Visiting, searching cemeteries
Cooler weather makes looking for ancestor's graves more tolerable
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As the temperatures become a bit more tolerable and autumn breezes beckon us outdoors, what an opportune time to visit family cemeteries and locate the graves of our ancestors. If you are not sure where a family plot is located and the family has been in the same area for many generations, the easiest way to find the graves is to ask elderly relatives who often are honored to share their knowledge.
Once I asked a quite elderly third cousin once removed, to accompany my husband and me and point out the location of the unmarked graves of my great-great grandmother and great-great grandfather in the Trout Creek Cemetery in Newton County, Texas. Some family members chuckled when her name was mentioned because they thought of her as not having all her wits.
However, we found her extremely interesting as she not only took us to a logical site near the cemetery front gate where the first graves in all likelihood would have been located, she pointed to a cedar tree she said was planted next to my ancestors graves. In addition to locating the burial sites, she told me my great-great grandfather had red hair, a fact I later found to be true.
Using facts gained from walking and talking with her in the cemetery, my husband and I placed two grave markers for my ancestors beneath the cedar tree and have never had anyone dispute this kind lady's word concerning the grave locations. I still believe this elderly relative's stories and often find that elderly people cannot remember what they ate for breakfast, but can recite with extreme accuracy details from events fifty, sixty, and even seventy years ago. Do not disregard their information; use it as clues. You may be pleasantly surprised to find their recollections are amazingly accurate.
When family members cannot point the way to a burial site, the best clue can come from death certificates which in most counties were recorded after 1903. Visit the county courthouse where the person died or check the death records index at the State Library Archives.
All that is needed to find someone in the index is the individual's name and the approximate year he or she died. With this information, a death certificate copy can be ordered from the State Department of Vital Records.
The certificate will pinpoint the date of death and name the cemetery. In addition, it will list the person's home address at the time of death, occupation and employer, and the informant's name. Regretfully, sometimes the informant may not have known all this information.
If you cannot locate the cemetery where your ancestor is buried, contact the local monument company with the longest established history in the area. In most instances, owners will have records with your family's surname and can help you locate not only the cemetery, but the location of the graves at the site. If they do not have the records, most likely they will be able to direct you to a good source for the information.
My brother-in-law, Don Jones, of Jones Family Monuments has an excellent memory and often helps people locate family plots with perhaps only two or three graves in the middle of fields or woods or even hilltops in the middle of a county no one would ever imagine as the site of a cemetery. Don has worked in the monument business for many years and has records from not only early Victoria County burials, but surrounding county burial sites. He has even set monuments for families in far west and south Texas.
Cemetery Outing Tips
1. Call a funeral home or monument company in the area you'll be visiting. They can help you determine the cemetery layout.
2. Visit during the week when you can check with local funeral homes and monument companies in person.
3. Take a camera to photograph the headstone. Headstone rubbings will actually cause chemical damage to the stone. Take photographs from several angles to help place the gravesite for future visits to the cemetery.
4. Dress comfortably and plan for changes in the weather. Later in the fall, a cold front can blow through quickly and drop the temperature throughout the day. In warm weather, be sure to have plenty of drinking water and wear a hat. Wear practical shoes for all the walking and protective clothing as well. While most cemeteries are well kept, some have been neglected and are surrounded with chiggers and ticks.
5. Take a small tape recorder to record information about location, nearby graves, broken headstones, or other information. This is much quicker than trying to write everything on paper.
Happy Researching.
Send e-mail genealogy queries to mjones@vicad.com VCGS members will research queries requiring extensive study.
