Down Winsor Way: a Family History and Genealogy

Cemetery inquiry is a crucial family history skill. Tombstones are monuments to our ancestors lives and may have key genealogical clues engraved in the stone. Follow these 4 steps to finding your ancestors' burial places and the records that complement them.

Many of my ancestors are buried just two miles from my house in Round Hill Cemetery in Marion, Virginia. I drive by the cemetery each solar day, as I take my daughters to school. I never pass by without glancing up at the hallowed basis which holds the remains of those who came earlier me. The sunday perfectly illuminates their resting identify each morning and a majestic tree stands at the very top of the hill–a living monument to the lives they led in the town where I now raise my own family.

It is an emotional experience to stand in the place where an ancestor's remains have been laid to rest.

Each time I visit the grave of my grandma, I have a vision of a family standing around a casket on a bitter cold twenty-four hour period in March. It was a only few days before the official showtime of spring, just information technology was the dead of winter to me. That basis is sacred to me, now.

Each time I visit, I am transported back in fourth dimension to that twenty-four hours. A wound is re-opened for a moment, but the moment is fleeting because I speedily remember her life, not her expiry.

I recall the stories she told, the service her easily rendered to her family and, nigh importantly, the dearest that transcends fourth dimension and even the icy grip of death. Death truly loses its "sting" as we stand before a monument of rock and encounter beyond to the life it represents. Scenes like this 1 take played out at each grave.

I am reminded of this quote from Fearfulness Zilch , a Dean Koontz book, whenever I visit the cemetery:

"The trunks of six giant oaks rise like columns supporting a ceiling formed past their interlocking crowns. In the quiet infinite below, is laid out an aisle similar to those in any library. The gravestones are similar rows of books bearing the names of those whose names take been blotted from the pages of life; who have been forgotten elsewhere but are remembered hither."

I accept often gone to my ancestors' resting places to take pictures of headstones and search for relatives I may have missed in the past. It seems like each time I visit, I notice something new.

This library of marble holds many clues that take helped me break down brick walls in my family unit history research. These clues have been in that location, etched in stone, for decades. It wasn't until I recognized how to read the clues that I began to understand the importance of cemeteries in family history research.

These resting places have become much more to me than but a place to go and offer a boutonniere of flowers. There are answers waiting to be discovered. The primal to getting the answers is knowing which questions to ask.

In my experience, the all-time genealogists are not the ones with the best cameras, the best software, or the best gadgets–they are the ones with the best questions.

Marvel is the nigh important tool to the successful genealogist.  The next time you discover yourself in a library of marble, take a few moments to let your marvel run wild. Ask yourself:

• "Who are the people surrounding my family members?
• What are their stories?
• What do the etchings on their headstones mean?"

That curiosity will lead to the about remarkable discoveries and you will encounter for yourself how a piece of marble truly can break downward a brick wall.

Below I've outlined the steps for finding family unit cemeteries and which questions you should be asking when y'all get there. Get inspired past my own examples of breaking down brick walls, and implement these methods I used for your ain success!

Cemetery inquiry step #ane: Identify the cemetery

The first step in cemetery research is to identify the proper name of the cemetery where an ancestor was buried.

The best places to beginning looking are death certificates, funeral home records and obituaries. Each ane of these records should contain the name of the cemetery where a family member was cached.

We sometimes fail to wait beyond the names and dates on decease certificates. If we get in the habit of taking the time to absorb all of the information on these important documents, we will find genealogical treasure.

Sometimes, the decease document will not requite united states the proper noun of the cemetery.

This was the case with my peachy-grandmother, Mollie Weimer Overbay. I was frustrated to see that the death certificate only indicated that she was buried, every bit opposed to cremated or removed to another location. While the document did not provide me with the proper noun of a cemetery, it did offer the name of the funeral manager: W.B. Seaver.

Luckily, I was able to follow this lead to the local funeral home. Inside their records, I discovered that she was buried in Round Hill Cemetery, forth with many of my other ancestors.

Cemetery research step #2: Locate the cemetery

Once you have located the name of the cemetery, several resources tin guide yous to its location.

Three helpful websites are listed beneath. Which you lot choose may depend on personal preference or familiarity but also on which site seems to have more records for the locales of most interest to you lot.

one. One of my favorite online resources is Find A Grave .

This website allows you to search for cemeteries all over the world.

At the habitation page, click on the Cemeteries tab (#i, below).

And so enter the proper noun or location of the cemetery (#2). In the screenshot beneath, you tin see office of the Google Maps interface that shows you the exact location of the cemetery, should you desire to visit in person:

Find A Grave also has pictures of many of the headstones located inside cemeteries.

2. Billion Graves allows users to collect photos of headstones by using an iPhone/Android camera app.

The app, available on Google Play and the App Store  (for iPhone and iPad), tags the photos with the GPS location and, essentially, maps the cemetery every bit headstones are added.

Search for cemetery locations using the Billion Graves app or on the website  by selecting the "Cemetery Search" option and then inbound the name of the cemetery or a known accost (to see it on Google Maps):

3. Interment.net tin likewise exist helpful.

From the dwelling page, scroll down just a piddling until you see "Scan Cemetery Records by Region." This can be especially helpful if you're looking for all records within a specific canton or other region. However, it'southward non quite every bit useful if you're trying to locate all cemeteries within a sure radius of a location, regardless of local boundaries.

In addition to these resources, it is essential to contact the local library, genealogical guild, and/or historical gild where your ancestors are cached. These organizations are well-known for maintaining detailed listings of local cemeteries within their collections.

For case, within Smyth Canton (where I live) in that location is a four-book ready of books that contains the work of two local historians, Mack and Kenny Sturgill. They spent several years mapping local cemeteries and collecting the names on all of the headstones.

Although these books were completed in the 1990s, the information is still valuable to genealogists. Detailed driving directions were given to assistance futurity researchers locate cemeteries that would otherwise be difficult to locate. Many of them are on private property and even in the middle of cow pastures or wooded areas.

Furthermore, some of the headstones that were legible in the 1990s accept at present become hard to decipher due to weathering or have altogether disappeared. It is likely that the counties in which you are conducting cemetery research offer similar resource.

Cemetery inquiry footstep #3: Set for a visit

Once you take found the cemetery you desire to visit, you will want to take the following items along with you to make the most of your visit:

• a camera
• pair of gloves
• grass clippers
• notebook and pen
• long pants
• sturdy shoes

You may likewise want to utilise a damp cloth to bring out the carvings on headstones. A side note: if you are like me and have an disfavor to snakes, you will either choose to go along cemetery expeditions during the winter, or you will invest in a pair of snake chaps.

Get more than help! The Family Tree Cemetery Field Guide (in a higher place) contains detailed stride-past-steps for using FindAGrave and BillionsGraves, plus guides for agreement tombstone epitaphs and symbol meanings.

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Cemetery research step #4: Visit and search for clues

This headstone shows something unusual: the couple's ham radio telephone call signs (the codes engraved just beneath their names).

The headstones found in cemeteries tin reveal much most your family unit. Yous will notice more birth and death dates. If y'all look closely, y'all will discover symbols related to armed services service and religious beliefs, maiden names of the women in your family, and you may even notice family members that yous never knew almost. Many times, yous will detect children buried in the family plot. Look effectually to see who is buried most your ancestors. It is likely that y'all volition find connections to other family members when you are visiting the cemetery. These connections may lead you to break down long-continuing brick walls inside your family unit history.

In my own experience, there have been several instances in which cemetery research has helped shed light on a family mystery. I had grown upward hearing that in that location were members of our family unit who had fought in the Civil War. Who were these men? What experiences did they have during the war?  Where had they fought?

The answers to these questions came every bit the consequence of a visit to the cemetery.  I had gone to Round Loma Cemetery to photograph the headstones of my Weimer ancestors. As I worked my way down the row, I encountered an unfamiliar proper noun—William Henry Wymer. At the superlative of his headstone, there was a Southern Cross of Honor—a symbol used to announce a soldier who fought during the Civil War. Below his proper name was the post-obit inscription: "Co. A, vi VA RES, C.S.A:"

When I went home that afternoon, I began to search for more details. With some demography research, I learned that he was the uncle of my smashing-grandmother, Mollie Weimer Overbay. Upon confirming his relationship to our family, I began searching for a pension awarding for his wife, Rhoda:

The application had been submitted in 1926 and told the story of William'southward life. Amidst other things, I learned the answers to my questions well-nigh his service during the Ceremonious State of war. His married woman indicated that he enlisted during the concluding year of the war and was present during a well-known battle in our canton—the Boxing of Saltville. I am sure that my great-grandmother had grown upwardly listening to tales of this battle and William's experience during the war. The details of the story had been lost but were now re-discovered thanks to a trip to the cemetery.

Subtle clues similar this one await you equally yous search out your own ancestors. The next fourth dimension y'all make a trip to one of these libraries of marble, take a few moments to wait closely at the clues that surroundings you. They may not be obvious, but they are there, waiting for your marvel to uncover them. So, bring your cameras, your gloves, and your grass clippers to the cemetery on your next visit—but don't forget to bring your questions and your ability to perceive the minute details, every bit you lot stand beneath the towering trees, amongst the rows of marble, waiting to offer up their long-held secrets.

More cemetery inquiry tips

• Cemetery records: An culling to death records
• How to notice cemeteries in Google Earth
• How to read a faded tombstone without damaging the stone

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Source: https://lisalouisecooke.com/2017/12/20/cemetery-research-for-genealogy/

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