GENEALOGY DETECTIVE TIP:
Cemetery Records
Many family tree climbers enjoy trips to old cemeteries. In
fact, there's probably a bumper sticker somewhere that reads
"Caution, I Brake for Cemeteries".
Sometimes, a cemetery holds the one clue you've been looking
for--whether it was a date of birth, a spouse's name or a
notation about the place of birth. And yes, headstones can have
all that information. In one of my own family's, part of her
inscription reads, "Born in Bracken County, Kentucky". And, it
also gave her maiden name.
Do you think her family had any idea
of the immense help her tombstone inscription would be to her
descendants?
Fortunately, several tombstone inscription projects are in
progress. Thanks to volunteers, cemetery records are being
transcribed and placed on the Internet.Are you making use of
these searchable databases?
Open GENEALOGY DETECTIVE 2000 and click on Link Database on the
top tabs, then Cemetery Listings on the bottom tab. If you click
on Cemetery Listings on the Internet, you'll be taken directly to
a database of over one million records from more than 2,400
cemeteries world-wide. This database is free.
Another great source is the link to GenSwap. From there, you can
access the Tombstone Project of the USGenWeb.
Good luck with finding inscriptions for your ancestors, and while
you're searching, why not think about volunteering your time for
some transcription work?
