Cemeteries and Obituaries

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The Tombstone Transcription Project

Are you searching for burial information for an ancestor? You may find the USGenWeb Tombstone Transcription Project to be a valuable asset. It has many resources, including links for U.S. state pages (http://www.usgwtombstones.org/registry.html) and links to the corresponding counties. The county pages have available details for names, date of birth, date of death, age at death, and tombstone inscriptions. Learn more about cemetery records in Goal B6 of the United States page.

rows of white crosses in the grass near trees

Where Was My Ancestor Buried?

Even with great online tools like Find A Grave and BillionGraves, finding your ancestor's burial location may sometimes be a challenge. The Ancestral Findings site has some helpful tips for locating unknown or alternate burial locations in these articles: Tricks for Finding the Unknown Burial Location of an Ancestor (https://ancestralfindings.com/tricks-for-finding-the-unknown-burial-location-of-an-ancestor/) and Alternative Locations for Burial Places for Your Ancestors (https://ancestralfindings.com/cant-find-the-grave-alternative-locations-for-burial-places-for-your-ancestors/). Learn more about cemetery records in Goal B6 of the United States page.

a cemetery with many headstones and trees in the background

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The Value of Cemetery Records

As pointed out in this Ancestry article (https://wiki.rootsweb.com/wiki/index.php/Cemetery_Records), cemetery records can provide clues about ancestors that would be difficult to find anywhere else, such as children who died young, names of women not specified in census records, etc. The article also describes a wide variety of records, including church burial registers, sexton's records, plat records, and more. To learn more, see Goal B6 in the United States page or the Church and Cemeteries Goal in a country of interest.

a large cemetery with rows of headstones and trees

Discovering Mortuary & Funeral Home Records

One useful resource for research that's often overlooked is mortuary and funeral home records. These records include place of death, occupation of the deceased, obituaries, and much more. The Ancestor Hunt website has links for mortuary records in all 50 U.S. states (https://theancestorhunt.com/mortuary-records.html). Learn more about mortuary and funeral home records in Goal B6 of the United States page.

The Tombstone Transcription Project

Are you searching for burial information for an ancestor? You may find the USGenWeb Tombstone Transcription Project to be a valuable asset. It has many resources, including (http://www.usgwtombstones.org/registry.html) links for U.S. state pages and links to the corresponding counties. The county pages have available details for names, date of birth, date of death, age at death, and tombstone inscriptions. Learn more about cemetery records in Goal B6 of the United States page.

a cemetery with many headstones and statues

Reading Gravestone Markings

When you find an ancestor's gravestone in a cemetery, you might still have a challenge to be able to read what's inscribed on it. This RootsTech video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgL6woTQcZY) helps you understand gravestones and what's typically on them, and this GenealogyInTime article (http://www.genealogyintime.com/articles/a-simple-way-to-read-old-tombstones.html) offers a remarkably simple tip that helps you read old or faded inscriptions on tombstones. To learn more about using gravestones in your research, see Goal B6 in the United States page.

an old cemetery in the fall with leaves on the ground

Don't Be Afraid ... of Cemeteries

On this Halloween day, what better topic to discuss than cemeteries? In Don't Be Scared of Cemeteries (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kSw2TI5BQ8), expert genealogist Amy Johnson Crow offers some reassuring tips on how to make the most of cemetery research, including tombstone markings and cemetery office records, and practical examples for how to use the information gleaned from a visit. For more about successful research in cemeteries and graveyards see Goal B6 of the United States page.

Cemetery Records for Research

Cemetery records often include birth, marriage, and death information and clues to military service, religion, membership in an organization. Family members were often buried near each other. Types of cemeteries include church, government (town, county, state, and national), military, fraternal organizations, corporations, and family or private. For more information on using cemetery records in research, see the United States page, Goal B6.

a cemetery filled with lots of tombstones and flowers

Reading Gravestone Information

BillionGraves, Find A Grave and many other sites have useful photos of gravestones. But what about those strange markings and inscriptions you sometimes see on the gravestones - what do they mean? In the United States page, Choice B of Goal B6 has some great tips on using tombstone information for research, including detailed videos at the end of the Choice from RootsTech and the Allen County Public Library.

an old iron fence with green plants growing out of it

Using Burial Records in Genealogy Research

What if you can't find the death record for an ancestor? In the 1800s, U.S. counties were not always reliable in keeping death records, while in the 1900s state record keeping made death records easier to find. The answer could be burial records, which may contain additional information about family members buried near your ancestor. See this MyHeritage blog post (https://blog.myheritage.com/2017/07/digging-deeper-when-you-cant-find-a-death-record/), or Goal B6 in the United States page.