|
|
Cemeteries,
Cemetery Records, Funeral Homes
Several types of cemetery records are available. Caretakers of
cemeteries generally keep records of the names and dates of those buried
and maps of the burial plots. Tombstones or gravestones may also exist, or the information on them may have been transcribed.
Cemetery records often include birth, marriage, and death information. They sometimes provide clues about military service, religion, or
membership in an organization, such as a lodge. These records are especially helpful for identifying children who died young or women who
were not recorded in family or government documents. Check the caretakers records, or visit the cemetery in person to see if other
relatives are in the same or adjoining plots.
To find tombstone or caretaker records, you need to know where an individual was buried. The person may have been buried in a community,
church, private, military, or family cemetery, usually near the place where he lived or died or where other family members were buried. You
can find clues to burial places in funeral notices, obituaries, wills, military records, church records, funeral home records, and death
records/certificates.
Other sources of cemetery records include:
The present caretaker, funeral home, or minister who may have the burial
registers and the records of the burial plots.
A local library, historical society, or local historian, who may have the records or can help you locate obscure family plots or relocated
cemeteries. Cemetery associations sometimes publish inventories or transcripts for their areas.
Caretakers records and transcripts of tombstone information that have been published, often in local genealogical periodicals.
Funeral Home Records:
Funeral directors in the area where your ancestors lived may have records similar to death and cemetery records. Most of their addresses
are in the: American Blue Book of Funeral Directors published in New York by the National Funeral Directors Association, which contains the
names of cemeteries, organized by location. It is widely available in reference sections of local and genealogy libraries.
You
can also check the LDS Family History Library Catalog to see if the
cemetery records and funeral home records have been microfilmed. See:
http://www.familysearch.org/
Additional
Links:
Links to Resources on Cemetery History and Preservation
NOTE:
Use this data as a finding tool, just as you would any other secondary
source. When you find the name of an ancestor listed, confirm the facts
in original sources.
Back
to Main Page
|
|
More
Information
|
NOTES
TO RESEARCHERS
When
you use this site, please keep in mind the difference between
primary and secondary sources and the importance of checking those
sources. Accept nothing without further checking. It is our hope
that through this collection of data from many sources, you will
find a piece of the puzzle that you are working on and that may
lead you to other discoveries.
|
|
