Grave Location Resources

"For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and the living."  Romans 14:9


Hi everyone!

Welcome to this week's installment of the Welby 2nd Ward Family History Moment!  Spend just a moment and check out this tip to help with your family history.

Did you get a chance to check out billiongraves.com this past week?  If not, look it up, and get the app installed on your phone!  That way you can photograph the graves of the ancestors you visit this upcoming Memorial Day holiday! 

This week I have compiled a list of additional resources for finding the burial locations of your ancestors.  As billiongraves.com is relatively new, there are many other resources that will likely have much more information.  They are all very easy to search. I have had GREAT SUCCESS in finding relatives buried in many locations throughout Utah, and many throughout the United States.

Many of these sites contain pictures of the headstones and/or pictures of the cemeteries themselves.  It is fun to see the headstones, and much easier (and cheaper) than trekking across the country!  In addition to doing their temple work, I find that visiting grave sites is a particularly personal way to pay tribute to the lives and sacrifices of those who have made you who you are.


United States Burial Resources:

1.  Findagrave.com
2.  Namesinstone.com
3.  Billiongraves.com
4.  userdb.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cemeteries (Rootsweb)
5.  Interment.net
6.  usgwtombstones.org
7.  gpp.jlconsulting.com (Gravestone Photo Project)
8.  gravelocator.cem.va.gov/j2ee/servlet/NGL_v1  (Veteren Nationwide Gravesite Locator)
9.  Gravematter.com (focuses mainly on colonial gravestones and cemeteries of New England)
10.  Cyndislist.com (not a searchable datatabase, but list of many other useful links regarding cemeteries)


Additional Utah Specific Burial Resources:

1.  Namesinstone.com  (mentioned above, but MANY Utah cemeteries submit to this site directly)
2.  history.utah.gov/research_and_collections/cemeteries/index.html  (One of the BEST from the Utah State History Section
     of the Utah Department of Community and Culture)  Also has cemetery lookup for Utah cemeteries.
3.  Utahgravestones.org
4.  Utahcemeteries.org
5.  www.accessgenealogy.com/cemetery/utah.htm  (Great listing of smaller cemeteries around Utah)


After locating where your ancestors are buried, consider compiling this information in a quick and easy form for others in your family to benefit from your research!  Consider a listing including:

1.  Name
2.  Birth/Death date
3.  Cemetery with address
4.  Plot
5.  Map of that cemetery (as well as portion of the cemetery if it is large)
6.  Photo of the ancestor (makes it so personal when you can visit their grave and see a picture of them!)
7.  A short biography of the ancestor (if you get ambitious! Many times someone you go with can tell you a story that you can jot down for the future.)

I have done a compilation in the past, and it has become such a treasure for myself as well as many in my extended family.  It can help direct you to other graves that you many not normally visit, or provide a fun day trip for your family!  Remember to share your hard work - others will appreciate it!  Please contact me if you want some tips on how to organize your burials information and I can share with you what I've done.  You may come up with a plan that works for you on your own!  Even consider the easiest outcome of just making a list of those you have found which will keep you from having to re-find the information in the future (speaking from personal experience....!)


Next week's topic:  A Few Great Flicks!

Happy grave hunting and have a great week!!

Billiongraves.com

I slept and dreamt

That life was joy

I awoke and saw

That life was duty

I acted and behold

Duty was joy
       -Rabindranath Tagore

Hi everyone!

Welcome to this week's installment of the Welby 2nd Ward Family History Moment!  Spend just a moment and check out this tip to help with your family history.

I'm starting to get excited about our upcoming holiday to remember those who have given their lives for our country, as well as those ancestors who have gone before us.  My children have become very familiar with cemeteries as I have searched out gravestones to pay honor to my ancestors.  With that excitement, I thought I'd share some of the resources I have found to locate graves.

A more extensive list will follow next week, but this week we'll take a look at a new mobile device app called BillionGraves.  It combines GPS location data with pictures that users take of gravestones.  There are quite a few sites like this (without the GPS locations), but this particular company is partnering with FamilySearch to make these images searchable on the FamilySearch website.  That means that you can find the picture and GPS of a headstone as the result of a name search on the church's website.   

SO... go to the website www.billiongraves.com to do a search to see if you have ancestors in the database.  The search is pretty easy to figure out.

Besides using this as a resource to find your ancestors, there are two things you can do to get involved with this project:

1.  Photograph headstones!  You can do this as a planned outing, or just as you are visiting the headstones of your family.  Visit their website for instructions on how to get set up on your GPS enabled phone.

2.  Help with the transcribing effort (much like the indexing project through the church).  The pictures that others have taken need to have the names and dates typed in online.  This can be done on any computer... you don't need a smart phone to transcribe.

I think my family is going to find a cemetery to help out with for FHE next week. 

Next week's topic:  More grave site locating resources!  Get ready for Memorial Day!!

Happy grave hunting and have a great week!!

DUP Histories and Photos Collection

"Brothers and Sisters, do not be weary in well doing.  If you feel your contribution is small or insignificant, remember that the worth of souls is precious in the sight of God.  Our opportunity is to prepare the way, and accomplish the ordinance work, after faithful research, that these souls may prepare for the glory which is their divine opportunity."  Thomas S. Monson

Hi everyone!

Welcome to the second installment of the Family History Moment!  Spend just a moment and check out this tip to help with your family history.

Ever wanted to have more than just names and dates in your family history files?  Here's a fast and easy way to collect personal histories on your pioneer ancestors.  Most of you will find you have many ancestors with histories in the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers' (DUP) collection. 


Who should you look for?  Their website defines those they have histories on as an "ancestor who came to the geographic area covered by the State of Deseret/Utah Territory; died crossing the plains; or was born in the Utah Territory/State of Deseret before May 10, 1869".  Check on your fan chart (see last week's tip!) for those who:

1.  were born in Utah before May 1869,
2.  those who died in Utah as early as 1847 and as late as the 1940's or 1950's (they could have come as children)
3.  others who may not have died in Utah, but died during the period mentioned above who may have come as pioneers, and then left the state before they died

Take those names and search the history index at the DUP to see if they have a history for you!! 

Here's the link to the index for Individual histories:

http://www.dupinternational.org/pioneer_index.php

They also have a collection of pictures of these pioneers.  The index for the pictures is:

http://www.dupinternational.org/photoIndex.php


Plug in those names to see what they have!  If you find a history or photo that you would like to see, you can go to the DUP office (and museum) downtown.  A volunteer will help you find what you are looking for.  You can pay to photocopy the histories, or get a disc with the picture.  Here is their website for location and hours:

http://www.dupinternational.org/

Next week's topic:  Cemetery photo project!

Happy history hunting and have a great week!!