Headstones Are Not Always Right

Many genealogists before me have sounded the warning to only use Find a Grave memorials as a tool and not always as pure fact. Those that have headstones are considered by many as valid evidence of the death and burial of the subject of the memorial. Those with a tombstone are more valid than those memorials posted without headstones and no source pinpointing burial in that cemetery.  Another problem for the researcher is the headstone that has been recently created and added to a cemetery for someone who died more than a century ago. Where did the creator get the information?

You can tell the focus of my post will be why you need to be cautious about adding the information you find on Find a grave to your tree and creating Find a Grave page as your source for the dates you put in your tree.

I will use as an example of my words of caution a memorial I found while I was helping a family with the War of 1812 Pension Files for Josiah Mead. I went to Find a Grave website to look to see if there were any headstones for the soldier or his two wives, . There was a memorial for his first wife Sally Wood Mead and connected was a memorial for him. At first I thought it was strange there was a headstone for him in Lexington, Kentucky since he died in Will, Illinois. Then I looked a little closer and, well, let me put up the headstones for Josiah and Sally and then I will discuss.

Memorial for Josiah Mead 

 m

headstone on Sally Wood Mead memorial, wife of Josiah.

The "headstone" for Josiah on his memorial, correct me if I am wrong, appears to be the bottom part of Sally's headstone where it identifies her as wife of Josiah Mead Born...; Died...

You notice they have the exact same birth and death dates. Odder things have happened, but in this case I have a pension file to show the inaccuracy. 

Information of first wife Sally Wood 

 T

Portion of a letter in the file, stating death of Josiah. He was living in Will, Illinois

With this information, I know that the "headstone" on Find a Grave was not Josiah, because a year after Sally died he was writing a family member about her death. Another point to be made is he married his second wife in the year 1856 and then died in 1866.

I contacted the man who maintains the memorial site with the above information suggesting a change for Josiah's memorial was in order.  No response, and it has not been changed as of this time. 

You get my point, that headstones  are awesome to help with identifying birth, death, and place, It is not, however, a primary proof, and should not be treated as such. If you are sure the information is correct, then back up that information with researched sources if at all possible. 

I leave these thoughts with you to mull over and consider.

See you again, same place, same time next month.

FranE

Why Don’t You?? Volunteer, That Is.

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This blogger/researcher/RVer is currently in her home state county and city, in the stick built home.  Man and I have a long list of “real life” issues to be handled.  Sell a vehicle or two, one is sold, my hightop custom van has a new home, I cried when it drove away. Buy a new vehicle. I am more in love with my new little mini mini van each time I drive it, it may actually replace my hightop custom van in my heart, who knew that was possible?  We have Man’s mother’s home to sell, the clean up is finished, it goes on the market this week.  Our son who has been living there has been packing and shopping for a ‘new to him’ home.  We have, of course, doctors, dentists and eye doctors to make appointments with.  Hours of gardening and reclaiming the 3 acres we groom (a couple of years each with many months away have taken a toll on the landscape).  Grandchildren to love on, and of course, for this gal, research and input to do.

Sounds busy, eh?  We are all busy.  We live busy lives, each and every one of us.  There are many duties that call our names.  And, if you are still employed there is another entire layer of busy!

Have just a few minutes to spare?  Probably not many.  However, if you can find just a few, may I suggest you do something for others??  Volunteer.

It only takes a few minutes to look up a obit in your local library.  It could mean the world to someone living across the country that cannot travel to your locality to do that lookup themselves.  You get a few minutes in a peaceful quiet library, someone gets an obituary they are curious about. Just a few minutes, of your time.

Or, how about visiting the local cemeteries and doing a lookup for Find A Grave or BillionGraves. The exercise and the fresh air are a wonderful side benefit to cemetery stomping. 

Recently someone did a bit of extra research on a memorial over at Find A Grave, and then contacted me.  That reaching out broke down a brick wall in my research family.  I wrote about it, at length, on Reflections yesterday. Yes, I am still doing the happy genie dance.  

Below, the final resting place of one William A. Darden, Civil War Confederate solider who died of pneumonia.  Permission granted for use of photo by Mark B, volunteer at Find A Grave.  His volunteer efforts, my brick wall came falling down.

This was the second volunteer from Find A Grave that reached out to me in the last month, I also wrote about that break through on Reflections.  I had mentioned that I would love to get a better image of a World War I draft registration on that post.  A friend took a few minutes to access that image and sent me a beautiful image.  She said she was bored.   Knowing her, it only took a few minutes for her to locate and download and forward the file to me. What a nice thing to do for me. 

Volunteering can be wonderful for you and for the recipients.  Even just a few minutes a week can be rewarding.  Stepping back from all the demands on your life for a scenery change can be extremely beneficial to you and you can change some one else’s research.

See how just a few minutes can change some one else's research.  It will feel great, I'll even go so far as to say, I promise it will feel great.

Just a few minutes. 



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