Genealogy is the essential key element of our family history. We can learn so much of ourselves through what is left of our ancestral records and piecing the puzzle pieces together on the path of their journey. It's fascinating how brave they were to put clothing into a trunk and board a ship and start a new life in a new country they have never visited, now that's bravery, leaving family, friends and the comforts of home for perhaps a rumor, with faith and hope for a better life. My ancestors did it.

I volunteer for headstone photo's and record retrieval as time permits around Pierce, Kitsap and Thurston counties, within Washington State. It's a fun scavenger hunt to find the right stone to photograph and add GPS coordinates. I wish cemeteries would post a map to make things a little easier to navigate.

I also volunteer in correcting data on Find a grave and Family Search as well as the profiles I manage. I do upload death certificates which confirm where they are laid to rest.

This is a great tool I use frequently for record research within WA State: -- https://www.digitalarchives.wa.gov/ --
Sometimes just for fun I will put in a random name and look at the nicely preserved photo's of institution records and build a profile on family search and try to locate the family to connect the profile photo to. I use the snippet tool to capture the institution record with photo to attach to the profile.

I also read old newspapers for free -- https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/search/titles/ --

If I find photo's or information there I also use snippet tool and match them to profiles. I hope by sharing someone with more time than me may pick up the hobby, feel free to email me with questions I will try to get back to you with a timely response.

*** WHY do I add death certificates to memorials?
I do so to solidify the valid information gleaned from them, also to show where the information came from, ie... DATE and PLACE of death and sometimes, if we are lucky, PARENTS NAMES and BIRTH date and place. This is solely to verify the accuracy of the FAG profile. I realize not all think the same nor agree to the practice as they believe it's infringement of privacy, I disagree, the person is long deceased... and records that match who they are, where they are laid to rest and who their family is. If you have a problem with how they departed the earth, I'm sorry for that.

Ecclesiastes 12:6 Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern. 7 Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: ***and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.***

We have a plethora of similar names from our emigrant blood line (Karlson, Allen, Tupper just to name a few) and trying to narrow down which one connects us, therefore accuracy is of the utmost importance. Bare bones minimum by including the death certificate the certificate can help serious researchers verify the Findagrave information's accuracy to a profile.

Genealogy is the essential key element of our family history. We can learn so much of ourselves through what is left of our ancestral records and piecing the puzzle pieces together on the path of their journey. It's fascinating how brave they were to put clothing into a trunk and board a ship and start a new life in a new country they have never visited, now that's bravery, leaving family, friends and the comforts of home for perhaps a rumor, with faith and hope for a better life. My ancestors did it.

I volunteer for headstone photo's and record retrieval as time permits around Pierce, Kitsap and Thurston counties, within Washington State. It's a fun scavenger hunt to find the right stone to photograph and add GPS coordinates. I wish cemeteries would post a map to make things a little easier to navigate.

I also volunteer in correcting data on Find a grave and Family Search as well as the profiles I manage. I do upload death certificates which confirm where they are laid to rest.

This is a great tool I use frequently for record research within WA State: -- https://www.digitalarchives.wa.gov/ --
Sometimes just for fun I will put in a random name and look at the nicely preserved photo's of institution records and build a profile on family search and try to locate the family to connect the profile photo to. I use the snippet tool to capture the institution record with photo to attach to the profile.

I also read old newspapers for free -- https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/search/titles/ --

If I find photo's or information there I also use snippet tool and match them to profiles. I hope by sharing someone with more time than me may pick up the hobby, feel free to email me with questions I will try to get back to you with a timely response.

*** WHY do I add death certificates to memorials?
I do so to solidify the valid information gleaned from them, also to show where the information came from, ie... DATE and PLACE of death and sometimes, if we are lucky, PARENTS NAMES and BIRTH date and place. This is solely to verify the accuracy of the FAG profile. I realize not all think the same nor agree to the practice as they believe it's infringement of privacy, I disagree, the person is long deceased... and records that match who they are, where they are laid to rest and who their family is. If you have a problem with how they departed the earth, I'm sorry for that.

Ecclesiastes 12:6 Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern. 7 Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: ***and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.***

We have a plethora of similar names from our emigrant blood line (Karlson, Allen, Tupper just to name a few) and trying to narrow down which one connects us, therefore accuracy is of the utmost importance. Bare bones minimum by including the death certificate the certificate can help serious researchers verify the Findagrave information's accuracy to a profile.