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Finding Headstones Far Away
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The number of cemeteries across the United States is enormous; even for such a young nation. When you add in world-wide the cemeteries still in existence, there are millions of graves everywhere, all which represent our ancestors.
There are many volunteers who have taken the time to visit cemeteries in their locality, photograph the headstones or transcribe what is written on each and submit it to a general database for all to share. One site is Find A Grave with headstones of celebrities and everyday individuals. Another similar site is Billion Graves.
With such a name as Billion Graves, there are certainly quite a few names in the collection. In their search link you can search using a person’s full name or just a surname. You can narrow the search using an approximate death year and a country and state location. There still needs to be more from countries outside the United States to be added, but at least there are many to view in this country.
As of early 2012 they do not have a billion headstone images but that is their end goal. To have such a massive collection would benefit people across the globe. The main drawback to reaching that goal is that photos of headstones are only downloaded to the site using an IPhone. They will soon add Smartphone images but that also leaves out all the digital images individuals may already have in their computer files. So further development is needed.
The site Find A Grave has been developing their collection since 1995. They have approximately 74 million cemetery records. With thousands of contributors using any form of digital images to submit to the site that collection has grown. As with Billion Grave, you can search on Find A Grave using a full name, a surname or check the cemetery listing. If you register free with the site you can also add any additional information you may have knowledge concerning the decease person.
Both sites offer a good start in locating the cemetery and headstone information even when you live thousands of miles away.
