One of the best websites for family history researchers is Find A Grave. For those of you not familiar with the site, it contains information on people interred in thousands of cemeteries around the world. In some cases, burial places are unknown, but biographical information is given anyway. Links are provided to spouses, parents and children. An asterisk notes "calculated relationships" among family members.
Birth and death dates and places are given. A bio is also included. It may be a sentence or two, a published obituary, or several paragraphs about the subject. Photos of the person, the cemetery where he/she is buried or tombstone [if available] may be included. Documents [birth or death certificate, marriage record, etc.] may also be included.
The name of the person contributing the biographical info and the photos or documents is also given.
Find A Grave is beta-testing a new/updated site, which you can access from each page.
Entries will turn up on search engines or you can go to the site and enter what you know: name, birth, death, location [country, state/province, county/shire/parish, cemetery info and so forth].
You are at the mercy of the information provided, however. The contributor may have access to inaccurate details on the subjects. You will need to verify the vital statistics and biographical information, as well as conforming the spouses, parents and children. It's always a good idea to have multiple sources for a date or event, anyway.
Find A Grave has provided me with pictures of gravestones of ancestors and relatives. Clues to where to look for additional information have been frequent. All in all, it is a great site - treated with proper precaution.
I'll offer a few cautionary tales in the next post.
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