I have been an avid genealogy researcher for over 25 years. It is not only my hobby but my passion. I have been blessed to have connected with many wonderful people during this time, people who have not only either passed along family information or have shown me where and how I can find what I am looking for. Along the way I have found many relatives I didn't know existed and made some strong friendships. Because of this I am pleased to pay it forward, sharing my knowledge and information with others. I have been a volunteer through a couple of organizations through the years, where I have taken cemetery headstone photos, looked up obituaries, and researched local sources of information for many people, passing on the information via e-mail all for no charge to those requesting the information. I strongly believe that our genealogy community's goals should be to help others to find the family information which they are seeking. Thanks to the advances with the internet we are able to do so much research without cost prohibitive travel expenses, which would prevent many from finding the important information which they seek.

Remember this: Every Person is given a name
Each life has value
Every person's story needs to be remembered

I recently came across a headstone photo of one of my close relatives posted by another Find-a-Grave submitter, a picture which previously I had been unable to find. I had even made several photo requests through the years for this person's headstone, but those people were not willing to venture to that part of that city citing their own safety, which I totally understood. I thanked this person who posted that photo for taking it, but without asking put a copy of it on my site (my error). Almost immediately I received a message from that person telling me to take it down from my site, because putting it there violated the copyright privileges which that person is enforcing. I had never encountered this situation before, and was shocked to say the least, because I believe that one of the purposes for having this site is to be able to share photos of headstones precious to those family members who are unable to take the photo themselves for whatever reason. Photos appearing on my sites are there for anyone looking for those people not only to enjoy, but to also have for themselves. Sadly, we are not able to travel across the country to take a photo of this headstone, which would probably look identical or almost identical to that plain and simple one, so unless someone else posts one that they are willing to share, I and the rest of my family members, many miles away from that cemetery, will have to do without. I can only hope that this person is one of only a very few acting in this regard. Therefore if you aren't willing to share a picture with others (so that they can have it also) don't post it!

I have been an avid genealogy researcher for over 25 years. It is not only my hobby but my passion. I have been blessed to have connected with many wonderful people during this time, people who have not only either passed along family information or have shown me where and how I can find what I am looking for. Along the way I have found many relatives I didn't know existed and made some strong friendships. Because of this I am pleased to pay it forward, sharing my knowledge and information with others. I have been a volunteer through a couple of organizations through the years, where I have taken cemetery headstone photos, looked up obituaries, and researched local sources of information for many people, passing on the information via e-mail all for no charge to those requesting the information. I strongly believe that our genealogy community's goals should be to help others to find the family information which they are seeking. Thanks to the advances with the internet we are able to do so much research without cost prohibitive travel expenses, which would prevent many from finding the important information which they seek.

Remember this: Every Person is given a name
Each life has value
Every person's story needs to be remembered

I recently came across a headstone photo of one of my close relatives posted by another Find-a-Grave submitter, a picture which previously I had been unable to find. I had even made several photo requests through the years for this person's headstone, but those people were not willing to venture to that part of that city citing their own safety, which I totally understood. I thanked this person who posted that photo for taking it, but without asking put a copy of it on my site (my error). Almost immediately I received a message from that person telling me to take it down from my site, because putting it there violated the copyright privileges which that person is enforcing. I had never encountered this situation before, and was shocked to say the least, because I believe that one of the purposes for having this site is to be able to share photos of headstones precious to those family members who are unable to take the photo themselves for whatever reason. Photos appearing on my sites are there for anyone looking for those people not only to enjoy, but to also have for themselves. Sadly, we are not able to travel across the country to take a photo of this headstone, which would probably look identical or almost identical to that plain and simple one, so unless someone else posts one that they are willing to share, I and the rest of my family members, many miles away from that cemetery, will have to do without. I can only hope that this person is one of only a very few acting in this regard. Therefore if you aren't willing to share a picture with others (so that they can have it also) don't post it!