Hatched, matched and dispatched…. family historians are often more interested in the hatching and the matching, than the dispatching and more often than not when I come to writing up my #52Ancestors post on a Sunday, I discover that the death and/or burial is missing from my notes on the particular individual under scrutiny.
Many resources exist to help determine when a missing ancestor died and there are an increasing number of burial sites becoming available online, including Deceased Online and the National Burial Index which is available on Findmypast. And a volunteer project which is well worth checking out is the Gravestone Photographic Resource website.
Aiming to digitally photograph grave monuments worldwide and extract all legible personal information, the site is continually growing with the support of interested family and local historians across the globe. The ‘list [of] pending cemeteries’ page provides details about all those with volunteers already assigned and prepared to transcribe, catalogue and photograph cemeteries, war memorials and much more. There are many counties without volunteers though. Do you have a cemetery in your village, town or city which you could work on? I am sure Charles Sale, project creator and coordinator, would love to hear from you.
How many characters in your family tree could still be kicking about now, for all you know? Best get back to those trees and prune the branches that are no longer living….
