A Rabbit's Tale 10/14/2010

Random Acts in the Cemetery
by Joe Whitfield

This has nothing to do with random acts of violence or destruction of cemeteries. Rather it is Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness.

This is a group I joined 4 or 5 years ago. The idea behind it is to help others in their quest to find information about their ancestors who lived in your area when the distance is too far for them to travel to the area themselves. I had received help from somebody I didn't know and decided I needed to return the favor somehow. I ran across this group by accident.

When I first signed up for this group, I not only did tombstone pictures but also research at the county courthouse. Since most people want information prior to 1880, which is either non-existent or in a file old enough that the courthouse people do not want the public pawing through (yes I know about public access but sometimes a little compromise goes a long way), I decided to switch to just cemetery pictures which is much easier.

There is no charge for this research, except for the cost of copies of records and postage to mail it. Now thanks to digital cameras there’s not a charge for developing. The only cost a requester might have now is the look-up charge that the largest cemetery in the county charges, so that cost is passed on.

The one big break I have is that in the 1920’s the DAR did a cemetery study in the county with a listing of all the people buried in the county by cemetery. If I have to go through the county seat to get to the cemetery I can stop and take a quick look. Of course, there are still cases where the stone was there then, but not now, and of course nothing may have existed when the study was done.

The experiences I have had with the people who request pictures are as varied as you might imagine. I had one gentleman who requested a picture of one of his ancestors stone - "he was buried in Rush County". Of course I informed him that there were 104 (there’s about 110 listed but some have disappeared) cemeteries in the county and could he narrow it down a bit. Never heard back from him. Most people know the cemetery or at least the township their ancestors lived in and that makes it much easier. If they are aware of which church their ancestors belonged, it sometimes simplifies it also.

Normally about a third of the requests I receive require more information. One request said the person she was looking for was buried in a cemetery next to a certain creek. There are 3 cemeteries next to this creek. I asked her what church they went to, she said Baptist. That narrowed it down to one cemetery next to the creek and an old Baptist Church. I went to the cemetery next to the church and there he was.

Some people will swear that the person they are looking for has to be buried at "Cemetery X because that's the town they lived in". The last one of those I found (the ones she was looking for GGG Grandparents) in another cemetery about 4 miles southeast of the one she thought they ought to be in. Never trust an ancestor to be where you think they should be.

One of the more serendipitous moments was that within a two-week period I got a request for the same cemetery from two different people. Now this being a small cemetery I thought, so what were the chances of them being related? After getting the pictures, I told one of them about the other, they exchanged e-mails and found out that they were related (4th or 5th cousins) and just coming at it from different directions and from several states apart.

The one thing that bothers me is that I really hate to tell people that the stone they are looking for is gone. I always make sure that I send them a picture of the cemetery and a picture of where I think the person might be buried (educated guesses).

What I get out of doing this is just a chance to help somebody who lives far from where their ancestors lived connect just a little more with them. I get to visit cemeteries that I might not go to and if the weather is warm, I will pack a lunch and ride my bicycle to the cemetery, (for the curious the farthest I have ridden is 20 miles, one-way) a little exercise never hurt.

I have also used the service once. I have a Great Grand Uncle that was killed at the battle of Jonesboro GA, 1864 and is buried in the Marietta National Cemetery, and I requested a picture of his stone. I also have a bunch buried out in Iowa but have never requested them, yet. I keep thinking one of these days we will get out that way.

If you’re interested, the web site is www.raogk.org. There is also another site that does the same thing. It’s www.GenWeb.org. I am on both but most of mine come from RAOGK.