Find a Grave is home to the world’s largest free collection of gravestone records. Learn how to make the most out of your searches for ancestor tombstones with this quick overview. Read the full article: https://www.familytreemagazine.com/websites/find-a-grave/.
2. See what a simple name
search reveals first.
You won’t necessarily find entries on your first
try. Keep trying!
Some memorials may include only basic
information, such as a name, tombstone image
and data transcribed from the stone. Others,
however, may provide richer results.
3. Use memorial links to
find other relatives
buried nearby.
Many memorials link to additional memorials
for the deceased’s first-degree relatives. These
names can help confirm you’ve found the right
memorial or give you new research leads to
follow.
This is especially helpful when you’re looking
for a woman’s maiden or married surname and
families.
4. Carefully review grave
and memorial
information.
As you review new information in
memorials, don’t forget to evaluate its
reliability, just like you would with
someone else’s online family tree or any
other compiled record.
Verifying what you see will help you build
a more accurate tree, and may lead to
additional family discoveries.
5. Learn more about the
cemetery where your
ancestors are buried.
In each memorial, you’ll find a link to a landing
page for the burial ground. Details on specific
landing pages may vary.
Several standard items appear at the top:
alternate name, location and map link,
cemetery office phone number, and the
number of Find a Grave memorials.
6. Contact Find a Grave
volunteers to thank them
and ask questions.
To contact contributors, click on their user
profiles. Begin by thanking them for their
efforts. All volunteers appreciate a little
gratitude!
Ask short, specific questions, such as the
publication information for an uncited
obituary they posted, or, if they are related, if
they’d like to correspond.
7. Give others a chance to optimize their own
searches!
By this point in your Find a Grave exploration,
you’ve likely noticed several opportunities for
you to pitch in and share what you know. To
do so, create a free login.
Add what you know to
existing memorials with a
free Find a Grave login.
8. Get full details, screenshots and step-by-step instructions!
https://www.familytreemagazine.com/websites/find-a-grave/
