Cemetery and Funeral Home Research

Submitted by Host GFS Heather

This evening we will talk about what you can find and how to do Cemetery and Funeral Home Research. I hope you will find this useful in your quest for your ancestors.

This type of research is good to help you find out when a person died of course, but also you may be able to find out further information, such as other family members or relatives.

If you do not know where a person is buried, but you know the area, your best choice would be to check out the different Funeral Home Records, especially if they died in the late 1800's to the present. Many Cemeteries no longer have an office where the records are kept of who is buried there, so that is why a Funeral Home comes in handy, especially if the cemetery is old and or abandon.

Just contact the different funeral homes in the area your ancestor was from and find out if they have them listed in their files. They will be able to tell you which Cemetery they are buried, and at times where specifically. The Funeral Homes do keep records on each individual person, and if they died after the 1900's when death certificates were given, many a time you will find a Death certificate on file. I had this luck when searching for a few of my ancestors. They actually let me make a copy the certificate. Not all will let you do this. They also have other records, such as the persons name, birth and death date if known, and possible other relatives. They have a Burial Record book, which list each individual, the plot and space number they are in, who the plot was purchased by, etc.

If your individual died before there were any Funeral Homes and there is no Cemetery office, you can go to either the Court House, or the Historical or Genealogical Society. For many do have records of the different Cemeteries and where they are located. Some areas will even have a list of all cemeteries and who is buried in each one at the courthouses.

If you come across a Cemetery that does have a Cemetery office, they can give you a map, which they will mark where your individual is buried so you can easily find them in the cemetery. You must remember however, the older Cemeteries do not have the rows marked, like the newer ones. The newer ones will have each section marked either by a letter or by a name. For example, if your ancestor was buried in section AA, row 4, space 2, you will need to find that section, and then count to the fourth row, then go to spaces, and that should be where your individual is buried.

Not all individuals had markers, even if the cemetery knows exactly where they are This did happen from time to time, especially when folks couldn't afford a burial.

Cemetery offices keep records in their books of all that are buried at their cemetery. Sometimes they will have their books locked up in a safe, for the books could be very old. They may not let you handle them, but may show you what the record says. Some will let you make a photocopy, while others will have you write it down. What I found very useful, was to not only take a piece of paper with me to write this information down, but to also take a Dictaphone with me, especially if I could not make a copy of their files. That way you can dictate it on tape and transcribe it when you get home. Then you will have more than one copy of that information.

One needs to remember not all the information at the Funeral Homes and Cemeteries will be accurate. For what is in their files is what was told to them by other individuals, so there could be mistakes. So don't use a tombstone record, cemetery file, death certificate etc. as gospel truth, for it has been found they are not always accurate. But you can use it as a good guideline to go on.

Another source to find death and burial records would be Parish Records. Many old churches have Cemeteries behind their church or nearby. They keep record of all their Parish members, including birth, marriage and death. Many Ministers are very willing to let you go through their books to search them; I have found them very friendly and helpful. Parish records will give you more information at times than actual Cemetery records. So if your individual were buried in a Church Cemetery I would check the Parish Records.

Here online you will find some websites that maybe helpful. The USGenweb Cemetery Project, is where many folks have volunteered all over the Country to transcribe Cemeteries in their local areas, once this is done they put them online. To check to see if your Cemetery is online go to: http://www.usgenweb.org once there click on Cemetery Project. You can also check out at the above site by going to the same URL and clicking on the state you want, then click on the county you want. Some counties do have information on the cemeteries in their area and possibly a list of whom is buried there.

Another helpful site is:

Cemeteries of the United States of America - American Cemetery Records - http://www.interment.net/us/index.htm

This is a huge database, a must see!

Host GFS Heather

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