~April 2024 ~

I've taken on a large number of memorials from a few inactive and deceased contributors. I'm trying to work through them to update them and add info but it will take a while. I welcome any edits and bio suggestions that you wish to send, and while I may not thank you individually, you all have my sincere gratitude!

Please use the nifty "suggest edits" button found at the top of the memorials to send an edit for me to complete on any of my memorials. Name, birth/death dates, parent & spouse links, plot location or GPS, and marker transcription can easily be done using one of the top 5 options.

The 6th option--the SAC (suggest any other correction or addition) can be used when your correction doesn't fall into one of the other categories (like if you need something added to the bio), or if you would like to request a transfer of a memorial to you. Please indicate your relationship with the individual. I use the Find A Grave four-generation criteria as a guideline (guideline being the keyword here; guidelines are merely suggestions, after all) but will happily consider all requests, including out-of-guidelines requests as long as they are not my family members.

If I've inadvertently created a duplicate memorial, please use the Edit option to let Find A Grave know that the two memorials need to be merged (there's a Report a Duplicate button on the left side of the screen after you hit the Edit option).

I'm in Central Missouri, so you'll see me photographing various cemeteries around here. I'm the short gal with the camera usually walking around with a couple of clipboards. I'm currently working to complete photo requests and to fill in missing photographs and memorials in Howard, Cooper, Moniteau, Saline, and sometimes Boone, counties.

Please feel free to use any of the photographs I've taken of grave markers in your family trees, on Ancestry, or wherever, for non-commercial purposes--no need to ask my permission. I would love it if you just mention where you got it from and that I took it. If you need one of my pictures posted on another memorial (like the spouse on a joint marker), just ask me to post it there and I will do so.

If you wish to use any of the family photographs I've posted, I have no problem with that, but I do request that you post this on any photos you use: "Originally posted on Find A Grave by FelineGenealogist #48837789. Used with permission." I request this so that anyone with an interest in any photos (ie. any of my ancestors) will know the original source of the photo and they can contact me.

I take the best pictures I can on the day I visit the cemetery. Missouri weather isn't always...perfect, but I work with what I can on the days I can get to a cemetery. If you find I've uploaded one with my reflection (I've found a few that I've removed and scheduled for reshoots), please alert me so I can reshoot the marker. If someone else takes a significantly better picture than me, feel free to ask me to remove mine and I will happily do so.

I only use water and a soft brush to clean the markers and I'll try to clip grass or branches that are in the way (found a big brown snake in Moniteau County the other day, eeeek). I won't use chalk, shaving cream, flour, or anything else to make the marker easier to read because I don't want to cause any damage to the markers. I will attempt to digitally enhance some of the older stones to make them clearer.

I'm working on my own genealogy (my maternal line) in my spare time (one of my sisters is doing our paternal line). If you think you might be a relative, say hi on my message wall and we'll chat. The surnames I'm currently researching in my family tree are:

Jones--Elbert, Hart, Wilkes, Madison &
Oglethorpe Counties, Georgia
Greenwood & Abbeville Counties,
South Carolina
Cooper--Oglethorpe, Hart, & Elbert
Counties, Georgia
Greenwood County, South Carolina
Johnson--Elbert County, Georgia
Saxon--Elbert County, Georgia
Dupree/Deupree--Oglethorpe & Elbert Counties, Georgia
Sunderland--Maryland, Georgia
Epps--Clarke County, Georgia
Baird--Roanoke City, Botetourt
& Bedford Counties, Virginia
Anderson--Bedford County, Virginia

The "Feline Genealogist" in my profile is my cat, Truman. I usually answer to Shar :)

Shar (and Truman)

~Dear Ancestor~

Your Tombstone stands among the rest
neglected and alone.
The name and date are chiseled out
on polished, marbled stone.
It reaches out to all who care.
It is too late to mourn.
You did not know that I'd exist.
You died and I was born.
Yet each of us are cells of you
in flesh, in blood, in bone.
Our blood contracts and beats a pulse
entirely not our own.
Dear Ancestor, the place you filled
one hundred years ago,
spreads out among the ones you left
who would have loved you so.
I wonder if you lived and loved.
I wonder if you knew,
that someday I would find this spot,
and come to visit you.
~Walter Butler Palmer

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

"God put me on this earth to accomplish a certain number of things. Right now I am so far behind that I will never die."
~ Bill Waterson, creator of the 'Calvin & Hobbes' comic strip

~April 2024 ~

I've taken on a large number of memorials from a few inactive and deceased contributors. I'm trying to work through them to update them and add info but it will take a while. I welcome any edits and bio suggestions that you wish to send, and while I may not thank you individually, you all have my sincere gratitude!

Please use the nifty "suggest edits" button found at the top of the memorials to send an edit for me to complete on any of my memorials. Name, birth/death dates, parent & spouse links, plot location or GPS, and marker transcription can easily be done using one of the top 5 options.

The 6th option--the SAC (suggest any other correction or addition) can be used when your correction doesn't fall into one of the other categories (like if you need something added to the bio), or if you would like to request a transfer of a memorial to you. Please indicate your relationship with the individual. I use the Find A Grave four-generation criteria as a guideline (guideline being the keyword here; guidelines are merely suggestions, after all) but will happily consider all requests, including out-of-guidelines requests as long as they are not my family members.

If I've inadvertently created a duplicate memorial, please use the Edit option to let Find A Grave know that the two memorials need to be merged (there's a Report a Duplicate button on the left side of the screen after you hit the Edit option).

I'm in Central Missouri, so you'll see me photographing various cemeteries around here. I'm the short gal with the camera usually walking around with a couple of clipboards. I'm currently working to complete photo requests and to fill in missing photographs and memorials in Howard, Cooper, Moniteau, Saline, and sometimes Boone, counties.

Please feel free to use any of the photographs I've taken of grave markers in your family trees, on Ancestry, or wherever, for non-commercial purposes--no need to ask my permission. I would love it if you just mention where you got it from and that I took it. If you need one of my pictures posted on another memorial (like the spouse on a joint marker), just ask me to post it there and I will do so.

If you wish to use any of the family photographs I've posted, I have no problem with that, but I do request that you post this on any photos you use: "Originally posted on Find A Grave by FelineGenealogist #48837789. Used with permission." I request this so that anyone with an interest in any photos (ie. any of my ancestors) will know the original source of the photo and they can contact me.

I take the best pictures I can on the day I visit the cemetery. Missouri weather isn't always...perfect, but I work with what I can on the days I can get to a cemetery. If you find I've uploaded one with my reflection (I've found a few that I've removed and scheduled for reshoots), please alert me so I can reshoot the marker. If someone else takes a significantly better picture than me, feel free to ask me to remove mine and I will happily do so.

I only use water and a soft brush to clean the markers and I'll try to clip grass or branches that are in the way (found a big brown snake in Moniteau County the other day, eeeek). I won't use chalk, shaving cream, flour, or anything else to make the marker easier to read because I don't want to cause any damage to the markers. I will attempt to digitally enhance some of the older stones to make them clearer.

I'm working on my own genealogy (my maternal line) in my spare time (one of my sisters is doing our paternal line). If you think you might be a relative, say hi on my message wall and we'll chat. The surnames I'm currently researching in my family tree are:

Jones--Elbert, Hart, Wilkes, Madison &
Oglethorpe Counties, Georgia
Greenwood & Abbeville Counties,
South Carolina
Cooper--Oglethorpe, Hart, & Elbert
Counties, Georgia
Greenwood County, South Carolina
Johnson--Elbert County, Georgia
Saxon--Elbert County, Georgia
Dupree/Deupree--Oglethorpe & Elbert Counties, Georgia
Sunderland--Maryland, Georgia
Epps--Clarke County, Georgia
Baird--Roanoke City, Botetourt
& Bedford Counties, Virginia
Anderson--Bedford County, Virginia

The "Feline Genealogist" in my profile is my cat, Truman. I usually answer to Shar :)

Shar (and Truman)

~Dear Ancestor~

Your Tombstone stands among the rest
neglected and alone.
The name and date are chiseled out
on polished, marbled stone.
It reaches out to all who care.
It is too late to mourn.
You did not know that I'd exist.
You died and I was born.
Yet each of us are cells of you
in flesh, in blood, in bone.
Our blood contracts and beats a pulse
entirely not our own.
Dear Ancestor, the place you filled
one hundred years ago,
spreads out among the ones you left
who would have loved you so.
I wonder if you lived and loved.
I wonder if you knew,
that someday I would find this spot,
and come to visit you.
~Walter Butler Palmer

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

"God put me on this earth to accomplish a certain number of things. Right now I am so far behind that I will never die."
~ Bill Waterson, creator of the 'Calvin & Hobbes' comic strip