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The Kitchen Table

Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness

15 years ago

Don't remember who posted the link to this site a few weeks ago (sorry) but I signed up as a volunteer and got an e-mail today from Wisconsin wanting photographs of tombstones here in a county cemetary! Probably a lot of people wouldn't get excited over photographing a tombstone for somebody who died in 1904, but I am pumped! LOL

Has anybody else that signed up been asked to volunteer yet?

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Comments (13)

janie_ga
15 years ago
I am not involved in genealogy but on behalf of my grandmother, THANK YOU! Cannot tell the number of trip my parents have taken to Alabama so she could "dig up" relatives, LOL! nothing like getting a roll of film back and the first 22 pictures are of graves and the last two were of grandkids or birds (to finish the roll).

With gas prices the way they are, I know people really appreciate your acts of kindness.
alisande
15 years ago
That's great! I posted the link (and of course I signed up) but I haven't had an "assignment" yet.

Let us know how it goes!
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Wow, those are wonderful, incredible and meaningful coincidences, Alisande! I've had many similar things happen to me over the years and have come to realize that, like you, I was guided for a higher purpose. One I can relate quickly: I'd been married and living in New Mexico for about ten years when this happened. I'd been keeping in touch with several family friends intermittantly and one morning, had this strong urge to call my friend "B". When I did, she told me that her DH, "W" has battling inoperable cancer, but seemed to be getting stronger lately. That afternoon I, again, had this incredibly strong urge to call their son, a long-time good friend of mine. I hadn't talked to him in several years, though. B&W lived on the east side of Michigan, where I was born and raised. Their son lived across the state in Grand Rapids. When their son answered the phone at his work, I totally surprised myself by blurting out that I had this bad feeling that his father needed him. I did ~ right then~ feel that, but can't believe I spoke those words out loud! Thankfully, though, something resonated in him. He told his boss he had to leave, drove quickly home to pack a few things and then made the 4+ hour drive home to see his dad. He walked in, hugged his dad and W died right there in his arms less than an hour later. He'd taken a bad turn and B had no time to call her son to try and make it home. I know without out a doubt, that God used me to get their son home so that father and son could say their last goodbyes. We were all quite shaken by this, but also very, very grateful. Lynn
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Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness
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Dear Ivamae: The work done by RAOGK is mostly photographing EXISTING tombstones. Some of the members do look-ups in local files, however. If your partner has a stone, it should bear the date of his birth and death. It is up to the family to purchase and have engraved a marker for a loved one's grave. They can be aided in getting data by the funeral home who conducted the burial. In answer to your question, "How do I get a name listed in the cmemtery files?", start with the cemetery caretakers. The next place to look is the court house of the county in which the deceased was buried or creamated. Be prepared to show that you are a close family member of the deceased, else the county clerk may not release a copy of the death certificate to you. Expect to pay a small fee for a copy. This information is considerd personal and confidential and is not generally put on public lists until after 50 to 100 years. Stangely enough, the Social Security Adminstration ignores this rule. I have seen persons and their social security numbers published on SSA's list within 3 months after death, my mother being one. You have to know where to look. Poke around a bit with Google.
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In years past, member mcronin sent me butterfly pavers and member Stuart_S sent moth cocoons.
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OK everyone! It's Random Acts of Kindness Day!
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Comments (20)
I am a firm believer in being kind everyday. I try to do what ever I can for who ever I can, sometimes it comes around and bites me in the butt though as doing something nice for some people = they think they can hit you up over and over sigh. I am very very fortunate I know that and I appreciate it, I believe in paying it forward. I also believe in Karma and if I do good things for others hopefully good things will happen to me. Last year I was fortunate enough to do many awesome things for others, this year I will scale down a bit but will still do my best to help as many people as I can. One thing I would like to share and it is simple to do with sales and dollar store buys is providing backpacks of school supplies to schools in lower income areas. You can find back packs on clearance usually after school has started, collect pencils, crayons, scissors, glue sticks, colored pencils, boxes of tissues, rolls of paper towels, spiral notebooks, folders pretty much whatever you can find. I can usually put together 15-20 backpacks over the course of a year to get ready for the next school year. Biggest cost is usually the paper towels believe it or not. You would be surprised at how appreciative the schools are as they have quite a bit of children who do not have this stuff and then the teachers have to supply. Also grab coats when they are cheap at goodwill and donate to schools to give to children who don't have them. If you not into kids, animal shelters love your old towels and blankets they don't care if they are stained and have fraying they appreciate anything they can get.
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kfca37
15 years ago
Yes, I volunteered for a California County a couple of weeks ago & have already completed two "assignments". One for a gentleman in British Columbia & one for a lady in Oklahoma. Both involved getting copies of old obituaries & local newspaper articles about their relatives.

I also heard from two other people, but they wanted copies of old death certificates which I told them they would have to get them themselves from the appropriate government agencies.

It's quite interesting to do this "detective" work.
grammahony
15 years ago
I think that sounds like a fun/interesting thing to do. I'd like to find my grandfathers obit. He died in Los Angeles, Calif. in 1948 I believe. I'd like to know how many other distant relatives I have. Where does a person go to ask for this act of kindness?
Leslie
alisande
15 years ago
Here's the link, Leslie. Good luck!

Here is a link that might be useful: Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness
maybee_gw
15 years ago
I would like to sign up to be a volunteer, but I'm not interested in finding information for myself...I don't see on that site how to sign up to be a volunteer....
alisande
15 years ago
Maybee, I should have posted the main screen. You can find information here on how to volunteer.

Here is a link that might be useful: Main Screen
FlamingO in AR
15 years ago
That's right up your alley, YaYa, I know you like to browse cemetaries! And it's good of you to volunteer, that's really nice.
kfca37
15 years ago
It's not hard (usually) to find a volunteer willing to take photos of gravestones at cemeteries surprisingly, though I don't do that myself. That seems to be the most popular volunteer activity.

Having done extensive genealogy workups on a couple of Wikipedia subjects whose published backgrounds just didn't sound credible, I decided to volunteer in the areas I would have personally found very useful during that time.

The local sources---which I've offered at Random Acts of Kindness---are old phonebooks going back to 1940, city directories from 1880 to 1944, probates, divorces, etc. (on microfilm) from the County Courthouse going back to maybe 1910, and San Francisco Bay Area newspapers going back to the 1880ties for obituaries.

Fortunately for these activities, I live in the city of the county seat, so between our public library, the courthouse, the nearby LDS/Mormon Family History Center, and the commercial on-line genealogy sites such as ancestry.com & newspaper archives.com available to me, I can do---& do do---a fair bit of "ancestor sleuthing". Not everyone would be in that position.

So if you sign up as a volunteer, consider all the areas of assistance that might geographically be available to you. It can be a more interesting, not to mention challenging, project.
alisande
15 years ago
It's neat that you know how to do that kind of sleuthing, KF. I'm sure your services are appreciated. I only volunteered to take gravestone photos because that's where my skills lie. I'd be lost in the courthouse! Also, I was so moved to find photos of my great-great grandparents' 1850s gravestones online, and grateful to the photographer, whoever he or she was.

I'll bet the assignments pick up in fall, although I didn't volunteer for the coldest months because of difficulty driving in winter weather.
kfca37
15 years ago
Certainly not saying that tombstone photos are not extremely valuable (truth to tell I haven't owned a camera in 30 years), I just wanted to get prospective volunteers to think about other areas that they might be in a unique position to assist.

When I was doing one of my Wikipedia background searches, what clinched the fact that the "popular information" on the subject in question was, in fact, incorrect was a genealogy volunteer in a tiny city in Arizona who went out & took a photo of subject's tombstone for me, which photo has now been put online...thereby finally ending the raging controversy.

A picture is worth....
maryanntx
15 years ago
Cool YaYa! I signed up as a volunteer to take pictures at a couple of local cemetaries back when the link was first listed. I haven't had any requests yet.
alisande
15 years ago
I got my first assignment today!

There's a lot of information on the Net about the best way to photograph a gravestone. The link below is a site with comprehensive tips.

Here is a link that might be useful: How to Photograph a Gravestone

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