Locating Cemetery Records
by Lisa South, Certified Genealogist
When you know an ancestor's
death date and location (or can approximate one), you will want
to check for cemetery records. Many cemetery records have been placed
on-line and can be located by using a search engine. Sometimes an
obituary or funeral service program can tell you which cemetery
to search; often death dates are listed by other researchers on
sites such as OneGreatFamily.
If you can not find a document that gives you the needed information,
check with local historical societies to learn which cemeteries
were used at that time. You should check the cemeteries in the following
order: 1) those which allied with your ancestors' religious persuasion,
2) private graveyards, 3) family graveyards.
There are many family graveyards in the South. Sometimes
land deeds tell of them. Also, the land owner may know that there
was a graveyard on his property but not know where it was located.
Of course, you will need permission from the current owner to search
on his/her land. Many family graveyards are overgrown or the stones
have been broken and covered. Most family graveyards were placed on
a hill and a topographical map could help you narrow the search. If
you obtain permission to try and locate an overgrown graveyard, carefully
probing the ground with a pitchfork can help you locate tombstones
that may have been covered up.
Once you have located the cemetery, you will want to
determine if there are any cemetery or sextons' records. Family cemeteries,
of course, have no sextons' records and church cemeteries rarely have
them. Private cemeteries usually keep some type of record. They are
often in the custody of the present sexton or office of the county
or town clerk. These records can be very valuable when trying to locate
your ancestor's grave in a large graveyard. They may also give some
information about who purchased the grave. Occasionally, they will
provide unexpected information. I contacted a sexton who kindly mailed
me the records of the place of burial of each of my ancestors in the
cemetery - and evidently this sexton believed in going the extra mile,
because attached to each record was a copy of that ancestor's obituary!!