I love "playing with the dead". Every edit I submit to memorial managers has been researched in depth utilizing Family Search.org in conjunction with Ancestry.com.

If you have a question about an edit submission, please ask before you reject it! Please be respectful if you want to be respected in return. If you 'want' a source verified...go research on FamilySearch.org. All of my work can be found there.

Find a Grave is now owned by Ancestry.com. If you notice, on the lower right side of an 'existing' memorial, you will find a few sources attached. Click on one to take you to it.

As a trained/educated genealogist, I was taught that you CANNOT and SHOULD NOT take the information provided on the death certificate NOR the obituary by the 'informant' as a 'primary source'. Emotions run high when a loved one has expired, thereby their memory is not serving them well. The social security death index location is also not a guaranteed factual source as to their place of death, it is SSI's last known location of where funds were sent. Further, unless a family member has request the SSI death benefit, you may not find them on a search for their last known location.

What I love about the photography process of Find a Grave is that when a request is made, a volunteer accepts; the volunteer goes out and is literally "visiting" that person at their plot. Many years may have gone by since someone has been by to visit them.

DID YOU KNOW:
Headstones were grave markers placed at the head of the grave (some graves also had a 'footstone' marking the other end). Gravestones were flat markers placed over a filled-in grave. These were very large, covering the full size of the grave. Tombstones were the actual 'lid' of a stone coffin. There are other kinds of graves and markers too, such as mausoleums and sarcophagi. A cenotaph is a marker when the person's 'remains' are not in that burial location.
If a person's burial marker is incorrect based upon copy of death certificate, guaranteed they rounded up on the year(s), and/or the informant was wrong based on their memory of the birth. The oldest document, i.e. a census, is usually the correct birth year rounded up.

I hope it leaves you with a warm, fuzzy feeling for each photo you take, knowing you cared to get the photo and that you cared enough to visit.

SNAGGED FROM ANOTHER CONTRIBUTOR'S PAGE:
DEATH CERTIFICATES are welcomed on my memorials as they are in the public domain and, although at times there are errors, they can provide a wealth of information. Please review the Find a Grave rules, death certificates are allowed on 'all' memorials.

Although some, but not all, death certificates are available for free on FamilySearch.org. I add them so individuals who cannot afford Ancestry.com have access to their relative(s) documents. It's my way of paying it forward. Find a grave is now owned by Ancestry.com.

Older markers usually have the age of the deceased listed as years...month...days. I utilize a Genealogy Tombstone calculator: http://ovs-genealogy.com/tools/free_birthdate_calculator_calculates_birth_day.shtml

SNAGGED FROM ANOTHER CONTRIBUTOR'S PAGE:
"I have been concerned about obituaries being added so I contacted 'Find a Grave' and this was their response." "Greetings... 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.
Thank you, Find a Grave Administration"

Something new I just discovered that is going on in Philadelphia at The Woodlands Cemetery, Grave Gardeners and What is a 'Cradle' Grave. Come see!
https://www.gravegardeners.org/

You are welcome to use ONLY 'my' HEADSTONE photos, and only if I am the one who posted them. You will be able to tell by the 'The Tree Whisperer' inscription below the photo.
It is your responsibility to give reference to who originally posted it when you post it elsewhere. Do NOT post photos of family members that you have snagged from other websites on the memorials I maintain.

I love "playing with the dead". Every edit I submit to memorial managers has been researched in depth utilizing Family Search.org in conjunction with Ancestry.com.

If you have a question about an edit submission, please ask before you reject it! Please be respectful if you want to be respected in return. If you 'want' a source verified...go research on FamilySearch.org. All of my work can be found there.

Find a Grave is now owned by Ancestry.com. If you notice, on the lower right side of an 'existing' memorial, you will find a few sources attached. Click on one to take you to it.

As a trained/educated genealogist, I was taught that you CANNOT and SHOULD NOT take the information provided on the death certificate NOR the obituary by the 'informant' as a 'primary source'. Emotions run high when a loved one has expired, thereby their memory is not serving them well. The social security death index location is also not a guaranteed factual source as to their place of death, it is SSI's last known location of where funds were sent. Further, unless a family member has request the SSI death benefit, you may not find them on a search for their last known location.

What I love about the photography process of Find a Grave is that when a request is made, a volunteer accepts; the volunteer goes out and is literally "visiting" that person at their plot. Many years may have gone by since someone has been by to visit them.

DID YOU KNOW:
Headstones were grave markers placed at the head of the grave (some graves also had a 'footstone' marking the other end). Gravestones were flat markers placed over a filled-in grave. These were very large, covering the full size of the grave. Tombstones were the actual 'lid' of a stone coffin. There are other kinds of graves and markers too, such as mausoleums and sarcophagi. A cenotaph is a marker when the person's 'remains' are not in that burial location.
If a person's burial marker is incorrect based upon copy of death certificate, guaranteed they rounded up on the year(s), and/or the informant was wrong based on their memory of the birth. The oldest document, i.e. a census, is usually the correct birth year rounded up.

I hope it leaves you with a warm, fuzzy feeling for each photo you take, knowing you cared to get the photo and that you cared enough to visit.

SNAGGED FROM ANOTHER CONTRIBUTOR'S PAGE:
DEATH CERTIFICATES are welcomed on my memorials as they are in the public domain and, although at times there are errors, they can provide a wealth of information. Please review the Find a Grave rules, death certificates are allowed on 'all' memorials.

Although some, but not all, death certificates are available for free on FamilySearch.org. I add them so individuals who cannot afford Ancestry.com have access to their relative(s) documents. It's my way of paying it forward. Find a grave is now owned by Ancestry.com.

Older markers usually have the age of the deceased listed as years...month...days. I utilize a Genealogy Tombstone calculator: http://ovs-genealogy.com/tools/free_birthdate_calculator_calculates_birth_day.shtml

SNAGGED FROM ANOTHER CONTRIBUTOR'S PAGE:
"I have been concerned about obituaries being added so I contacted 'Find a Grave' and this was their response." "Greetings... 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.
Thank you, Find a Grave Administration"

Something new I just discovered that is going on in Philadelphia at The Woodlands Cemetery, Grave Gardeners and What is a 'Cradle' Grave. Come see!
https://www.gravegardeners.org/

You are welcome to use ONLY 'my' HEADSTONE photos, and only if I am the one who posted them. You will be able to tell by the 'The Tree Whisperer' inscription below the photo.
It is your responsibility to give reference to who originally posted it when you post it elsewhere. Do NOT post photos of family members that you have snagged from other websites on the memorials I maintain.