Obituaries can be a treasure trove of facts and I always try to find them for each of my ancestors. Using obituaries, I have discovered those elusive maiden names, hidden siblings, and other facts that tend to not be found in other places.
Finding older obituaries can be difficult, but if you have ancestors in the Elkhart Indiana area you are very lucky. Under the Local History tab on their main page, The Elkhart Public Library has an index to obituaries that were published in the local newspaper, The Elkhart Truth. Currently, the database indexes obituaries that appeared in the newspaper in the years 1921 through 1952, and 1962 to the present. New information is added to the index weekly so it is worthwhile checking periodically.
When you find an obituary of interest, it is easy to get a copy of it from the library. You can send a letter with your request along with a self addressed stamped envelope and a check for $.0.15 for each obituary to the address given on the web page. Although the site warns that they will service requests on a first-come, first-served basis, I only had to wait about a week before receiving five obituaries in my mailbox.
This is a great service from this library, and I wish other libraries would join suit in offering indexes to these often hard to find obituaries. Click one of the links in this posting to go to the site.
Monday, September 21, 2009
Monday, September 14, 2009
Find A Grave
Lucky are the researchers who live in or near the places that their ancestors walked! Me, I'm not so lucky so I'm always on the lookout for online resources that will help in my search for family members.
The Find A Grave website is a great source of death and burial records. Contributed by genealogists and family researchers, thousands of final resting place records for locations all over the world can be found on this site. Even grave sites of famous people can be found here.
The site has a friendly search engine in which you can locate people or cemeteries, if you would rather browse the names of those interred. Some entries will have only basic data such as birth and death dates while others will have photographs of the actual headstone. If you find a name without a photo, there is the ability to request a photograph. An automatic email will be sent to those volunteers in the location of the cemetery and, hopefully, within a short period of time, you will receive an email stating that your request has been filled. I have had several wonderful people help me find pictures.
Find a Grave depends on its contributors to help it grow. Adding burial information is quick and easy although you must register first which takes a minute or two and is free of charge. Once your memorial is completed it is instantly ready for others to view. Visitors to the memorial have the options of leaving virtual flowers or notes in lieu of an actual visit which is often impossible. Contributors can also be easily contacted through email for questions, corrections, or comments. Visitors can also request that the memorial be transferred to them so additional information or photographs can be added personally.
Do you want to keep the final resting places of your ancestors, family members, others together for easy viewing? Find A Graves's Virtual Cemeteries application is for you! There are a variety of ways to keep these groups and the members of each virtual cemetery do not have to all be buried in the same cemetery. It's a good way to keep the burial records handy for researching purposes. You can even create a virtual cemetery for the famous people that you admire.
Give Find a Grave a chance to become one of your "go to" research sites. There is search box for the site at the bottom of this blog page so scroll on down and give it a try. http://www.findagrave.com
The Find A Grave website is a great source of death and burial records. Contributed by genealogists and family researchers, thousands of final resting place records for locations all over the world can be found on this site. Even grave sites of famous people can be found here.
The site has a friendly search engine in which you can locate people or cemeteries, if you would rather browse the names of those interred. Some entries will have only basic data such as birth and death dates while others will have photographs of the actual headstone. If you find a name without a photo, there is the ability to request a photograph. An automatic email will be sent to those volunteers in the location of the cemetery and, hopefully, within a short period of time, you will receive an email stating that your request has been filled. I have had several wonderful people help me find pictures.
Find a Grave depends on its contributors to help it grow. Adding burial information is quick and easy although you must register first which takes a minute or two and is free of charge. Once your memorial is completed it is instantly ready for others to view. Visitors to the memorial have the options of leaving virtual flowers or notes in lieu of an actual visit which is often impossible. Contributors can also be easily contacted through email for questions, corrections, or comments. Visitors can also request that the memorial be transferred to them so additional information or photographs can be added personally.
Do you want to keep the final resting places of your ancestors, family members, others together for easy viewing? Find A Graves's Virtual Cemeteries application is for you! There are a variety of ways to keep these groups and the members of each virtual cemetery do not have to all be buried in the same cemetery. It's a good way to keep the burial records handy for researching purposes. You can even create a virtual cemetery for the famous people that you admire.
Give Find a Grave a chance to become one of your "go to" research sites. There is search box for the site at the bottom of this blog page so scroll on down and give it a try. http://www.findagrave.com
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