I think FindAGrave is doing a great service for those trying to trace their family. I have thought about joining since I visit a lot of the old cemeteries around here. And I would like to have someone find my ancestor's graves in Quebec.

I love old cemeteries and visit the oldest ones when visiting a historical place like New Orleans. I visited all the ones I could find in the England, Scotland and Wales when I was there years ago. Talk about old -WOW.

I now visit local old ones for a different reason. They are getting rid of all the old roses and other old plants so it is easier to mow. I have seen cemeteries here in California in the last 35 years have every plant but big trees removed. They talk about it on the Rose forum. It use to be the custom to plant a rose at the graveside of a loved one. Now you can't plant anything. The rose society I had belonged to had people collecting cuttings so they aren't lost forever.

adellabedella, don't wait! Do it now! Someone is looking for that trail right now.

One of the things that's great about Find A Grave is that when family members are buried in different cemeteries, you can link them on the appropriate memorial pages. A HUGE help to those who are trying to find info on the various family members, as in Adellabedella's case.

And, just because you've photographed a headstone or marker that was already photographed doesn't mean you should automatically discard the photo(s) you took. Yours may actually be a better photo, or from a different angle that gives a better overview of the family plot, etc. Upload them anyway!

I always check to see if my pics will be useful. In a few cases last night I added them to existing memorials, but most of the pics already posted were taken by the same person, and he did a great job.

Some of the graves that had been ignored were infants, in a couple of cases unnamed (although the parents' names were on the gravestone). I always like to link these to the parents, but some contributors don't bother.

One of FindAGrave's prolific contributors has put up thousands of memorials and taken thousands of pictures, but he or she is rather sloppy about it and never links family members. I find it a little frustrating, even though I'm not usually looking for anyone in particular. Still, I'm sure the memorials and photos have been beyond useful to many people.

I, too, get frustrated when family members are not linked. Especially when the husband's and wife's name are both on the stone, and the contributor creates a memorial page for each and uploads the same photo to both pages. Why not link them? It's sooo easy!

I have submitted (probably literally) hundreds of editing requests to link family members, whether I know the decedents or not. It just seems like the right thing to do. Thankfully, my requests have been taken care of.

Also, with the relatively new availability of birth and death certificates for Pennsylvania, I have submitted bunches and bunches of edit requests to add the pertinent info to existing memorial pages. I keep thinking to myself that these contributors must have an interest (to some degree, anyway) in genealogy, otherwise they wouldn't be out there taking and uploading the headstone photos. Wouldn't THEY want to get as much (complete/correct) info as possible when they look up a grave site for one of their ancestors?

You would think, Lindsey.

I've seen a lot of memorials where the birth/death info doesn't match the gravestone. Or the spelling of the name is different. Very possibly the gravestone is wrong, but just as possible it was a typo by the person putting up the memorial.

Which is not to say I haven't made mistakes of my own! More than once I've put up duplicate memorials. I don't know how this happens, because I always check. But I tend to upload the pics at night, and by the time I quit to go to bed, I'm tired.

Yesterday I saw a stone where the number 9 was engraved backwards--in 1869. That person must have been tired too. :-)

"I've seen a lot of memorials where the birth/death info doesn't match the gravestone."

I've seen a lot of memorials where the birth/death info on the gravestone doesn't match what's on the birth and/or death certificates, too.

Birth certificate information tends to be pretty reliable because, after all, the birth just recently happened and the folks involved (birth mother, father) are still alive to give their correct info, and the doctor/midwife who delivered the baby knows when the delivery occurred.

Death certificates, on the other hand, rely on someone else to provide the names of the decedent's parents and the decedent's birth date/place. The date of death should be accurate, though. :-) But I have seen plenty of gravestones that have a death date that doesn't match the death certificate.

I'm sure you've seen a lot of . . . um . . . unique census information too. :-)

I wonder our official record keeping is any better today. Somehow I doubt it.

While walking a cemetery in Richland Center, WI, I came across a headstone with an unusual name, so I photographed it. I know nothing about this burial.

I can see why it caught your eye, Jem! What are those images . . . some kind of musical instrument?

I haven't gotten mine done but have to do so as I start chemo again very soon. It isn't very far so I hope I can get it done. The You Sue Her stone is a beautiful stone

Ruthie, I didn't know you were scheduled for chemo. I hope it goes well.