Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Come Share Your Cemetery Blog - The Grave Mappers Want to Know!


Come share your cemetery or genealogy related blog with the Grave Mappers. Visit the Grave Mappers Group on Facebook and share a link to your blog. It's a great way to let other cemetery and genealogy enthusiasts know what you are writing.

Who knows, you might link up with someone who has some information you need . . . or you might know something that will help them.

Have You Put Your Cemetery on the Map?

Thanks to all of you Grave Mappers who have marked your cemetery on our "Cemeteries Around the World" map!

Tami, Diane, Brenda, Niels, Adam, Jen, JD, Mark, Stephanie, Dan, JoLyn, Ann, Debbie, SP, Donna, C. Hopkins, Becky, Gus, Linda, Judith, Stephanie, Bonnie, and some anonymous readers have all added cemeteries. Thanks all!

We have cemeteries in:
  • Georgia

  • Virginia

  • Pennsylvania

  • Michigan

  • Colorado

  • Nebraska

  • California

  • Texas

  • Mississippi

  • Idaho

  • Utah

  • Illinois

  • Iowa

  • Wisconsin

  • Ohio

  • British Columbia

  • Denmark

Some interesting cemeteries you'll want to see are:

  • Monticello, in Virginia, where Thomas Jefferson is buried.

  • Mount Vernon, George Washington's Tomb

  • Christ Church Cemetery, Philadelphia, Benjamin Franklin's grave.

  • Springfield, Illinois, where Abraham Lincoln is buried.

Just click on the pointer and you can see the photo and cemetery information. Be sure to take a look - and add your cemetery to our map!

Thursday, January 22, 2009

A Winter Day at the Cemetery

I recently braved the cold and spent the afternoon at the cemetery. It was a peaceful day - a lot of snow fell early in the morning and then the skies cleared to a beautiful blue. I didn't do any mapping that day . . . just enjoyed the beauty of the place. Hope you enjoy it too!















Wednesday, January 21, 2009

That's a Strange Place for a Cemetery!


Bryant Family Cemetery

In Hattiesburg, Mississippi, there's a small cemetery located in the middle of an apartment complex parking lot. It's elevated and fenced - apparently the developer couldn't get permission to move the cemetery when he built the apartments, so they left it in the middle of the complex. Good thing in my opinion!

The cemetery looks like it belonged to the Bryant family and the last known burial was in 1916.

Perkins Family Cemetery

Also in Mississippi is the Perkins Family Cemetery. It's in the woods behind a subdivision in Washington, near Natchez in Adams County. The cemetery has a brick wall around it, but it's by a gully and some of the graves and wall have fallen into the gully.

There are four markers:
  • M'Cullough, Mary Jane
  • Perkins, Charles
  • Perkins, Sarah
  • Perkins, Joseph Sen'r
There is also a plaque here: In memory of Perkins: 1788-1988, Joseph & Sarah, by his descendants, 9 Apr. 1988.


Do you know of any cemeteries in strange and unusual places? Please leave a comment and tell us about them!

Monday, January 19, 2009

Become a GRAVE MAPPER - Get your official membership badge!


It's time to get mapping!

Become a member by joining the

GRAVE MAPPERS Group on Facebook

or

Send an email to:

gravemappers@gmail.com.

In your email, please include your name, email address, and the state, province, or country where you live.

Next, get your official member badge. Just right click on the badge above and copy; then paste it on your blog or home page.


Friday, January 16, 2009

Edward Jackson Cole Family Cemetery

In his blog, Virginia Family Tree Genealogy, Kevin Lett has a great article about a small family cemetery in Mecklenburg County, Virginia. Buried there are:
  • Emma Cole Simmons
  • Thomas H. Cole
  • Edward J. Cole
  • Athaliah D. Cole
  • John H. Cole
  • William T. Cole

It is also believed that Edward Thomas Cole and Ann Eliza Beal Cole are buried there. Kevin has done some great research on this cemetery and has included wonderful headstone photos. He also has a map of the area from 1864.

Give Virginia Family Tree Genealogy a visit!

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

What Can I Do at NAMES IN STONE?


A lot of us are waiting for better weather before we can get out and do some serious cemetery mapping....

Now is a great time to visit and explore the Names in Stone website and find out what it has to offer.

SEARCH THE MULTI-CEMETERY DATABASE:

The best way to search the Names in Stone database is to enter the last name of the deceased person you are searching for. If your results are many, you can refine your search by adding more specific information. You can also select a cemetery to search if you know where that person is buried.





VIEW A CEMETERY LIST:


You can select a state or province and see what cemeteries are already added to the database. You can also view a list of recently added cemeteries.



BUILD YOUR OWN CEMETERY MAP:

With unique on-line mapping tools, anyone can create a cemetery map. The website guides you through the process, which is very easy. Check out their Class B Cemetery Mapping Recommendations and explore the Grave Mappers blog for more mapping tips. It's a great way to preserve cemetery records.



LEARN ABOUT MEMBERSHIP OPTIONS:

There are three levels of membership options -

  • Free Limited Membership - search for cemetery burials; view and interact on the website; upload images and attachments to burial records; participate in forum-style discussions; print maps and records; and create your own cemetery maps.

  • $39.99/year Complete Yearly Membership - all of the above plus: save lists of cemeteries and records of interest and important research criteria; receive email updates when records and cemeteries are added pertaining to your list; use the database as a research assistant; receive discounts on grave decor.

  • $7.95/month Complete Monthly Membership - same as yearly membership for one month at a time.



ADD IMAGES AND ATTACHMENTS TO BURIAL RECORDS:


You can add headstone photos, and other photos and images to a burial record. You can also participate in forum-style discussions about burial records, sharing knowledge and information.






DECORATE A GRAVE:


For $9.95, you can decorate a grave with virtual flowers and other images that last three months. This is a headstone photo on Names in Stone that I decorated myself with virtual flowers. It's fun to find your ancestors' graves, especially those you are unable to visit personally, and decorate them. Complete members get a discount on grave decor.




At Names in Stone, there's something for everyone who is interested in cemeteries and genealogy. Grave Mappers invites you to take a look!


Names in Stone screenshots used by permission.

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Creedmoor Community Cemetery, Creedmoor, Texas


Grave Mapper Nancy Hickman of Austin, Texas, recently mapped the Creedmoor Community Cemetery in Creedmoor, Texas. She is so gracious to share her mapping experience with us at Grave Mappers and to give us a history of this small southern town and its cemetery.

"It was fun trying out (the Names in Stone) format. I am new at genealogy research and the cemetery that I added to the site was my first...



"Before learning about Grave Mappers, I had thought that it was nice to have the list of inscriptions from cemeteries in the order of placement and having them in alphabetical order made it even easier to find a name, except when it came to figuring out which inscription belonged with what family. I realized that was not the case for anyone researching a family and not having that family history.

"The website is definitely a solution to the problem. It allows you to record exactly where a headstone is located, with additional information. It gives anyone searching an opportunity to see if any other headstones in the vicinity belongs to that family.
"I did this little cemetery as a contribution to the Texas Tombstone Transcription Project since it was one that I was going to in search of my GG Grandfather, Edmond Green Horne, who lived in the Creedmoor, Texas area.

"Here is the link to the information provided for the Texas Tombstone Project, the second picture shown of the lone headstone does not belong:

"The comparison of what can be done on Names in Stone and what was done for the Texas Tombstone Project tells it all."



"There are 41 Headstones and the earliest date of burial is for William Hardin Aiton, Feb 25, 1896 (age 23 yrs 10 mos & 22 days) - more than likely the grandson of Thomas Aiton M.D. b. Sep 12, 1858 d. Feb 14, 1902. The name caught my attention; the following is all I could find on him:

Newspaper Date:

April 8 1880 - Newspaper Article:"__Dr. Thomas Aiton has removed to Creedmoor, Travis County, Texas where he requests his correspondents to address him hereafter. Alluding to the season down there in his letter he says: `Most too much rain for planting. Farmers very busy planting cotton. Corn looks well, wheat and oats fine, grass excellent. Herds of horses, mules and cattle moving north.'"

Pike County Democrat, April 8, 1880, Pike County Illinois

CREEDMOOR, TEXAS.

Creedmoor is at the intersection of Farm roads 1327 and 1625, fifteen miles southeast of Austin in southern Travis County. Though in the 1850's the site had general stores, a grocery, a meat market, a drugstore, a barbershop, a blacksmith shop, and an ice cream parlor, the name Creedmoor did not appear until the establishment of the community's post office in 1880.

Some sources say the town was originally called Willow Springs; others say it was first called Creekmoor, but was renamed Creedmoor by settlers who wanted the name to express their faith. Dr. Jacob T. Wilhite, once the country's foremost authority on rabies and the founder and director of the Pasteur Institute at the Austin State Hospital, was born in Creedmoor. The town's population grew from twenty in 1896 to 150 by 1915.

In 1921, a cyclone destroyed its four-room school and one of the local gins. The town suffered a drought in 1925. A 1946 map showed Creedmoor with a school, two churches, seven businesses, and more than thirty dwellings.

In the 1950's, it had two gins, and cotton was still a major local industry. Under threat of annexation by Austin in 1982, Creedmoor became the ninth community in Travis County to incorporate. In 1990, Creedmoor reported a population of 194, a store, a post office, and the San Francisco Catholic Church. The population in 2000 was 211, with three businesses.




Thanks, Nancy, for your great work! At Grave Mappers, we are sure your contributions to Names in Stone will help future researchers find the records they seek! Click here to see Nancy's map of the Creedmoor Community Cemetery at Names in Stone.

Friday, January 2, 2009

WHY MAP CEMETERIES?

In the 'About This Site' section of Names in Stone, there is a great story about a man and his search for his ancestors - and the role cemeteries can play in that search.

"A dear friend of ours tells the story of how a single visit to a small cemetery led to the discovery of many ancestors he had long been looking for.

"His research took him across the country to rural Alabama. His destination was the Bethel Cemetery located in the northeast corner of Butler County.

"After loading his research materials in the rental car, he began the hour drive from Montgomery to the Bethel Cemetery, wondering if his trip would be successful. Evening was closing in and he hoped that he would be able to locate the cemetery and glean the information needed.

"A few miles before his destination, he noticed the small Sandy Ridge Cemetery off the side of the road. He knew this wasn’t the Bethel Cemetery, but for some reason he felt he needed to pull over and explore.

"Much to his surprise, he found the headstones of a husband and wife whose names he recognized from prior research, but had never known where they were buried. What happened next made the entire trip worth it. There, nestled in the grass next to the couple, was the small headstone of a child—their child, who had died in his infancy. He was elated to find this information on the little boy, and to fill in missing pieces to the family puzzle.

"He continued on to the Bethel Cemetery and there, with the help of local historians, was able to find the headstones of many other family members—answering many more questions."

This is such a great story - it's the kind of experience we all hope for. Unfortunately, we don't get as many opportunities as we'd like to travel around the country - or the world - to visit cemeteries. And if you are like me, it really would be around the world. I would have to travel to cemeteries in Utah, Virginia, Delaware, Vermont, Illinois, Idaho, England, Wales, Denmark, Germany, Poland, and more to trace my roots. I would absolutely love it!

But it's not going to happen anytime soon. And that's where Names in Stone comes in. Although nothing beats a real cemetery visit, Names in Stone gives us the opportunity to virtually visit cemeteries - and it really is almost like being there. That's because it isn't only an alphabetical listing of burials. And it isn't just cemetery maps. It is a growing collection of interactive cemetery maps - which means that the record for every grave is attached right to the map. You can access that record just by clicking on the grave.

How is this like visiting the cemetery? Because now you can virtually walk up and down the rows of a cemetery and actually see who is buried next to whom. Just like the man in the story - if you can see the placement of burials, you can often establish family relationships and solve family mysteries in the process.

The best way to visit Names in Stone is to search for the name of a deceased person. You don't have to wander through the cemetery to find who you're looking for. Just enter the name in the search field. When you find the correct person, click to view the cemetery map. This will take you to that person's record - and to their grave on the map! Next you can click on the grave and find out information about that person - and click on the surrounding graves and learn even more.

There are many great cemetery websites out there, but I think Names in Stone is the next generation of cemetery websites. And it will become a more and more useful research tool as cemeteries are added to the site.

That's where GRAVE MAPPERS comes in. We need your help to populate the Names in Stone database. There are many small family cemeteries, abandoned cemeteries, and cemeteries in obscure places that only a few people remember anymore. If these cemeteries are mapped at Names in Stone, the records are preserved and become available for everyone to research.

Take a look at one of the newest cemeteries available at Names in Stone - Creedmoor Community Cemetery in Texas. Thanks to a Texas Grave Mapper for your hard work!