The rewards of gravestone photography

12 years ago

As I've mentioned here before, I started taking pictures of gravestones after finding photos of my great-great-grandparents' graves (in London) online. I was moved to see it, and so grateful to the stranger who took the time to take the pictures.

Not surprisingly, many others feel the same way. Tonight I received the following message via FindAGrave. The writer refers to a gravestone containing several names, including a baby named Susan who was born and died in 1960.

I am not sure how the grave memorial pictures are selected for this site but want to say thank you for posting this wonderful picture. Susan was my sister. She was born the same year as me. She lived a few days and when she passed on. My father had to put his grief aside and lay Susan in her casket next to him on the seat of the family station wagon where both of them traveled from New York through a blizzard to Pa. so she could be laid to rest in peace with family.

Also listed on the grave marker is my Grandma (Hazel) and Grandpa (Charles) whom I received my middle name. Along with them my grandma's son Russel, who like Susan died very young.

Although I never had the chance to meet her I miss her dearly and think of her. My father passed in 2003. I am sure they are together with Grandma and Grandpa and Russel as well as all the remaining family members who have passed, as they wait for us to join them when our time on this earth is complete.

Thank you again for posting this wonderful picture. God bless you.

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Comments (16)

ravencajun Zone 8b TX
12 years ago
I am so thankful for the people that do what you do. I have found so much invaluable information from the pages of findagrave.com. I recently passed the link on to several people who have been amazed.
Thanks again
susanjf_gw
12 years ago
what a moving letter....
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I have walked several cemeteries looking for clues about my ancestors, and photographed important finds. The sadest one that I found was a husband-wife grave flanked by 5 smaller, closely spaced stones in a neat row. These 5 stones held names of their children, all who had died in infancy. The ages ranged from 2 days to 1 yr, one child immediately followed by another in time. This couple did finally have two more children who survived. Your first photo shows a tree with a stone at its base in the roots of the tree. This is a very good clue. The age of this tree is indicative of the age of this grave. The stone showing the names of a family with the same death dates were likely killed by accident - maybe a car crash, train or bus accident, or house fire. In rare csses, it could have been by murder or a muder-suicide. I have found a stone bearing the names of granddaughter and grandmother. The grandmother had been married 3 times - 1st marriages had ended by death of the husbands. However, the 2nd husband had died by jutifiable homicide and the family who buried this pair left off the surname of the husband who had been killed by homicide. On occasion, dual dates maybe found on very old stones. These dates will be in the range of January through March. This occurs due dual calendars that were in use: the Julian and Gregorian calendars. The Julian calendar began the year at Spring, or near the first day of April. because it was not an accurate calendar, it had drifted off by 10 days. The Gregorian calendar was devised to replace the Julian calendar. A system of leap days were added to keep this calendar in sync with the equinoxes and the New Year's d Day was moved to Jan. 1st. Adding a leap day every 4 years is tiny bit too much so about every 400 yrs, one leap day is omitted. Even with omission adjustment, the Gregorian calendar is not perfect, but is quite good and will not require other adjustments for several centuries. When the Gregoian calendar was introduced, it was not accepted by all, mostly those of certain protestant faiths because the Gregorian calendar was a Roman Catholic one, and it had 'messed' with the New Year Day. Easter Day did not change (much) since this day is based on a lunar calendar. Easter falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon in spring, therefore, Easter moves around by almost a month. (Also, in the first year of the Gregorian calendar, all holidays took a move of 10 astronomical days, the error that had accrued in the older calendar.) However, much of the rest of the world adopted the much improved Gregorian calendar. The result was that in the religious settlements of the New World, both calendars were in use.
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maire_cate
12 years ago
How nice! It's obvious your good deed meant so much to her. Do you receive many comments from the photos you post?
dedtired
12 years ago
Oh, how very touching. You really brought comfort to that family. Good for you!
rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
12 years ago
That is so lovely, Alisande.
lydia1959
12 years ago
What a wonderful message! I'm glad she took the time to write you.
jemdandy
12 years ago
Find a grave web site does not 'select' the photos. These are submitted by volunteers all over the country and world. They do control the posting to the web page. For large photos, the pixel count of the photo is reduced to fit and to help speed downloading of the page to a user's computer while browsing. However, the picture may be stored at a higher pixel count and the higher pixel count is available.
jannie
12 years ago
A beautiful letter.
alisande
Original Author
12 years ago
Thanks, everyone. I thought I had responded before this, but I guess not. Today I uploaded my 1,700th photo to FindAGrave! That sounds like a lot to me, but many other volunteers have far surpassed it.
alisande
Original Author
12 years ago
I meant to add that while the maps are back (with their own tab on each cemetery page), it's no longer possible to search individual cemeteries for names. I don't know why they would remove that function.
mboston_gw
12 years ago
I just made contact with a guy who takes pics of cemeteries and he has taken over 87,000 photos for one huge cemetery alone. I actually just went back and read his letter to me to check the number. I had requested some photos for very old headstones and my request was granted almost immediately. Turns out he is in the process of adding all the information for his pictures on find a grave. He just hadn't gotten to my family's photos but had them on his computer. He just doesn't take one photo but will get very close to get dates and then the whole headstone, family plot shots etc. I've sent him family information so that it can be added to the find a grave site. He even made a special trip out to take an additional photo of a Confederate Solider Marker that was barely seen in one of his photos. He brushed it off with a small paint brush (no cleaning product) and took a photo of it.

Alisande - I have a couple headstones that I want to post for you to see. One has phrase "Now we know" on it and another has a strange symbol. I'll have to go through my family tree photos to find them.

I just read an article from the County where I grew up. One cemetery brought in a herd of goats to eat away the brush and debris so that old graves could be found. One part of it is well kept but I guess the other part has been neglected for years. I have family members at that cemetery, so I will be interested in finding out what is found. Evidently, it took 3 weeks for the goats to eat through all the growth.
alisande
Original Author
12 years ago
I'd like to see those, Mboston. And yikes--87,000 photos!! It took me five years to do 1,700. Although some stones can be read clearly in one photo, I usually take two for each memorial, and occasionally three if two or more stones are related.

I like the idea of the goats!
liz
12 years ago
you are awesome for doing this and wowsers...87,000 pictures...that is incredible!!
oldfixer
12 years ago
Keep up the good work. It's a great place to search for bones.
jemdandy
12 years ago
Goats will clear out pesky kudzu vines! Though, to completely eradicate kudzu, the goats may have to graze the same location for more than one year since kudzu spreads from its roots and the kudzu will not be gone until the roots have been decimated.
jeaninwa
12 years ago
I'd never been to this website before. I found my maternal great grandfather and grandmother's memorials and my paternal grandfather. Very cool

The rewards of gravestone photography

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ravencajun Zone 8b TX

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The rewards of gravestone photography

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