Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Tuesday's Tip ~ FindAGrave and Linking Memorials

I have been a member of Find A Grave for several months. There is no charge to be a member. The description of Find A Grave at its website is as follows:
Find a Grave's mission is to find, record and present final disposition information from around the world as a virtual cemetery experience.
Memorial contributions to Find A Grave should fulfill that mission - registration of the final disposition. If the memorial contribution corresponds with only the main mission, then the memorial fulfills its purpose as part of Find A Grave's mission.
Find a Grave memorials may contain rich content including pictures, biographies and more specific information. Members can leave remembrances via ‘virtual flowers' on the memorials they visit, completing the virtual cemetery experience.
Find A Grave is a resource for anyone in finding the final disposition of family, friends, and ‘famous' individuals.

I have added memorials; I have had several memorials transferred to me (Lysle family in Pittsburgh); I have requested photographs of gravestones in cemeteries far from me; and I have taken photographs of gravestones in cemeteries local to me for others who live far from Massachusetts.

Just recently, with the discovery of my grandfather's obituary, indicating where he is buried, I have been working on linking my ancestors' memorials on FindAGrave. A list of my ancestors' memorials can be found at this link. There are also some memorials (Copeland relatives in Maine) which were set up by someone else, but I can still link to them. Some memorials have photographs of the gravestones and some do not; this depends on whether or not a photo request has been fulfilled.

For my paternal side, start at the memorial for my brother, Duncan Adsit Pyle, and click on the link for our father, Charles McAlpin Pyle, Jr. You then see links for my grandparents (who were divorced in 1933 and are buried with subsequent spouses; multiple spouses can be linked). And so on and so on. (If I've missed a link, let me know.)

On my mother's side, start at the memorial for my Aunt Caroline, and you can see links to her parents (my grandparents). And so on and so on.

This is a work in progress as I discover where ancestors are buried and obtain enough information to set up memorials and link family members properly. Linking family members in Find A Grave is a great way to follow migration patterns if family members have moved around the country.

Family members: let me know if I've made any errors or if you can provide me with additional information.

4 comments:

  1. Thank you for this post. The concept of linking graves intrigues me greatly.

    I've seen the linking on Find-A-Grave but have been unsure how to do this. Do you have to have the relatives transferred to you? That's where I'm confused.

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  2. Find-a-grave sounds like a really useful site that would really help me as I research grave sites of my ancestors. Thanks for the information about how it works.

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  3. I should have explained a bit more about how to link memorials. From one memorial, you can link parents and spouse(s). To do this, you need to find the memorial for the parent or spouse, scroll down to the bottom, and note the Find A Grave Memorial #, which can be from a memorial that you or someone else set up. Then you return to the first memorial and under the birth and death information, click on the link that says "Family Links: Edit." Enter the Memorial # for the parent or spouse in the space provided, tab to the next space, and hopefully the name of the person will appear, confirming that you entered the correct Memorial #. At the bottom, click on Save. The two people (or more if you added both parents and a spouse) will now display as linked on any of their pages.

    There is a FAQ section that has useful information about how to request having relatives transferred to you.

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  4. I LOVE Find A Grave! It's so cool, and best of all, as you mentioned, it's FREE! I've managed to get some photos of grandparents' and ancestors' graves... what a great way to honor them.

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