That's not so unusual. There are several cemeteries where I was looking for photos that had many, many unfilled requests. I can't imagine that someone who would be so kind as to go out of their way to photograph gravestones would just ignore requests. Perhaps there isn't a volunteer in the area?

I agree with Maire....I suspect the number of FindAGrave volunteers anywhere is relatively small. Most people I've talked to about my gravestone photography never even heard of the site.

The other thing is that it's not always easy to fill requests. St. Mary's sounds like a big cemetery, which means someone knowledgeable needs to be contacted to point the way to the graves in question. And sometimes the graves can't be found. I've photographed entire small cemeteries without finding graves that were requested. Either the person was buried somewhere else or the gravestone fell over or sunk into the ground.

I drove down to W-B the other day and passed the Hollenback Cemetery. It looked interesting. I couldn't stop, but looked it up when I got home. According to FindAGrave, it has over 6,000 interments and is 73% photographed. So someone must be volunteering in the area. Or did so in the past.

That's interesting Susan - Most of my relatives from Sugar Notch are buried at St. Charles but there are some interred at St. Mary's. I'll have to check FindAGrave to find out how many are buried and if any have been photographed. I didn't realize they had that info.

Maybe its the cemetery itself. Bad records/no records would make it impossible for a volunteer try and find the location of a request?

Maire, I'm not certain, but I think when FindAGrave bases the number of interments on how many memorials have been created. When I add memorials to a cemetery on FindAGrave, the number of reported interments goes up. Of course, it's possible they get some of those numbers from the cemetery itself, in which case it wouldn't be based on memorials.

I really don't know how it works, but if you don't find your relatives listed, I do know that doesn't mean they're not there.

Susan, you're right about that. I just checked St. Charles on the FindAGrave and I think it listed 117 interments. But I know there are more graves than that in the cemetery. I never got a chance to actually walk through the cemetery or contact the Church but I'm hoping to do that this summer when we'll have a chance to stay there longer.

Saint Mary's in Wilkes-Barre, according to Find a Grave, has 23,318 interments, and is 18% photographed. And quite a few of the photo requests show the plot and grave number. Sigh... I need to get to the opposite coast, I guess.

Well, now that I've bought a car in W-B, I may be visiting the dealer occasionally. They have a shuttle service that drops people at the mall while their cars are worked on. If I go down there in warmer weather (say late spring), I could always ask them to drop me at St. Mary's Cemetery instead. (I can just imagine the look I'd get. LOL)

But I'm serious--I could do that. Can't do it in the cold though.

Alisande, let me know if you do go to the dealer's in late spring. If my two photo requests haven't been claimed by then (and judging by the requests that are listed, I doubt they'll be claimed by then), I'll give you the names and plot/grave numbers. :-)

Okay--deal, LIndsey!