25 years of genealogy research, I've learned a lot about my ancestors--and I want to be sure this information isn't lost in the years to come.

For the past few years, I've been writing bite-sized ancestor bios and posting on key genealogy sites. The idea is to share family history more widely, and bios are also possible cousin bait. 

Above, four websites where I've posted the same bio and photo of my paternal grandmother, Henrietta "Yetta" Mahler Burk (1881-1954). 

Clockwise, from top left:

WikiTree is a free collaborative tree site that's growing fast and has the added benefits of sources and (if you wish) DNA connections. I also appreciate the ability to link to profile pages for each parent, each child, each spouse, each sibling. Plus WikiTreers are a friendly bunch!

MyHeritage.com is a subscription site that designates a place on each ancestor profile for a biography. If you want to learn more about how to post a bite-sized bio on MyHeritage, please read my article in the Knowledge Base. Bonus: MyHeritage has many nifty photo tools for enhancing/repairing/colorizing old family photos.

FamilySearch.org came online in 1999 and is the world's largest free collaborative tree site. Grandma Henrietta is well represented with photo, bio, research. A great site, and I'm glad that MyHeritage includes FamilySearch tree results when I research my ancestors.

Find a Grave, now owned by Ancestry, is another free place to post ancestor bios. I especially like that the 226 million+ memorial pages from this site are indexed and appear in search results on Ancestry, Family Search, Fold3, and more. 

Reader Diane asks whether I'm going to use Ancestry's new Storymaker Studio or MyHeritage's DeepStory for telling ancestors' stories. I tried DeepStory, and found it engaging but I do need more experimentation to refine the story and choose the right ancestor photo. It would intrigue the younger generation, but it can't be put on the bookshelf like a photobook, ready at any time for any audience. So far, I haven't yet tried Storymaker Studio but it's on my list to investigate this year.

PLUS: On Ancestry, there is a convenient space under "LifeStory" to type or paste in a full bio! I just did that for Henrietta Mahler Burk, as shown above. Another great way to share family history in narrative form.

Happy 142d birthday, Grandma Yetta, on May 9th. Your name, face, and life story are not forgotten! I'm currently creating a professional photobook about you and Grandpa Isaac, as a keepsake for your grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

LOCKSS via Find a Grave

After I join my ancestors, I don't want my family history to be forgotten or lost. That's why I've been sharing far and wide, knowing that LOCKSS - lots of copies keep stuff safe.

In addition to documenting my family tree and hubby's family tree on multiple websites, I've made Find a Grave a big part of my LOCKSS plan. Membership in Find a Grave is free: register, create a member profile (you can list surnames you're researching, great cousin bait!), and get started. 

Create memorials, link relatives, add bios

I'm steadily going through my trees and checking for Find a Grave memorials. I add a page for ancestors who have none, when I know where those people were buried (or cremated or memorialized on a cenotaph, like hubby's cousin here). Little by little, I'm also adding bite-sized bios, as shown on hubby's cousin's page.

If a memorial already exists, I link the memorial pages of ancestors who were related to each other. That way the memorial will show an ancestor's parents/spouse/children/sibling(s) as family context--and clues for other researchers. This also gives me a push to conduct a bit of research if I'm missing a date or a relationship.

Nearly all the memorial managers I've dealt with have approved my edits quickly and completely. The wonderful manager whose bio I show here holds a few ancestral memorials from my tree. He's posted all suggested edits within a day or two, and also made one transfer at my request. He is the ideal manager IMHO. I've heard so so many complaints about managers who won't transfer memorials, won't make edits, but rarely have I had a bad experience and I'm not easily deterred from my mission of LOCKSS.

Once or twice I had to explain my edits to a memorial manager by showing documentation. For instance, when there was no headstone, I proved someone's name was wrong in the cemetery's index and the manager changed the page. This doesn't happen often, but I can understand a manager striving for accuracy might want to know "how I know."

On the other hand, I disagreed with an edit suggested by a researcher trying to be helpful. The edit suggested adding "Jr" to the ancestor's name because his father was "Sr." Um, the younger guy had a different middle name than his dad AND never in his life did he use the "Jr" suffix (lots of documentation on this guy). We had a polite exchange of messages when I rejected the proposed "Jr" change, explaining my reasoning and thanking the researcher for other edits I did approve.

Find a Grave index is widely available

Now back to LOCKSS. At top is a screen shot of the Ancestry catalog entry for Find a Grave. This, this, is a big reason why I invest so much time in Find a Grave. 

See how many millions upon millions of Find a Grave memorials are indexed and searchable on Ancestry?

Anyone researching an ancestor of mine via Ancestry is highly likely to see a link to the Find a Grave memorial page. They'll fill out their tree, and may even connect with me to share info (remember my Find a Grave profile shows surnames researched). My ancestors on multiple Ancestry trees--LOCKSS.

FamilySearch also makes the Find a Grave index available on its free website. Millions of people use FamilySearch--meaning any of them could potentially notice the Find a Grave memorial I created OR a link to a relative on Find a Grave. Quite a powerful incentive to add my ancestors to Find a Grave and improve existing memorial pages!

Is Find a Grave perfect? Of course not, and there are any number of legitimate concerns. But the many pluses make it an important part of my plan for LOCKSS, which is why I'm an active member.

"Membership" is Amy Johnson Crow's genealogy prompt for week 12 of #52Ancestors. 

Too Many Aunts and Uncles on Find a Grave?

 

My maternal grandmother had 10 siblings, and my paternal grandmother had 8 siblings. Most of these people married, so I'm a niece (and great-niece) by marriage as well. That's a lot of aunts, uncles, great aunts, and great uncles. 

I've been honoring their memory by not only adding them to my family trees but also creating or improving memorial pages on Find a Grave. This includes linking my ancestors' memorial pages to the pages of their parents, siblings, and children.

When I add a new memorial page, Find a Grave asks whether I'm a close relative. I answer yes and then click the box to reflect the kind of relationship. As shown directly above, the "niece/nephew" box also includes an option for "great-niece/great-nephew."

For the first time yesterday, I discovered that Find a Grave limits how many people a single user can claim in a niece or nephew relationship. At top of this post, you can see the notice displayed on Find a Grave when I attempted to have my niece relationship displayed on the memorial page of an uncle who died in the 1980s--someone I'd known and hugged.

Find a Grave's explanation is:

We limit the number of memorials you can manage within each relationship type to help prevent abuse.

There is an option to appeal to the support center...which I may do at some point. For now, at least I'm the manager of these memorial pages and can add bite-sized bios, photos, etc. 

Check out Fold3 Links on Find a Grave Memorials

If you have military veterans in your family tree, take a look at the bottom of their Find a Grave memorials. More and more now have a direct link (see orange arrow) from Find a Grave to that veteran's Fold3 memorial page. 

This little link can lead to interesting genealogical information! It's there because Find a Grave and Fold3 are both owned by Ancestry.com.

Fold3 memorial pages are FREE

Go ahead and click the link leading to Fold3--because a memorial page is completely free to view (or create or improve).

Above is part of the Fold3 memorial page for Union Army veteran Train C. McClure, which popped up when I clicked the link from Find a Grave. I can navigate to facts (shown in timeline format), stories, gallery, and sources. 

In the facts section, you'll see that the sources of both the birth date and birth place are 1 Fgv Document. Translation: one Find a Grave page. 

What are the sources?

In the sources section of this memorial page, there are two records attached (see below). 

One is Civil War info from Fold3, and the other is the Find a Grave memorial for Pvt Train C. McClure, marked as a Fgv Document. Since Pvt McClure is in my husband's family tree, I examined everything in detail.

Other documents, images, even photos may be attached to a veteran's Fold3 memorial page, so definitely click to see what you can learn. Save whatever you can to your own computer, attach to your family trees, and follow up any clues.

Genealogical Corrections Are Good Practice, Not BSOs

As I participate in NaGenWriMo and write family history this month, I have multiple tabs open on my browser: my family trees (Ancestry, MyHeritage, WikiTree, FamilySearch), plus my blog, and Find a Grave.

Ordinarily, I would make a note of any intriguing clues discovered as I write, and keep going with my project, not to be derailed by a bright shiny object (BSO). 

But when I see an error that I can help correct, it's not a bright shiny object but an opportunity to follow good genealogical practice. For the sake of other researchers and family historians, I don't want inaccurate info to be perpetuated. 

Take the Find a Grave memorial page at top. Poor ole George is one of a series of Georges in multiple generations of my husband's Wood family. 

Now I don't know who linked the family members on George's memorial page, but one is incorrect. 

By reading the dates and not just the names, the error jumps out! Was the mother really born two years after the son?? The mother who was linked belongs to another George in another generation, I recognized after a moment.

I immediately sent a correction to the manager of this memorial page, providing the actual mother's memorial number. Within three hours, the correction was online. 

It's only the first week of my NaGenWriMo quest. What other errors will I notice? 

Friday and Saturday: WikiTree Symposium and WikiTree Day

On November 4 and 5, you're invited to hours and hours of free genealogy talks celebrating WikiTree's 14th anniversary. You can attend any or all sessions and learn from the experts!

Two sessions not to miss are the panel discussions about the future of genealogy with Eowyn Langholf (facilitator), Chris Whitten, Mags Gaulden, Daniel Loftus, Rob Warthen, Roberta Estes and Amy Johnson Crow. Also panel discussion with Eowyn facilitating and panelists Mags Gaulden, Jen Baldwin, LaBrenda Garrett-Nelson, Kathryn Lake Hogan, and Thomas MacEntee.

You can join in some fun activities, including Bingo, trivia, and more. 

It's an honor to be speaking during the November 4th Symposium, at 10 am.

My talk, "Genealogical Clues and Cousin Bait on Find a Grave," was presented live and then available for 30 days on YouTube, where nearly 800 people viewed it.

Thank you to WikiTree!

Why I'm Staying with FindaGrave

Despite the many criticisms of FindaGrave.com, I'm sticking with it. 

There are valid criticisms, to be sure, as this post by "Legal Genealogist" Judy Russell shows. Rather than throw the baby out with the bath water and stop participating because some volunteers misuse FindaGrave, I'm choosing the other path. 

I'm doubling down to improve the memorials of ancestors and in-laws in my family tree and my husband's family tree. 

The site, now owned by Ancestry, is completely free and available worldwide. 

Not every cemetery on the planet is represented, and certainly not every burial site or columbarium. 

Still, FindaGrave has long been a convenient site for me to memorialize ancestors, link relatives to other family members, and create virtual cemeteries so I can share with my own family. It's genealogy but it's also a whole lot more.

On Memorial Day and Veterans' Day, I like to leave virtual flowers or flags on the  memorial pages of ancestors (mine and hubby's) who served in the military, honoring their memory and service. 

Above, three generations of my husband's Larimer cousins who served their country, one in the Union Army, one in World War I, and one in the Korean and Vietnam Wars.

All were memorialized on FindaGrave by other volunteers who took the time to photograph grave stones and list the names. Picking up from there, other volunteers (including me) have linked these men to their spouses, parents, and children, and in some cases, written bite-sized bios to add more detail about their lives. 

In my view, virtual memorials help keep alive the names of these ancestors and make info about their burial places (and their lives) discoverable for anyone doing a search. 

For me, this is a great way to share family history now and to publicly show my respect for those who came before me. That's why I'm staying with FindaGrave, despite the ongoing and quite valid criticisms and definite need for improvement. I will also add my voice to the chorus letting Ancestry know about the need to take action and address misuse of its FindaGrave platform.

What's Wrong with This Picture?

One of the most famous gravestone typos of all time is on a stone at the Old Mission Cemetery in Upper Sandusky, Ohio. 

My hubby's grandparents are buried in Old Mission (Brice Larimer McClure and Floyda Steiner McClure), which is how we happened to see and photograph the headstone shown here.

Can you spot the mistake?

The Find a Grave memorial for Christiana Haag offers more info here.

In my family tree, the headstone for a great uncle shows an incorrect date--a discrepancy I discovered when I obtained his death cert. 

This stone with a typo is a great reminder: Even if a name, date, or age is "carved in stone," we still need to check and confirm!

This photo is, as my friend says, "a grave mistake."

Bite-Sized Ancestor Bios on Find a Grave--Sometime Soon?

One of my passions is to keep family history alive for the sake of future generations and for future researchers. After years of research, I'm sharing what I know now by posting bite-sized ancestor biographies on multiple websites. 

This is part of the PASS process described in my updated book, Planning a Future for Your Family's Past (available on Amazon, in the book store at American Ancestors.org, and in the book store at the Newberry Library).

Lots of copies keep stuff safe

At top, the bite-sized bio I wrote about my husband's maternal grandfather, Brice Larimer McClure (1878-1970). After sharing within the family, I've posted this on Family Search, My Heritage, and WikiTree. The idea is to share this ancestor's story widely, in public, so those who come after can learn more about his life. 

I'm applying the LOCKSS principle--the concept that "lots of copies keep stuff safe." With lots of copies, it's less likely that genealogical and biographical information will be forgotten or lost or otherwise become inaccessible as time goes on.

Not yet on Find a Grave 

For the past year, I've been trying--unsuccessfully--to have this ancestor's bio posted to the memorial page on Find a Grave. 

Find a Grave is free, it's worldwide in scope, and it's another suitable place to share info about ancestors.

Image at right shows how the memorial page currently looks. Notice that I took the photo of Brice's grave and posted it years ago. 

The brief bio currently on the page was not written by me. It's not just incomplete, it's inaccurate.

I've posted other ancestral bios on Find a Grave, both on memorial pages that I manage and through the courtesy of non-relatives who manage my ancestors' pages. However, I haven't yet been able to get Brice's posted. 

Following Find a Grave's policies

Beginning in January of 2021, I submitted edits multiple times to the current manager of this memorial. Repeatedly. To date, I've had no response. I see the current manager has more than 440,000 memorials, and that person's profile mentions how much time it takes to plow through edits and requests for transfer.

Still, 13 months seems way too long to wait for edits to be posted or a transfer to be completed (with a click). I've even explained to the current manager, at least once, that Brice and Floyda are my husband's maternal grandparents. 

According to Find a Grave's policies, someone who manages a memorial page that is NOT of their ancestor is supposed to transfer to a relative, upon request. You can read those policies here. 

Now I'm giving Find a Grave an opportunity to stop the 13-month logjam and expedite the transfer of Brice's and Floyda's pages to me. I wrote the support folks, as Find a Grave says to do, and briefly explained why I want to manage those memorial pages and how I've attempted to have accurate bios posted for months, to no avail. 

(March 8 update: No response yet) (March 21 update: Find a Grave said, in a tweet: "We are processing a large backlog at this time. We apologize in advance for a delay in response; we are responding as soon as we can. Thank you for your patience while we process the mail we have received. Please know we are giving each request our full attention."

March 29 update: Partial success!! Find a Grave made me the manager of my Dad's memorial. Now I'm hoping they'll transfer hubby's grandparents in just as timely a manner. TY to Find a Grave.

My goal is to keep alive the memory of these ancestors, not just for descendants but also for other genealogical researchers. And I don't give up easily! Readers, I'll keep you posted about what happens. 

Branching Out to Look Up and Link Ancestors

Part of my genealogical routine is after I look up ancestors on Ancestry, Family Search, and other sites, I link them to siblings, spouses, and children on Find a Grave. 

The process of looking up ancestors and branching out to their extended families has led me to new information and even new-to-me sources.

New to me: Canadian Headstones

Yesterday when I looked up one of my husband's Canadian ancestors on Ancestry, I noticed a different database show up with clues to burial place/dates.

Shown here is the results page from Ancestry informing me that this Slatter gravestone can be viewed on CanadianHeadstones. I clicked to view the picture and the transcription, and I compared the details with what I know about that family. Eureka--a good match from a resource I'd never before used. Of course I'm going to be plugging in other ancestor names to search for more headstones in Canada. But first...

Search and link

After saving this result to all three of the Slatter ancestors mentioned in the gravestone transcription, I looked for these ancestors in my virtual cemeteries on Find a Grave. I expected to find Glynn Edward Slatter (1906-1974), my hubby's cousin through his maternal grandmother, Mary Slatter Wood (1869-1925). 

Glynn wasn't in my virtual cemetery of Wood and Slatter ancestors, because his memorial page on Find a Grave was added only last month. I quickly added him.

Next, I searched out the memorial for Glynn's wife, Kathryn Eileen Matthewson Slatter (also created only last month!) and submitted an edit to link the two as spouses.

My search of the same cemetery on Find a Grave turned up no memorial for Glynn and Kathryn's son David. He was, however, clearly listed on the photo of their gravestone on CanadianHeadstones. 

Based on that info, I created a page for David and then linked him to his parents. All are in my virtual cemetery. And all are now available to the world on Find a Grave, linked by relationship.

"Branching out" is this week's #Genealogy #52Ancestors prompt from Amy Johnson Crow. 

 

Memorializing Little Ones Who Died Young

I admit it--I get a bit teary-eyed thinking of the babes in my family tree who died too young. I want their names to live on, by putting them on public family trees and making sure their burial places are recorded.

How Miriam wound up in hubby's family tree

Today I'm focusing on Miriam Louise Wise (1925-1926). This little girl's father was Clifford "Buck" Wise (1895-1963) and her mother was Edith Macklin Wise (1897-1947). After Miriam's early death, Clifford and Edith were happy to welcome a second daughter, Janice (1927-1988), bringing light back into their lives, as I know from family letters. 

Clifford was widowed in 1947 and the following year, he married my father-in-law's first cousin, Edith Eleanor Baker (1901-1989), who became a devoted and loving stepmom to Janice. This connection with the Wise family is how little Miriam Louise Wise wound up in my hubby's family tree.

Making sure Miriam is remembered

Miriam's parents (both on my family tree already) are buried in Acacia Masonic Memorial Park Cemetery in Mayfield Hts, Ohio, and memorialized on Find a Grave. But until now, I hadn't looked carefully for Miriam's final resting place.

By searching for "more Wise Memorials" in the same cemetery, I came upon a memorial page for "Marian Wise," birth/death unknown (see image above). The plot is exactly where Miriam's parents are buried. 

My conclusion: Marian is surely Miriam. Interestingly, the obit in the Fremont Daily Messenger (which I've ordered*) calls her Mariam Louise Wise, but the Ohio death index lists her as Miriam. Family letters also call her Miriam. 

Her now revised memorial page is on Find a Grave. 

This reflects edits I submitted to the memorial page's manager, correcting Miriam's name and including her dates. I also posted an image of Miriam's name in the death index. And I posted Miriam's sweet baby photo, as shown.

Miriam is already on the tree at FamilySearch and on two Ancestry public trees, courtesy of relatives in the Wise family. I'm adding her to all my Wood family trees over time. 

It's comforting that Miriam will not be forgotten, because her name and dates are documented in more than one place by more than one person. Rest in peace, little Miriam.

* Turns out, the obit does name this baby correctly as Miriam Louise Wise. She died of "telescoping of the bowels" (causing dangerous blockage). Doctors operated, unsuccessfully, sad to say. 

This post is my "May Day" for The Genealogy Blog Party, 2022.

Two More Reasons to Create Virtual Cemeteries on FindaGrave

So far, I've created five virtual cemeteries on the free, worldwide, Ancestry-owned website FindaGrave.com. 

See my detailed post here about how and why to create a virtual cemetery on FindaGrave.

I've named each virtual cemetery and for some, I've added a brief description ("Descendants of Solomon Elias Burk and..."). Others will get a description very soon.

Names and descriptions help relatives and researchers who want to browse these memorials.

Now I want to point out two more reasons--two very good reasons!--for creating a virtual cemetery on FindaGrave.

Reason 1: Quickly go to a memorial 

Often, I access an ancestor's FindaGrave by clicking a link on my Ancestry family tree. 

If I'm not working on my Ancestry tree at the moment, I just go to my listing of virtual cemeteries on FindaGrave and locate a particular memorial that way. Fast and easy! 

I'm accessing many more of my memorials these days as I compose and post brief, bite-sized bios on FindaGrave and other websites. How easy it is to simply click on my virtual cemetery, see a memorial, and note which still need bite-sized bios.

Reason 2: Return to a memorial to see what's new

Just today I returned to a memorial I haven't accessed in months...and discovered that someone left a flower two weeks ago! In fact, looking at linked memorials, I saw this person left a flower on more than one of my ancestor's pages. Cousin bait?!

I immediately checked that person's FindaGrave profile page, found no listing of surnames, and sent a polite message (saying thank you for leaving a flower, and please let me know whether you're related to my ancestor). Fingers crossed that perhaps this is a distant cousin or someone in the FAN Club (friends, associates, neighbors).

Note I don't manage every one of my ancestor memorials (nor all of my hubby's ancestor memorials). As long as they're in good hands, I'm usually content to simply submit edits, including bite-sized bios. Other people also submit edits to these memorials on occasion (Census data, maiden names, etc). 

That's why it's always worthwhile checking back to see what's new. With my virtual cemeteries, I'm only a click away from any ancestor memorial.

Where the Bodies Are Buried, at a Glance

 

A key aspect of planning a future for my family's past is to be sure relatives know where the bodies are buried. Literally.

Ancestors memorialized on Find a Grave

Over the years, I've been creating and/or improving memorials on FindaGrave for ancestors who are gone but not forgotten. The site is free and easy to access.

Also, I began gathering memorial pages into a virtual cemetery for each line (or intermarried families) on my family tree and my hubby's family tree.

It's quick and not complicated to create a virtual cemetery. FindaGrave has instructions here.

Then, with a virtual cemetery, I can (1) post a link to that page within my online trees, (2) include a link to that page with bite-sized bios I write and distribute or post, and (3) send relatives a link to that page so they can see which ancestors are buried where.

Virtual cemetery tour

A virtual cemetery also shows some key info at a glance.

The image at top is part of a virtual cemetery I created for my husband's intermarried Wood and Slatter families (that's the catchy title of this virtual cemetery).

Each memorial page in the virtual cemetery includes the ancestor's name, dates, and cemetery details.*

For convenience, I sort my virtual cemeteries by surname, alphabetically. But the memorials in a virtual cemetery are also sortable by how recently each was added and by cemetery. 

If any photo is on the memorial, a thumbnail of the main photo appears in this virtual cemetery listing.

Look closely and see, in grey, the FindaGrave memorial ID number. If I want to correspond with another user or with FindaGrave about a particular memorial, I can refer to that ID number.

Another handy feature: A small blue dot indicates whether I'm the manager of a particular memorial. In the image at top, I don't manage the memorial for Adelaide Mary Slatter Baker but I do manage the memorial for Jane Ann Wood Black.

*Remember, this is only the info that has been entered into FindaGrave. If it's incorrect or incomplete, you can submit edits or--if you manage that memorial--you can make the changes yourself. Don't forget to link ancestors to their spouses, children, and parents!

Try a virtual cemetery

FindaGrave is available all over the world, both for adding memorials and for improving memorials with bite-sized biographies, Census data, grave and personal photos, family links, and more. 

Do consider creating a virtual cemetery to organize the final resting places of ancestors, so future generations will know where the bodies are buried.

Debuting New Talks at Two Genealogy Conferences

During the last two months of 2021, I'll be debuting new presentations at two virtual genealogy conferences.

Virtual Genealogical Association

In November, I'm honored to be speaking at the Virtual Genealogical Association's 2021 Conference. 

This much-anticipated event will have 6 live talks on November 13th and 15 prerecorded talks, a total of 21 presentations available for viewing for the next six months. Download the detailed syllabus and watch presentations whenever you wish, even in your bunny slippers. 

My topic is: Get ready for the 1950 US Census -- a treasure trove of family history! I'll show, step by step, exactly how to browse the unindexed Census pages to find your ancestors when the Census population schedule is released on April 1, 2022. Plus I'll explain the interesting questions and quirks of the Census questionnaire and enumerator instructions. You'll come away with specific ideas for how to get started and what to look for on the Census pages next April.

THE Genealogy Show

In December, I'm delighted to participate as a virtual speaker at THE Genealogy Show. This affordable event begins on December 3, and all talks will be recorded and available until January 4, 2022. 

My topic is: Genealogy clues and cousin bait on Find a Grave. I'll demonstrate tips and tricks for getting the most out of Find a Grave, including how to analyze every element on a memorial page and how to use the source of a memorial or a flower as possible cousin bait. Enjoy this practical, how-to presentation.

Hope to see you at one of these upcoming genealogy conferences.

Try This Cousin Bait Trick on Find a Grave

FindaGrave.com has valuable features that can function as cousin bait. 

The site, owned by Ancestry, has 190 million+ memorial pages spanning the globe. 

To take advantage of the features, just register for free and sign in.

This is Family History Month, a good time to memorialize our ancestors' final resting places and improve their memorial pages...

One trick: Have you ever noticed the flowers or flags left at the bottom of a memorial page? 

Flowers as cousin bait

Above is a flower with a brief message that I left on one ancestor's memorial page,  identifying how I'm related to this man. Free cousin bait for anyone who looks at the bottom of that page! 

If you notice a flower or flag on a memorial page of your ancestor, read the message and click to see who left it. Maybe a relative left that flower. 

Any text shown in blue is clickable--such as the name of the user who is the source of the flower. Clicking to see the source of a flower or flag lets you learn more about that user. Did I mention this is all free for registered users?

Go to the source: user profile

If you click on M Wood as the source of the flower shown at top, you'll see my user profile page on Find a Grave. Similarly, if you click on W. Wood as the source of the flag posted at bottom of a memorial page for my husband's distant cousin, you'll be taken to my user profile page (since I left it in his name). 

On my user profile page, I list some of the surnames/locations that I'm researching. 

More than once, a possible cousin has clicked to see my profile, noticed a family-tree connection, and sent a message.

Similarly, if I find the memorial of an ancestor on Find a Grave, I look to see who's left a flower and click on the source. 

This trick has worked for me, putting me in touch with relatives and other people researching my ancestors. Maybe it will work for you? Try it during Family History Month!

This trick and others are explained in my new presentation, "Genealogical Clues and Cousin Bait on Find a Grave." 

-- My blog post for the October Genealogy Blog Party!

Decoration Day at the Cemetery, 1961

Decoration Day was originally a day set aside in May for putting flowers on the graves of those who died in the U.S. Civil War. 

Then, 50 years ago, in 1971, the U.S. Congress declared Memorial Day as a national holiday for honoring those who died in all wars, fixed on the last Monday in May. 

Decoration Day, 1961

My late father-in-law (Edgar James Wood, 1903-1986) and mother-in-law (Marian McClure Wood, 1909-1983) always observed Decoration Day by driving from their home in Cleveland, Ohio, to bring flowers to cemeteries where their parents and other ancestors were buried. 

For the Wood family, decorating graves on this day was part of honoring and remembering loved ones who had died, not necessarily in war. 

As shown at top, Edgar's diary for May 29, 1961 discussed decorating the joint grave of his parents at Highland Park Cemetery in Cleveland, Ohio: "...M [his wife Marian] & I stopped at Highland Park Cemetery & decorated grave, then to Marty's Turfside for dinner." 

His diary for the following day recorded a visit to historic Old Mission Cemetery in Upper Sandusky, Ohio, where Marian's mother and great aunts/uncles were buried. They picked up Marian's father to make the trip together. 

After decorating the grave, they had a picnic lunch at the cemetery and stopped to see nearby relatives before returning home. Marian's father was laid to rest in Old Mission Cemetery in 1970. Hubby and I traveled to Old Mission Cemetery a few years ago to pay our respects to the McClure and Steiner ancestors buried there.

Digital Decoration Day, 2021

This year, we are leaving digital flowers on the Find a Grave memorials for ancestors whose graves were decorated by Edgar and Marian on Decoration Day, 60 years ago. 

Rest in peace, dear ancestors, you are remembered with fondness. 

--

"At the Cemetery" is this week's theme for #52Ancestors. 

More Bite-Sized Bios for Veteran Ancestors

With Memorial Day on the way, I'm writing bite-sized bios for ancestors who served in the military. These are focused little projects that I can complete and share in a short time.

Also, I'm thinking creatively about other ways to remember vets in my family tree and show appreciation for their service.

Memorial Page for Louis Volk

At right, part of a Memorial Page I created on Fold3.com to honor the life and military service of my great uncle Louis Volk (1889-1952), who married my grandma's sister Ida Mahler (1892-1971) in 1920. Creating the page was free, because I access Fold3 through my state library system.

I wrote a few sentences about Louis Volk's life, including his Army assignment to an Alabama munitions plant during World War I. Then I uploaded his photo (captioned with name/dates) and a copy of the NY state record summarizing his WWI military experience (a key source). This is a way to thank great uncle Louis for his service and keep his memory alive for future generations.

Veterans Memorialized on Cemetery Sites

Several of my great uncles in the Farkas family tree also served in World War I. They were buried at Mt. Hebron Cemetery in New York, which is creating a database of veterans laid to rest there. 

As shown above, I submitted a few details about great uncle Albert Farkas (1888-1956), including the war, years served, and branch of military. 

In addition, I noted his military service on his Find a Grave memorial page and linked all relatives, making it easier for descendants to learn about his life. More ways to keep his memory alive and highlight his service to country.