Many times I have walked the rows and sections of cemeteries and read the headstones and markers of the individuals buried there. As I scan the names I wonder about the people they once were. What were they like? How did they live? What did they love? What were their challenges, heartaches, successes and achievements?
A headstone tells very little about one's life. We get a name, date of birth and death but rarely anything more.
In the remembrance program from my son-in-law's funeral my daughter included a poem titled, "The Dash". It's about the little line between the dates of our birth and death that represent our life. When I photograph a marker to fulfill a request for findagrave.com or for my own personal history records, I try to honor that dash and the person whose life it represents. I prefer to take the extra time to get the best photo possible. I fully understand that this will be a family history record and because of this I try to record for others what I would want recorded for the memory of my ancestors and loved ones.
I started my own family history 5 years ago and am completely hooked. I have found ancestors who were soldiers in the Revolutionary War and the Civil War, one ancestor with ties to Abraham Lincoln, and GG grandparents who were pioneers on the Oregon Trail. Such history!!
I have old photos for many of my ancestors but for many others I have only a photo of their headstone. It's kind of interesting that an inscribed chunk of granite can be the one piece of lasting evidence that someone lived and died. I may never know what kind of lives the dashes on those headstones represent but I'm grateful for findagrave.com and the many volunteers for making this evidence available.

Many times I have walked the rows and sections of cemeteries and read the headstones and markers of the individuals buried there. As I scan the names I wonder about the people they once were. What were they like? How did they live? What did they love? What were their challenges, heartaches, successes and achievements?
A headstone tells very little about one's life. We get a name, date of birth and death but rarely anything more.
In the remembrance program from my son-in-law's funeral my daughter included a poem titled, "The Dash". It's about the little line between the dates of our birth and death that represent our life. When I photograph a marker to fulfill a request for findagrave.com or for my own personal history records, I try to honor that dash and the person whose life it represents. I prefer to take the extra time to get the best photo possible. I fully understand that this will be a family history record and because of this I try to record for others what I would want recorded for the memory of my ancestors and loved ones.
I started my own family history 5 years ago and am completely hooked. I have found ancestors who were soldiers in the Revolutionary War and the Civil War, one ancestor with ties to Abraham Lincoln, and GG grandparents who were pioneers on the Oregon Trail. Such history!!
I have old photos for many of my ancestors but for many others I have only a photo of their headstone. It's kind of interesting that an inscribed chunk of granite can be the one piece of lasting evidence that someone lived and died. I may never know what kind of lives the dashes on those headstones represent but I'm grateful for findagrave.com and the many volunteers for making this evidence available.