The Truth About FindAGrave

FindAGrave can be a great resource for genealogy, or it can completely mess up your family tree. Here's what you need to know about how FindAGrave *actually* works.

#genealogy #familyhistory #findagrave

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[leescales]

I couldn't agree more. A few years back, I was researching my fathers family, and came across a memorial for what appeared to be one of my aunts. All of the related information seemed to match her life events. So, of course I picked up the phone and called her to see how she was doing. The usual, she was cooking dinner for some of her grandkids that evening.

[susanrosine]

There are mistakes with my family, and it's tough (sometimes impossible) to get the person who submitted the erroneous information to correct it. Take every single memorial with a grain of salt and do further research-- especially if there is no picture of the stone AND especially if there is no gravestone at all.

[e.meriwether]

I have been a contributor to Find a Grave for a number of years. My big complaint would be about those who have tens of thousands of entries. They do this to rack up numbers. They don’t want to make corrections or add any thing new. I always try to work with the people who want grandmother’s page or make additions or corrections. I have a little over 3000 pages. They are mostly in the cemetery in my husband’s hometown. This was my mental therapy to get our of the house when visiting my husband’s mother. It saved my sanity. On my own family I love leaving my research to those kin to me that are yet to come. A long time ago when company came to visit they would always go to the local photographer and get photos made of each family (one copy) and exchange them. By posting them on Find A Grave is a wonderful way to share these photos with others who might never know what their ancestor looked like.

[estherstephens]

I’ve been on my quest for my paternal/paternal side of family for a very long time now(over 25 yrs) with no luck. The only thing I know about him is his first/last name and the Country he originated from. Your videos have introduced me to new ways of searching. I’m 60 yrs old and there have been times I’ve given up but find myself searching again. 😢. Thank you

[angelatheriault]

Since it’s often difficult to track the daughters of a family if you don’t know their married name, I check the cemetery where their parents are buried and research everyone with the daughter’s first name and approximate birthdate. Admittedly, this works much better in small cemeteries but sometimes I hit the jackpot and find the missing daughter that way.

[momofgreatones]

Great video! I love FindAGrave and can get lost in it (or any research!) for hours.

Personal lessons from FindAGrave and my family tree:
1 - Not all gravestones are accurate. My own grandfather has 2 stones, in 2 different states! When my grandmother died, Grandpa chose 2 plots with a joint gravestone, in their home state where they had grown up together. This stone has his birthdate but no death date - because he isn't buried there. After her death, he very quickly remarried (!) to a much younger woman, who decided he wouldn't be buried with his first wife. So his actual burial site is in my home state (where he and my grandmother actually spent much of their adult lives and retired), with a gravestone with complete dates. Don't assume the marker you see is correct. Make sure you check death certificates to see where someone was actually buried.
2 - Not all graves have markers. Old stone markers do deteriorate, crack, and break, sadly, and many have completely disappeared. But there are also "newer" graves with no markers. My father took me to a cemetery where much of his mother's family was buried, but we couldn't find his grandparents, who'd passed in the early 1930s. When I called the cemetery, yes, they are buried there, but there is no marker, and there may never have been one. FindAGrave does have memorials that recognize many of these folks who have no grave markers (or even no gravesite, due to other options for remains). Don't give up if you can't locate the exact gravesite: Check with the cemetery directly if you want to know the exact location of any specific grave.
3 - I agree with other comments here that it can be difficult or darned near impossible to get some people to correct an entry on FindAGrave or respond to a question - and it is frustrating to those of us who want the record set straight. But some contributors are amazingly generous. I contacted a FindAGrave contributor about my great-grandfather's ancestors. The gentleman turned out to have a lot of solidly documented research on our family, which he willingly shared with me. A few days later, I found an additional surprise on FindAGrave: He had transferred the management of my 4x great-grandfather to me. I had not asked for this. I was apparently the only person from my extended branch who had ever shown interest to this researcher, and he wanted someone who had a closer connection to that portion of the family to have management.
4 - FindAGrave is a great tool to point me in the right direction or confirm something I've located in other records. But I don't rely on what any one source states as gospel truth, whether it's FindAGrave, court records, death certificates, birth records, census, etc. All records can have errors due to the fact that they're based on someone reporting the "facts" as they know them. But the more sources you can gather that agree, the stronger the roots to support your family tree.
5 - Don't be surprised when you find yourself taking photos of total strangers' graves. LOL It is fun to look at FindAGrave before I visit a cemetery and see what photo requests other people have posted, then sharing my pics on the site. We're all sharing our discoveries with each other!

[KirsiDahl]

The fact you talked about in regards to % of memorials photographed was very eye opening for me! I did not know that and in the past, I've dismissed a potential cemetery as being a burial site for an ancestor. So, I actually feel much more optimistic about finding my ancestors. THANK YOU!

[lynncohen]

Useful information! I've found that even close family members (siblings) have entered incorrect information; so, always, verify with other sources.

[katev]

Thank you, Amy, for bringing up so many valuable points. I am new to Find a Grave, both as a researcher and a volunteer. I have found every point you mentioned to be spot on. Find a Grave, growing from a celebrity grave site to a place where we may find family graves, photos, and family connections is still a work in progress, carried on by folks who not only would like to find their own families, but have a heart to help others find theirs. I sometimes find headstones missing a death date - that of the person who was once the surviving spouse. Some cemeteries have been known by different names, also (Maple Hill or Pike Cemetery, Higgins Hill or Bates Cemetery, in NY State), so searching a surname in the county and surrounding counties has really been helpful, especially where county boundaries have changed. I love this site and have been just thrilled at what I've discovered on it. I say be grateful for the clues and do your homework ❤

[MatthewChenault]

As someone who contributes to Find-A-Grave, I usually have a process about contributing to the site.

1. If they have a memorial and do not have a photograph of their grave, I take a photograph of said grave (making sure landmarks are visible) and upload it to the website; double-checking to see if all information is verifiable.
2. If they do not have a find-a-grave, but have a headstone, I will put all information available on the headstone (using that as a source basis), and use that for the memorial.
3. If there is a discrepancy with the memorial (I.e. the location, DoD, etc), I will message the person who created it or suggest edits to the memorial in order to produce the best information possible.

My expertise is in photographing and uploading grave markers for Soldiers of the American Civil War. I will then work with other contributors who have access to the muster rolls for particular soldiers and allow for them to do any appropriate edits to the memorial (the Muster Rolls provide all the information about their service record, injuries, leaves of absence, etc).

If those pieces of information are lacking, I always go with what the headstone says first and record what they say (they usually are reliable, especially if no accurate DoD is available on any documents).

[LadyMinKansas]

Thank you for these tips. I’m tired of friends saying FindAGrave doesn’t have it, it’s only as good as what we have added.

[BrettSlocum]

One of the things I do for my family trees is make the connections between children and their parents in the Find a Grave records.

[donaldcoppersmith]

Yes! I learned what you have said is good. People don't check cemetery records. The volunteers do a good job but it is incomplete.

[speecher]

Important words of note, no doubt, but Find a Grave sure can prove useful! With it, I, along with my mother, discovered that the burial sites of her father and her sister, who died in infancy during the Depression, were unmarked, allowing us to work with the municipal cemetery to get markers placed.

[ryan-m]

Many good points in this video…my great-grandmother’s entire family in Ireland is buried in the same cemetery “Omey Island cemetery.” I’m planning on visiting this cemetery VERY SOON because unfortunately being on an island, there are often high tides that bring salt water to the stones. I’ve heard someone say all of the Celtic Crosses by the water are completely erased of any inscriptions which is just heartbreaking.

[DaleBrotherton]

Great stuff, Amy ... it's all so true 👍
I hadn't considered that the percentage of memorials that were photographed in a cemetery were only Find A Grave memorials. Kind of a game changer ... lol
Thank you!

[pamb]

Great timing! I was trying to figure out how to explain all of this to my niece. You've done it for me!

[staylor]

I learned from my job working with the public that there are individuals who break the "rules" when it comes to names and date of births as well. Two different people can have the exact same name AND the exact same date of birth and yet they are not related. I have found that people of the same names can live in the same area, but not exactly in the same time period, but close. I had someone on my ancestry who had the same name, same city of residence, and even the same name of her husband, but their date of death was off by decades! Like they say, "truth is stranger than fiction." It is often many fine details that can reveal you have the wrong person. It becomes harder and harder the further back you go. Many graves have no marker or had others buried on top of them.

[carylosborn]

Liking the new background, Amy! I make sure when someone asks for an edit for the ones I manage, I always do the research to make sure it's correct.

[williamsecor]

I have experience on Find-A-Grave both as a researcher and poster and i can tell you this tutorial is Excellent. Amy covers the how=to and pitfalls perfectly.