Quite often, genealogical or historical societies canvass and transcribe cemeteries in their vicinity. Before traveling on a blind search for potentially obscure cemeteries and “missing†ancestors, make contact by mail or e-mail with the genealogical and historical societies in the area. If they haven’t transcribed a cemetery, they may be able to provide precise driving directions to lead you directly to the cemetery, thus saving you a substantial amount of research time.
24-7 Family History Circle
The Place for Ancestral Connections
Another place to contact is the local funeral home. I called to ask where my great uncle Carl was buried and ended up with the location of a large family plot containing the graves of my great grandparents and many other family members.
Linda
I WANT TO FIND OUT WHEN MY GRANDMOTHER MARRIED MY MOM’S STEP FATHER. SO I WROTE TO THE COURT HOUSE FOR THE INFO. I FOUND OUT THAT SHE HAD BEEN MARRIED BEFORE. MY MOM WAS BORN OUT OF WED LOCK. SO I STARTED RESEACHING MY GRANDMOTHER’S FIRST HUSBAND. SURE I FOUND OUT HIS PARENTS AND THE COUNTY HE WAS BORN IN. THAT IS IT. I WROTE TO THE STATE FOR INFO. AND NOTHING. THEY WERE MARRIED IN 1928. AND DIED BEFORE SOCIAL SECURITY KICKED IN. HIS NAME WAS WILLIAM E SIMS FROM GRAFTON WVA. I DID FIND ONE BURIED IN THE NATL CEMETERY IN GRAFTON. BUT I DONT KNOW IF THIS IS HIM OR NOT. BUT THEY FALL INTO THAT TIME FRAME. BUT I CANT FIND WHEN HE DIED OR ANYTHING ELSE. ANY SUGGESTIONS THANK YOU
I did this, and contacted the cemeteries directly. Explaining briefly that I was from out of town, asking if they had my ancestor’s, 3 of the 5 that I contacted sent a listing of all the person’s buried at the cemetery along with the location’s. I also explained that we were planning a trip to the area, in hopes of visiting the grave sites. So I asked for a map of the main ancestor’s sites. One cemetery was very helpful, they provided the complete names, who the original contact was, the age at burial(including yrs, months, & days), the date of burial, this way I could come up with they birth month, day and year. I then went through by location, complied a listing by the location. We stopped in the office and got help when it was needed, which was not often. After the trip which was very successful, I took the time to obtain a “Thank You” card and hand wrote a thank you to the person who sent the family information. I recommend this to all of my fellow family history seeks. As to me it means two things: getting what you need and thanking the person(s) for their time and help. You never know it may help some else. I now have a more complete family history along with tombstone photo’s in place of the actual person’s photo where none are to be found.
Thanks for letting give my input and happy hunting to all.