Guide to Cemeterying .... It's an Art!

Cemetery Sign                                                            

Digging up the dirt on your ancestors can be a very satisfying adventure, but experience has taught me some valuable lessons I'd like to share.







Preparation:

• Check the Internet - many cemeteries can be found with partial lists of the inhabitants.
• Some cemeteries are listed with GPS coordinates - a gift you can be sure.
• If your genealogy software can do it, make a list of who you think is in each cemetery.  Don't forget that many of your female ancestors were buried with their husband's families, so you would want to know the married name, as well.
• Speak to everyone you can find in the area - almost everyone we spoke to was very helpful.

View of the whole Cemetery                            

Tools and Supplies:

• Your camera and plenty of batteries are the first order of business. If it's a rechargeable - make sure it's fully charged before you set out. A backup camera would be ideal.
• Bug spray - the older the cemetery, the more bugs and they can spoil your fun pretty fast.
• A full spray bottle with a touch of vegetable based food colouring.  The food colouring is helpful in reading the white stones - and it washes right away with the next rain.
• A soft bristled battery operated toothbrush - easy on the stone but very effective for removing lichens and mosses that can obliterate the words.
• Flashlight - sometimes the lighting needs a little help.
• Binoculars - for checking out distant stones.
• Newsprint and charcoal or a soft pencil.  You want to use them for getting dates and names - not for copying the entire stone.
• Scissors to trim away grass and weeds from the base of the stone.
• Sturdy knife for cutting away thick moss.
• Water for drinking
• Pad and Pen for notes
• Whisk broom for clearing away grass clippings.

Some are easy to read.                                            

At the Cemetery:

• On arrival, take a photo of the sign at the entrance and a wide angle view of the whole cemetery.
• Plan your search by working row by row, but it you are searching for old graves, you may want to begin at that end of the area.
• Take one photo of the legible stones and at least two of the less clear ones.
• Check you list to make sure you are not missing anyone you know should be there.
• Leave no stone unturned.

Some - not so much!                               

Post Production:

• Create a folder for each cemetery
• Export photos from that cemetery into its folder
• Using a tool such as Picassa, enhance the photos as best you can and rename them.  I use a naming convention which is Surname, Firstname, death date.

 How many skeletons are in your closet?