How to Locate the Grave of a Person
Whether its to pay respects to a long lost relative, ancestor or esteemed celebrity, people have different reasons for needing to locate a grave. Finding someone's grave can be difficult. Some people are buried in the location of their death while others are transferred to their hometown or an area of special meaning. Though it may seem like a wild goose chase, there are ways of making the search a little easier.
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Instructions
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Search the name of the deceased in an online grave search engine. If the person is in the system, the search engine will provide the location of the cemetery and possibly directions to the grave itself.
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Determine if the deceased was a veteran. Veterans are likely to be buried in a military cemetery with its own search engine available. The U.S Department of Veterans Affairs search engine will only locate veterans that died after 1997 and were buried in a military cemetery or private cemetery with a government grave marker.
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Collect as much information about the deceased as possible. In addition to a full name, try to find out the location and date of death. Call local funeral homes and cemetery offices in the city of death to see if the deceased was buried where they died.
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Look over family documents. Family bibles list dates of birth and death or they may hold the death certificate. Families may also have photographs of the tombstone or from the funeral, which can provide clues to the cemetery's location.
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Read through obituaries from the date and location of death. Old newspapers on microfilm can be found at the local library or requested through interlibrary loan.
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