Several years ago, I received a link to a new website that
looked promising. In the intervening
years, it’s promise has been more than realized. www.findagrave.com
is one of the best free resources out there on the internet. It brings together people who want to help
others and those who are asking for genealogical help. You might say it is a perfect marriage!
I am not as active on www.findagrave.com
as I would like, but I have been a member for a few years now. I’ve taken some photos for people locally and
on one occasion I took a lovely walk through Spaulding cemetery and took photos
of the stones. It seems that so many of
our families have spread throughout the United States and sometimes it is
impossible to be able to visit all of the places that we would like in our
genealogical pursuits. I have had many
people who have supplied me with information via Findagrave…but I’ve also been
able to do the same for others.
One of the gravestones that I had had been trying for years
to get a photo of was that of my 2nd great grandfather, Winslow
Lonsdale Pope. I knew where he was
buried, but I had never been able to get to the area nor would I in the near
future. I first tried to get the photo
many years ago when a genealogy friend promised me that she would go get the
photo for me. She lived close to the
cemetery and enjoyed helping others, so she generously offered to take the
photo when she got the opportunity to do so.
Unfortuanately, my friend got sick and died very quickly. This was someone (Mary Floy Katzmen) was
probably one of the most generous and helpful researchers that I have ever
worked with and her website “The Original Johnson County Tennessee Genealogy
Page” at http://jctcuzins.org/ was and
continues to be a wonderful resource for anyone researching Johnson County, TN
roots. Anyway, one day I decided to post
the request to have a photo taken of Winslow Lonsdale Pope’s grave. Someone initially tried to find the grave and
was unsuccessful and then later, a gentleman found the grave and took the photo
and then took photos of all of the Popes that surrounded the grave and most of
them were related to me as well. He told
me that he liked to take walks through the cemetery and enjoyed taking the
pictures. What a wonderful generous man!
Sometimes Findagrave can be a great resource for finding
dates for individuals or searching through possible genealogical
connections. There are times when the
information is incorrect – usually you can contact the contributor and these
errors are corrected. One of the great
options is having the ability to connect relatives together. As a researcher, when you find someone
connected to their parents and sometimes this will take you to the grandparents
– what a wonderful path to pursue. So, I
suggest you take some time and take a look at www.findagrave.com and perhaps even become
a member. There are requests sent all
the time from people all over the United States who would just love to see a
photo of a family member. It is a great feeling to get that heartfelt “thank you”
from another researcher.
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