It seems appropriate to talk about cemeteries on Halloween. One of the reports I can do on my software is Burials. So I can see all the people who have a burial fact.

This can be very useful if I am traveling somewhere and want to look at the local cemetery. Here is a section of the report. I have it sorted by cemetery and you can see two cemeteries in this shot. Of course, Calvary Cemetery in West Point has many pages of names listed.

I can add details like the date of burial if known or the date of death so I can see who was buried when. I can also do the report based on the town first and the cemetery second.

Family History Research in a Cemetery

Cemeteries can be good sources of information, but you have to be careful about the information you find there. Most of the time, the information placed on a stone is given by the family after the person has died. So there may be errors. Sometimes you find the day of birth, for instance September 29, is correct but the year is off by a year or two, 1924 instead of 1925.

There is a resource online that can help to begin a cemetery search. Find A Grave is a website where many cemeteries have been recorded. There are some things to consider when using the website. The first thing to remember is that all of the information on the website is put in by local volunteers. So transcription errors may exist. Family groups such as parents listed may not be correct. Find A Grave is a good starting point, but the information on it needs to be verified.

Going to the Cemetery

So you found out the cemetery where someone is buried and are going to visit the grave. There are a few things to remember. Often times the records of where the headstone might be are kept in either the cemetery office or a church. This can help you find the grave you are looking for. When we were in South Dakota, we were quickly able to visit the grave of my great-uncle Charles Russell Durfee in the Black Hills National Cemetery.

Be sure to look at all sides of a headstone. There may be information about other family members. Sometimes it will say “wife of,” “husband of,” or the like. Look at other stones in the area. You may find others with the same name and can see if they are part of the same family. You may also find other families that are related by marriage.

It used to be fashionable to take rubbings of gravestones. This is no longer recommended as it can wear the stones down. A photo will give you the same imformation. You may want to try taking pictures from various angles if the stone is hard to read. The lighting may make a difference.

Picnic in the Cemetery?

Speaking of fashionable, did you know that it used to be a thing to picnic in the cemetery? It gave families a chance to socialize together and say “hello” to loved ones. There weren’t really parks in most places in the 19th and early 20th century and people treated the cemeteries like we do parks today. You can read more about it here. This picture is from the National Archives. It shows a cemetery in Lower Manhattan.

So hopefully you enjoyed a bit of cemetery history today! To learn more about researching you family, check out this post.