What Records Are Kept at a Cemetery for Genealogy?
Cemeteries keep various records about the people who are buried there. Many cemeteries have volunteer record keepers who keep track of these records and the locations of various graves. These record keepers are in charge of information that can be invaluable for genealogical purposes.
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Birth and Death Dates
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Cemeteries store the birth and death dates of those who are buried there. This information is sometimes stored in records in cemetery offices, but it is almost always also on tombstones. Birth dates can help genealogists determine a person's birth rank in their family and their age at marriage and at other life stages. Death dates can help tell a person's story and can help give context to family history.
Grave Location
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Cemeteries keep information on where the person is buried. They generally have maps that numbers all of the plots. This information can help descendants of the deceased find their ancestors in cemeteries. This is especially helpful for large cemeteries or for finding tombs that are laid in the ground rather than upright, as these can be harder to locate.
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Military Service
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Some cemeteries store information about the deceased's military service. This is especially common in cemeteries near U.S. military bases. The records might indicate in which branch of the military the deceased served and the highest rank she attained. This information can help genealogists determine what a member of their family was doing during certain years.
Residence
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Some cemeteries record where the deceased lived before they died or where their family claimed that their residence was. This information is also sometimes included on the tombstone. This information can help genealogists understand not only where their family members lived prior to death but also where they, or their family, considered their home to be.
Burial Date
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Most cemeteries records the date on when the family buried the deceased. This information is rarely on the tombstone. These records can help genealogists visualize the burial day. If they know the exact date, they can look up the weather in the area and paint a picture in their minds of the day.
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References
- Photo Credit grave marker image by pearlguy from Fotolia.com
