When asking about a certain PERSON's memorial, please include the persons ID #, name and dates of birth, death or the STATE where buried at. This will help me find the person who you are talking about. Remember there are thousands of people with the same name.

Any obituary, photo, bio information or document uploaded is not a copyright violation and is covered under the Fair Use Law if used for research or genealogical purposes.

What are seven examples of uses for fair use?
U.S. fair use factors. Examples of fair use in United States copyright law include commentary, search engines, criticism, parody, news reporting, research, and scholarship.

It really is not necessary to "own" all your relatives' memorials. Create a virtual site and add the relatives memorials there.

In January 2022, FAG updated its transfer guidelines as follows: "Memorials are transferred for relatives w/ these close relationships: child, spouse/partner, sibling, parent, grandchild, great-grandchild, grandparent, great-grandparent, niece/nephew, great niece/nephew, aunt/uncle, great aunt/uncle, or first cousin. This would include adoptive, step, & in-law versions of these relationships."

A new Find A Grave rule states that a memorial in the correct disposition precedes any memorial of the same person that isn't, regardless of when it was made, and that a memorial with the incorrect disposition might be merged with the correct memorial or removed.
Please be sure to fully research where a person is buried instead of guessing or adding unknown burials as matter of fact, or simply do not add that person until more information can be gathered. This has been problematic for years and leads to duplicates of the same person.

Last NAME ( per Find a Grave) as you would find it on the TOMBSTONE, if the interred had more than one marriage or other possible spellings, place this information in the BIOGRAPHY and use the family links.
As in names with a space, or not, it should be as on the headstone not what others prefer. Spellings on memorials that are different than on headstone should be changed to reflect the spelling on the headstone once the photograph is added to verify the spelling. This may hopefully prevent duplicate copies of memorials.

I would ask that if you are going to post a headstone photograph, please go the extra mile, and crop your shoes, or the shadow of your hands/camera, out of the picture when you are standing over a flat headstone. Also take care when photographing upright stones, that your reflection is not staring back. Take a small brush to clean dirt or leaves off headstones that are placed flat on the ground.

If the persons grave has no marker, please at least add a photo of the area where the grave is located.
Also edit the location of the plot on the memorial if you know the location.

Use of RANK is reserved for those who retire or die while enlisted. Officers and enlisted personnel who resign their RANK are prohibited from using them as a part of their name after their service.( The Official Guide to Names, Titles, & Forms of Address )

Since the move to Ancestry and the new website, newspaper obituaries, death certificates and other scanned documentation is allowed. We encourage members to move the images down to the bottom of the photo display so that they are not the first thing you see when viewing a memorial page.
Find a Grave Administration July 2019

PLEASE!! Remember this is not a game of numbers, to me which I see it is, too many. If you maintain the memorial, try to connect their relatives if all possible, while the information is still fresh and available. This is not meant to be offensive for Gravers who try to memorialize and record entire Cementeries.

Genealogy, begins as an interest, becomes a hobby, continues as an avocation and in the last stages, is an incurable disease.
Author Unknown

I have been researching my family members for over 50 years and still searching.

You are more than welcome to use any photos that I have posted. I do NOT need credit for it either, but if you do. I THANK YOU. I feel this site was created to help each other find and locate the final resting place of our ancestors.

I leave a Flower on every memorial that I submit edits for and/or research.

"When an old person dies, it's like a library burning down." -Alex Haley

"Every man's life ends the same way. It is only the details of how he lived and how he died that distinguish one man from another." -Ernest Hemingway

"Strangers in the Box" By Pamela A. Harazim
Come, look with me inside this drawer, In this box I've often seen,
At the pictures, black and white, Faces proud, still, serene.
I wish I knew the people, These strangers in the box,
Their names and all their memories Are lost among my socks.
I wonder what their lives were like. How did they spend their days? What about their special times? I'll never know their ways.
If only someone had taken time To tell who, what, where, when,
These faces of my heritage, Would come to life again.
Could this become the fate Of the pictures we take today?
The faces and the memories Someday to be tossed away?
Make time to save your pictures, Seize the opportunity when it knocks, Or someday you and yours could be The strangers in the box.

If you could see your ancestors
All standing in a row,
There might be some of them, perhaps,
You wouldn't want to know.
But, here's another question, which
Requires another view,
If you could meet your ancestors,
Would they be proud of you?
---Arkansas Parent-Teacher

Copied from another Graver: George Wilkensen
#50228812
**********************
English custom was never to mention a lady's name: Mrs. James Jones. Often a family surname is used as 2nd name: James Smith Jones.
For centuries the custom was: it was NOT DONE to mention someone's birthday! Only his/her (exact) age at death. WE in 21st century in Findagrave can fill in the birthdate as customs have changed.
Dutch custom is to hyphenate a woman's maiden name to her surname: Volten-Langewis.
In Spanish speaking countries the surname of the mother is ALWAYS added to the name: Antonio Fernandez Velasquez. Velasquez is maiden name of the mother. But in Puerto Rico if e.g. Julia Santos Figueroa gets married to Juan Pérez, her name changes to Julia Santos de Pérez!
Very confusing, as different countries have opposite customs. One has to know the origin of a name to fill in the right name(s) in Findagrave.
English O'Neil = Irish Ó Neal, so what to enter so that people can find their relatives ? That is a problem.
Common Dutch names start with Van (van Delft), van der (van der Molen), van de (van de Zande) or de (de Bakker). THEY ARE PART OF THE SURNAME!
Same in German: Von, Von der, Von den, de. French: le, la, de, du, des.
(Maiden) names that END in a comma come at the END of a names list when searching! That is why I edit the memorial to remove the comma.

Copied from another contributor: Paul Hays
When proposing edits therefore, to me or any other contributor, please simultaneously provide substantiation. I approve about 70% of edits received, but each change must be supported by clear, specific, verifiable evidence. Since Find a Grave makes no provision for evidence, my email address is posted on this profile for that purpose. Please understand that if you suggest an edit, the onus is on you to prove it -- not on me. Nor I am in any way required to accept edits lacking what I deem to be adequate evidence.

Paragraph by Laura Whistle Cates Duncan: ID #47619237
A Word of Encouragement to Find A Grave Contributors: please take the time to go the extra mile with the memorials you create. It's terrific that millions of people have been notated on this web site. But I urge you to go further.....subscribe to Newspapers.com, find obituaries, post the info from obituaries in your memorial bios, and link family members. The people being remembered at this site had real lives with real stories. Often those stories were not shared with children and grandchildren. Help make the lives of those who have passed meaningful, as opposed to simply recording the info found on a headstone.

"Why waste your money looking up your family tree? Just go into politics and your opponents will do it for you." ~ Mark Twain.

When asking about a certain PERSON's memorial, please include the persons ID #, name and dates of birth, death or the STATE where buried at. This will help me find the person who you are talking about. Remember there are thousands of people with the same name.

Any obituary, photo, bio information or document uploaded is not a copyright violation and is covered under the Fair Use Law if used for research or genealogical purposes.

What are seven examples of uses for fair use?
U.S. fair use factors. Examples of fair use in United States copyright law include commentary, search engines, criticism, parody, news reporting, research, and scholarship.

It really is not necessary to "own" all your relatives' memorials. Create a virtual site and add the relatives memorials there.

In January 2022, FAG updated its transfer guidelines as follows: "Memorials are transferred for relatives w/ these close relationships: child, spouse/partner, sibling, parent, grandchild, great-grandchild, grandparent, great-grandparent, niece/nephew, great niece/nephew, aunt/uncle, great aunt/uncle, or first cousin. This would include adoptive, step, & in-law versions of these relationships."

A new Find A Grave rule states that a memorial in the correct disposition precedes any memorial of the same person that isn't, regardless of when it was made, and that a memorial with the incorrect disposition might be merged with the correct memorial or removed.
Please be sure to fully research where a person is buried instead of guessing or adding unknown burials as matter of fact, or simply do not add that person until more information can be gathered. This has been problematic for years and leads to duplicates of the same person.

Last NAME ( per Find a Grave) as you would find it on the TOMBSTONE, if the interred had more than one marriage or other possible spellings, place this information in the BIOGRAPHY and use the family links.
As in names with a space, or not, it should be as on the headstone not what others prefer. Spellings on memorials that are different than on headstone should be changed to reflect the spelling on the headstone once the photograph is added to verify the spelling. This may hopefully prevent duplicate copies of memorials.

I would ask that if you are going to post a headstone photograph, please go the extra mile, and crop your shoes, or the shadow of your hands/camera, out of the picture when you are standing over a flat headstone. Also take care when photographing upright stones, that your reflection is not staring back. Take a small brush to clean dirt or leaves off headstones that are placed flat on the ground.

If the persons grave has no marker, please at least add a photo of the area where the grave is located.
Also edit the location of the plot on the memorial if you know the location.

Use of RANK is reserved for those who retire or die while enlisted. Officers and enlisted personnel who resign their RANK are prohibited from using them as a part of their name after their service.( The Official Guide to Names, Titles, & Forms of Address )

Since the move to Ancestry and the new website, newspaper obituaries, death certificates and other scanned documentation is allowed. We encourage members to move the images down to the bottom of the photo display so that they are not the first thing you see when viewing a memorial page.
Find a Grave Administration July 2019

PLEASE!! Remember this is not a game of numbers, to me which I see it is, too many. If you maintain the memorial, try to connect their relatives if all possible, while the information is still fresh and available. This is not meant to be offensive for Gravers who try to memorialize and record entire Cementeries.

Genealogy, begins as an interest, becomes a hobby, continues as an avocation and in the last stages, is an incurable disease.
Author Unknown

I have been researching my family members for over 50 years and still searching.

You are more than welcome to use any photos that I have posted. I do NOT need credit for it either, but if you do. I THANK YOU. I feel this site was created to help each other find and locate the final resting place of our ancestors.

I leave a Flower on every memorial that I submit edits for and/or research.

"When an old person dies, it's like a library burning down." -Alex Haley

"Every man's life ends the same way. It is only the details of how he lived and how he died that distinguish one man from another." -Ernest Hemingway

"Strangers in the Box" By Pamela A. Harazim
Come, look with me inside this drawer, In this box I've often seen,
At the pictures, black and white, Faces proud, still, serene.
I wish I knew the people, These strangers in the box,
Their names and all their memories Are lost among my socks.
I wonder what their lives were like. How did they spend their days? What about their special times? I'll never know their ways.
If only someone had taken time To tell who, what, where, when,
These faces of my heritage, Would come to life again.
Could this become the fate Of the pictures we take today?
The faces and the memories Someday to be tossed away?
Make time to save your pictures, Seize the opportunity when it knocks, Or someday you and yours could be The strangers in the box.

If you could see your ancestors
All standing in a row,
There might be some of them, perhaps,
You wouldn't want to know.
But, here's another question, which
Requires another view,
If you could meet your ancestors,
Would they be proud of you?
---Arkansas Parent-Teacher

Copied from another Graver: George Wilkensen
#50228812
**********************
English custom was never to mention a lady's name: Mrs. James Jones. Often a family surname is used as 2nd name: James Smith Jones.
For centuries the custom was: it was NOT DONE to mention someone's birthday! Only his/her (exact) age at death. WE in 21st century in Findagrave can fill in the birthdate as customs have changed.
Dutch custom is to hyphenate a woman's maiden name to her surname: Volten-Langewis.
In Spanish speaking countries the surname of the mother is ALWAYS added to the name: Antonio Fernandez Velasquez. Velasquez is maiden name of the mother. But in Puerto Rico if e.g. Julia Santos Figueroa gets married to Juan Pérez, her name changes to Julia Santos de Pérez!
Very confusing, as different countries have opposite customs. One has to know the origin of a name to fill in the right name(s) in Findagrave.
English O'Neil = Irish Ó Neal, so what to enter so that people can find their relatives ? That is a problem.
Common Dutch names start with Van (van Delft), van der (van der Molen), van de (van de Zande) or de (de Bakker). THEY ARE PART OF THE SURNAME!
Same in German: Von, Von der, Von den, de. French: le, la, de, du, des.
(Maiden) names that END in a comma come at the END of a names list when searching! That is why I edit the memorial to remove the comma.

Copied from another contributor: Paul Hays
When proposing edits therefore, to me or any other contributor, please simultaneously provide substantiation. I approve about 70% of edits received, but each change must be supported by clear, specific, verifiable evidence. Since Find a Grave makes no provision for evidence, my email address is posted on this profile for that purpose. Please understand that if you suggest an edit, the onus is on you to prove it -- not on me. Nor I am in any way required to accept edits lacking what I deem to be adequate evidence.

Paragraph by Laura Whistle Cates Duncan: ID #47619237
A Word of Encouragement to Find A Grave Contributors: please take the time to go the extra mile with the memorials you create. It's terrific that millions of people have been notated on this web site. But I urge you to go further.....subscribe to Newspapers.com, find obituaries, post the info from obituaries in your memorial bios, and link family members. The people being remembered at this site had real lives with real stories. Often those stories were not shared with children and grandchildren. Help make the lives of those who have passed meaningful, as opposed to simply recording the info found on a headstone.

"Why waste your money looking up your family tree? Just go into politics and your opponents will do it for you." ~ Mark Twain.