Tombstone transcription project

[+Dread Pirate Roberts']

We often stop at old country cemeteries while out geocaching because they are so interesting. Some have civil war era graves, some have tombstones that are no longer legible. This group asks that while you visit, you record the names and dates and submit the list to their search engine for people trying to locate their ancestors or trace their family trees. I thought it was a neat idea that sorta kinda maybe ties in with geocaching in some bizarre way...Just thought I'd throw this out there *shrugs*

 

http://www.rootsweb.com/~cemetery

[SE7EN]

Actually, that's a great idea.

 

I've come to a dead end with a relative from the early 1800's who is buried in a cemetery almost a 1000 miles away. The road it's on has grown up, the street sign has fallen down, and the lister pretty much says that unless you know exaclty where it is, you'd never find it. I've tried several times to contact this person, but each of his email addresses bounce.

 

It sure would have been nice if he had had a GPS to take readings of the cemetery so I could have found it, too.

[+flask]

i love visiting old cemeteries! i often document and photograph the headstones as i go, which is probably why i don't mind the idea of caching in those places.

 

when i was 16 i drove all over the state researching people buried in a cemetery i'd found at summer camp. the town clerk was very helpful and gave me access to all the old records.

 

it doesn't matter if you get to camp at one or at six. dinner is still at six.

[+GOT GPS?]

Can you try to find it using arial Photos, like what you can access from a cache page??Or would the cemetary end up being invisible to the camera?

 

quote:

---

Originally posted by SE7EN:

Actually, that's a great idea.

 

I've come to a dead end with a relative from the early 1800's who is buried in a cemetery almost a 1000 miles away. The road it's on has grown up, the street sign has fallen down, and the lister pretty much says that unless you know exaclty where it is, you'd never find it. I've tried several times to contact this person, but each of his email addresses bounce.

 

It sure would have been nice if he had had a GPS to take readings of the cemetery so I could have found it, too.

---

[+WARedBear]

I am a local volunteer for the Tomb Stone Project and an avid genealogy searcher. I know how aggravating it can be to be hundreds or even thousands of miles away from information sitting in a grave yard and not be able to get it. I found out about this project while searching different genealogy web sites. Unfortunately the grave sites I needed information about in S. Georgia are not listed yet and that just added to the frustration. I checked their web site and found that several cemetaries around here were not listed either and there might be someone out there looking here and feeling the same way. So I went out, got the information and posted it. While I was in the process of getting the information I received an e-mail from someone trying to locate an aunt that was buried in the cemetary. I went out and took a picture of the headstone and one next to it that had the same last name. The lady e-mailed me back all excited because the second grave was her grandmother's grave. She had no idea where she was buried. Now she does. I am planning on putting caches by two local grave yards. One is a forgotten Indian burial grounds and the other is a lone grave out in the woods that I found. It is marked "gone but not forgotten". I am going to place a cache in the woods for geocachers to place items in that reminds them of loved ones who have passed away and then bury the cache when it is full.

 

WARedBear

[SE7EN]

quote:

---

Originally posted by GOT GPS?:

_Can you try to find it using arial Photos, like what you can access from a cache page??_Or would the cemetary end up being invisible to the camera?

---

 

I tried all of the street mapping resources I had access to--MSS&T, Delorme's, Yahoo, MapBlast, you name it--but that street name is not listed anywhere remotely close the town it's near. Aerial photography solutions wheren't any better. I suspect where this cemetery is, it's simply overgrown--practically no kind of aerial photography would be of any use.

[iryshe]

Find A Grave is a pretty well established web site for locating graves of ancestors and famous people. It's FindAGrave.com

 

Jeremy Irish

Groundspeak - The Language of Location™

[SausageDad]

test

[+CYBret]

Neat website

 

I mentioned in another thread that I've come across a couple Revolutionary War veterans graves in cemeteries around here. I was thinking how great it would be if there was a website where the graves of these soldiers were recorded. I'd be very interested in contributing whenever I had a chance.

Bret

 

"The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field.

When a man found it, he hid it again." Mt. 13:44

[+Kouros]

Wonderful website... the sort that always makes you think about your own ancestors.

 

Hmm... I wonder...

 

Sir Squire Bancroft

Birth: 1841

Death: 1926

 

Actor, Theatre Owner. He abolished the pit in theatres, causing a riot on opening night and established morning performances which he called "matinees", after the French word "matin." His wife was an actress.

 

(My surname being Bancroft, and all)

 

------

An it harm none, do what ye will

[+brdad]

Why not give let us know what you know about this person/cemetery, and there might be a local cacher who will consider it a challenge and find the place and get the coords for you?

 

quote:

---

Originally posted by SE7EN:

I've come to a dead end with a relative from the early 1800's who is buried in a cemetery almost a 1000 miles away. The road it's on has grown up, the street sign has fallen down, and the lister pretty much says that unless you know exaclty where it is, you'd never find it. I've tried several times to contact this person, but each of his email addresses bounce.

---

 

On the road of life there are people in cars and people getting hit by cars.

[The Buzzard's]

If anybody needs to find a certain cemetery in my area of central PA, just drop me a line. I know of cemeteries that are on the top of mountains and in many other places that you wouldn't think of looking for them.

If you do go out to cemeteries, try taking a digital camera with you...You never know if someone is looking for someone that might be buried there...

 

The Buzzard's: ZiggyStardust

[+Team GeoCan]

Taphotrekking is a growing part of Genealogy.

 

Take plenty of note paper and pencils, and log the coordinates, names and dates, Let the local USGenWeb Project (county) know what you have found, and WHO is buried there.

 

I encourage anyone who frequently finds Burial sites to do this...

 

Jeff