First things first, I would like to thank the person or persons that said to themselves "You know what would be awesome??? A website all about graves!" I mean who here hasn't found this website to be exceptionally helpful to genealogists of all types? It's one of the only free websites left out there and it makes it so easy to find your family and to create memorials for the ones that are not already listed. Then I wanted to say thank you to all of the contributors that have helped to keep this website so useful and up to date by adding helpful information and photos. I especially want to thank all of the ones that have helped me personally by creating and then generously giving me the memorials of my family members and fulfilling my photo requests. That truly means a lot to me.

I wanted to address a few things. I have noticed that some Find A Grave Users have posted incorrect information in their bio section. One of those things is about copyrights. I just sat on the telephone for twenty minutes waiting for an answer from the Copyright office in Washington D.C. They informed me that Death Certificates and other such records are not copyrighted. They are considered public information. Newspaper obituaries on the other hand may be different depending on the Newspaper. I've heard that there is a 75 year rule on Newspaper Clippings so if this is true, as of 2022 anything before 1947 would be considered public domain. I personally would prefer actual photos of an obit. or other record than a transcription from you but either way is fine. Please be mindful however of posting personal information about living people. With all of the identity theft going on in the world today it would be kind not to help that type of scandalous behavior by unwittingly giving out too much information.

"Find the graves of ancestors, create virtual memorials or add photos, virtual flowers and a note to a loved one's memorial. Search or browse cemeteries and grave records for every-day and famous people from around the world." This was taken directly from the Home Page of the Find A Grave website. The very first thing listed is "finding the graves of ancestors." You know what that is? That there is what you call genealogy. This most certainly is a genealogy website by Find A Grave's own admission. Who would I be to tell someone else that they should use some other website if they want to add photos or make family connections to a memorial. That would just be silly.

The next thing is about Memorial Transfers. The guidelines for transferring memorials are listed as such..."Memorials are transferred for relatives with these close relationships: child, spouse/partner, sibling, parent, grandchild, great-grandchild, grandparent, great-grandparent, niece/nephew, great-niece/nephew, aunt/uncle, great-aunt/uncle, or first cousin. This would include adoptive, step and in-law versions of these relationships.
If two members are related within these guidelines and both would like to manage the memorial, the member with the closer relationship should be given management." Obviously this is a guideline and not an absolute rule because you can acquire memorials straight from Find A Grave without ever being asked about your relation to the individual. Buttttttttt!!!!! Because there is always a possibility that more than one living individual could want ownership of a memorial, Find A Grave must be able to settle disputes so that is why it also says..."If the memorial in question is a direct relative within the four generations to you and the memorial manager is not direct family, then they must transfer the memorial. If they refuse to transfer the memorial or do not respond within a reasonable amount of time, contact [email protected] and we will work on it for you." In an email that I received from Find A Grave they stated "While we do encourage managers to transfer to family outside guidelines if the manager is not related to the memorial, we do not require them to transfer such memorials." So in their own words they "ENCOURAGE" transfers even outside of the guidelines to family members if they themselves are not related. The guidelines are not rigid rules that you as memorial owners need to be the enforcers by interrogating others and demanding their personal family information under threat of turning them in to Find A Grave for noncompliance. I mean what regime are you heading? Calm your britches

If you are someone that has the hobby of creating memorials because you literally enjoy finding the grave but because of this love you have a boatload of memorials that you do not have the time, desire or possibly energy to make corrections and additions then please, please, please be willing to pass them to a family member regardless of their connection so that they can keep those memorials up to date. They are called memorials for a reason. All of the options such as adding photos, connecting parents to children, connecting spouses, adding birth and death locations, adding marriage dates are all available because this is how we memorialize these individuals. If you are not willing to do that then please pass them on to those that will. You will still be able to view the memorials and keep track of the number that you created.

There is also no limit to how many corrections that individuals can suggest. It is amazing how many people post that there is a limit in there bio. This just goes back to my thought that if you do not have the time for corrections then just transfer the memorial to a family member that is willing to make the time. It is like my friend tells me when I'm purging useless and unnecessary stuff in my house..." You don't need that type of negativity in your life. Just let it go!" ;)
******************************************************
Thank you to CatheaC FIND A GRAVE ID 47339429 for these wonderful tips...

A FEW TIPS FOR TAKING GOOD TOMBSTONE PICTURES:

1. Take a photo of the entire tombstone first, then get a close-up of the name if it is hard to read on the whole view. Try to fill the frame with the stone and not the surrounding countryside, homes, cars, etc.
2. Look for your reflection or shadow in the tombstone BEFORE you take the picture! Stand to the side to prevent reflection.
3. Squat in order to get on the same level as the tombstone - don't stand and shoot down at a sharp angle.
4. If the stone is vertical, take the picture vertically - it will display on the memorial much larger than horizontally. (Now you can turn the photo upright if it is sideways even if its not your picture or memorial. Thanks to F/G!)
5. Invest in a good camera and an editing program like Photoshop Elements to adjust contrast and crop and straighten the image.
6. Remember that now F/G allows an 8MB size on photos.

We are trying to preserve history so we want the very best pictures possible - it may be all that survives!

********************************************************
Thanks to Janet FIND A GRAVE ID 46810695 for this helpful tip on keeping the integrity of the grave markers

DO NOT USE BLEACH TO CLEAN WHITE MILITARY STONES AS IT WILL TURN THEM YELLOW AND THE DAMAGE CANNOT BE UNDONE.

********************************************************
MY ELUSIVE ANCESTOR

I went searching for my ancestor;
I cannot find him still.
He moved around from place to place
And did not leave a will.

He married where a courthouse burned,
And the Census he did spurn.
Tried he did and did succeed
To leave no stone for me to turn.

He always kept his luggage packed,
This man who had no fame;
And every twenty years or so
This rascal changed his name.

His parents from the land of Europe came;
On a list of passengers there should appear their name;
Even though I look and look, it is all in vain.

And no one else in this wide world searches for this man;
So I play genea-solitaire to find him if I can.
He was buried in a plot, with tombstone he was blessed,
But throughout the years it did erode,
And vandals took the rest.

Author Unknown

First things first, I would like to thank the person or persons that said to themselves "You know what would be awesome??? A website all about graves!" I mean who here hasn't found this website to be exceptionally helpful to genealogists of all types? It's one of the only free websites left out there and it makes it so easy to find your family and to create memorials for the ones that are not already listed. Then I wanted to say thank you to all of the contributors that have helped to keep this website so useful and up to date by adding helpful information and photos. I especially want to thank all of the ones that have helped me personally by creating and then generously giving me the memorials of my family members and fulfilling my photo requests. That truly means a lot to me.

I wanted to address a few things. I have noticed that some Find A Grave Users have posted incorrect information in their bio section. One of those things is about copyrights. I just sat on the telephone for twenty minutes waiting for an answer from the Copyright office in Washington D.C. They informed me that Death Certificates and other such records are not copyrighted. They are considered public information. Newspaper obituaries on the other hand may be different depending on the Newspaper. I've heard that there is a 75 year rule on Newspaper Clippings so if this is true, as of 2022 anything before 1947 would be considered public domain. I personally would prefer actual photos of an obit. or other record than a transcription from you but either way is fine. Please be mindful however of posting personal information about living people. With all of the identity theft going on in the world today it would be kind not to help that type of scandalous behavior by unwittingly giving out too much information.

"Find the graves of ancestors, create virtual memorials or add photos, virtual flowers and a note to a loved one's memorial. Search or browse cemeteries and grave records for every-day and famous people from around the world." This was taken directly from the Home Page of the Find A Grave website. The very first thing listed is "finding the graves of ancestors." You know what that is? That there is what you call genealogy. This most certainly is a genealogy website by Find A Grave's own admission. Who would I be to tell someone else that they should use some other website if they want to add photos or make family connections to a memorial. That would just be silly.

The next thing is about Memorial Transfers. The guidelines for transferring memorials are listed as such..."Memorials are transferred for relatives with these close relationships: child, spouse/partner, sibling, parent, grandchild, great-grandchild, grandparent, great-grandparent, niece/nephew, great-niece/nephew, aunt/uncle, great-aunt/uncle, or first cousin. This would include adoptive, step and in-law versions of these relationships.
If two members are related within these guidelines and both would like to manage the memorial, the member with the closer relationship should be given management." Obviously this is a guideline and not an absolute rule because you can acquire memorials straight from Find A Grave without ever being asked about your relation to the individual. Buttttttttt!!!!! Because there is always a possibility that more than one living individual could want ownership of a memorial, Find A Grave must be able to settle disputes so that is why it also says..."If the memorial in question is a direct relative within the four generations to you and the memorial manager is not direct family, then they must transfer the memorial. If they refuse to transfer the memorial or do not respond within a reasonable amount of time, contact [email protected] and we will work on it for you." In an email that I received from Find A Grave they stated "While we do encourage managers to transfer to family outside guidelines if the manager is not related to the memorial, we do not require them to transfer such memorials." So in their own words they "ENCOURAGE" transfers even outside of the guidelines to family members if they themselves are not related. The guidelines are not rigid rules that you as memorial owners need to be the enforcers by interrogating others and demanding their personal family information under threat of turning them in to Find A Grave for noncompliance. I mean what regime are you heading? Calm your britches

If you are someone that has the hobby of creating memorials because you literally enjoy finding the grave but because of this love you have a boatload of memorials that you do not have the time, desire or possibly energy to make corrections and additions then please, please, please be willing to pass them to a family member regardless of their connection so that they can keep those memorials up to date. They are called memorials for a reason. All of the options such as adding photos, connecting parents to children, connecting spouses, adding birth and death locations, adding marriage dates are all available because this is how we memorialize these individuals. If you are not willing to do that then please pass them on to those that will. You will still be able to view the memorials and keep track of the number that you created.

There is also no limit to how many corrections that individuals can suggest. It is amazing how many people post that there is a limit in there bio. This just goes back to my thought that if you do not have the time for corrections then just transfer the memorial to a family member that is willing to make the time. It is like my friend tells me when I'm purging useless and unnecessary stuff in my house..." You don't need that type of negativity in your life. Just let it go!" ;)
******************************************************
Thank you to CatheaC FIND A GRAVE ID 47339429 for these wonderful tips...

A FEW TIPS FOR TAKING GOOD TOMBSTONE PICTURES:

1. Take a photo of the entire tombstone first, then get a close-up of the name if it is hard to read on the whole view. Try to fill the frame with the stone and not the surrounding countryside, homes, cars, etc.
2. Look for your reflection or shadow in the tombstone BEFORE you take the picture! Stand to the side to prevent reflection.
3. Squat in order to get on the same level as the tombstone - don't stand and shoot down at a sharp angle.
4. If the stone is vertical, take the picture vertically - it will display on the memorial much larger than horizontally. (Now you can turn the photo upright if it is sideways even if its not your picture or memorial. Thanks to F/G!)
5. Invest in a good camera and an editing program like Photoshop Elements to adjust contrast and crop and straighten the image.
6. Remember that now F/G allows an 8MB size on photos.

We are trying to preserve history so we want the very best pictures possible - it may be all that survives!

********************************************************
Thanks to Janet FIND A GRAVE ID 46810695 for this helpful tip on keeping the integrity of the grave markers

DO NOT USE BLEACH TO CLEAN WHITE MILITARY STONES AS IT WILL TURN THEM YELLOW AND THE DAMAGE CANNOT BE UNDONE.

********************************************************
MY ELUSIVE ANCESTOR

I went searching for my ancestor;
I cannot find him still.
He moved around from place to place
And did not leave a will.

He married where a courthouse burned,
And the Census he did spurn.
Tried he did and did succeed
To leave no stone for me to turn.

He always kept his luggage packed,
This man who had no fame;
And every twenty years or so
This rascal changed his name.

His parents from the land of Europe came;
On a list of passengers there should appear their name;
Even though I look and look, it is all in vain.

And no one else in this wide world searches for this man;
So I play genea-solitaire to find him if I can.
He was buried in a plot, with tombstone he was blessed,
But throughout the years it did erode,
And vandals took the rest.

Author Unknown