|
"Along Those Lines"
9/28/2001 - Archive
Cemetery Research Online
When I was growing up, many of my friends thought I was strange
because I liked cemeteries. A few friends were even fearful of walking on the
same side of the street as the cemetery. They couldn't understand what I found
so interesting in the old Presbyterian Cemetery in my hometown of Madison, North
Carolina. The old tombstones with the names of the town fathers, dates in the
early 1800s, unusual engraved icons, and interesting epitaphs still fascinate
me, and perhaps that's why I am working on a manuscript on the subject, hoping
to include many of the thousands of photographs, old postcards, and stereograph
images I have collected over the years.
The Internet has opened up a new world for all of us. We now have access to
vast amounts of information from our own computers at any hour of the day or
night. Information about cemeteries and details about their denizens are among
the expanding body of information available, and we can conduct online cemetery
research about our family lines online as well. In "Along Those Lines . . ."
this week, let me share with you a number of interesting online sites for your
cemetery research, followed by this week's installment of "The Citation Corner,"
in which I'll illustrate how to create a source citation for a Web site.
Dead Folks Go Online
This has nothing to do with Chicago politics, where I learned first- hand
for over twenty years that dead people vote in elections and some ward committeemen's
election day credo is, "Vote early and vote often!" No, dead men also do not
create or update Web pages. However, those of us who are interested in cemeteries,
cemetery canvassing, tombstone transcriptions, and a variety of other related
ancestral studies work hard to place information on the Internet. I know you
understand, because every time you upload a GEDCOM file, post a message to a
message board, share ancestor details on a surname mailing list, or respond
to an e-mail inquiry, you are somehow adding to the body of the electronic information.
There are many types of online cemetery research sites to help you with your
research. Let's explore some of the best.
Locating Cemeteries Online
The best starting point in your online cemetery research may be the U.S. Geologic
Survey's Geographic Name Information System (GNIS) site at geonames.usgs.gov/.
From here, you may proceed to the query page at geonames.usgs.gov/pls/gnis/web_query.gnis_web_query_form
and enter information to help you locate specific cemeteries in a given area.
(Please note that the URL shown contains underscore characters ( _ ) and not
spaces in the name.) Simply use the pull-down menu choices to choose state or
territory, and to choose Feature Type "cemetery"—and then narrow your selection
to a specific county. I located 141 cemeteries in Cook County, Illinois, in
this way. The query will provide you with the latitude and longitude of the
cemetery, as well as a reference to a USGS map. Click on the cemetery name and
another screen. Take some time to investigate the various mapping options. Most
helpful, though, is the link labeled "Show Feature Location" which takes you
to the U.S. Census Bureau's Tiger Map Server's map of the area in question.
The cemetery you want will be indicated by a large red dot. You can zoom in
for a more detailed view of the location.
Interment.net at interment.net is
a resource for locating cemeteries in the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand,
the United Kingdom, Ireland, and other countries. While far from complete, it
is one place where transcriptions are being placed online and can be one of
your starting points.
Cemetery Junction at daddezio.com/cemetery/
boasts more than 31,000 U.S. cemeteries, more than 21,000 family cemeteries,
over 2,000 Canadian cemeteries, and over 450 Australian cemeteries listed.
The USGenWeb (www.usgenweb.org)
and WorldGenWeb (www.worldgenweb.org)
Project sites are a wealth of cemetery materials as well. You should refer to
the location in which you believe your ancestors lived to determine if some
individual or organization has contributed cemetery information to their site.
In addition, the Tombstone Transcription Project at USGenWeb (www.rootsweb.com/~cemetery)
is an impressive resource whose goal is to record the tombstone inscriptions
of our ancestors now and make them available online before the images and inscriptions
are lost to the ravages of time.
Genealogical and historical societies are resources you should never overlook.
Society Hall, a Web site developed by Ancestry.com and the Federation of Genealogical
Societies (FGS), is a listing of information about genealogical societies (www.familyhistory.com/societyhall/main.asp).
A society may have compiled extensive information about cemeteries in their
area. The Pinellas Genealogy Society, Inc., (www.rootsweb.com/~flpgs),
for example, has been actively canvassing and transcribing cemeteries in Pinellas
County, Florida, for a number of years. Not only have they published these for
sale, they have recently begun putting indexes on their Web site.
GeneaSearch has a collection of cemetery links at geneasearch.com/cemeteries.htm
that may be helpful, as well as an e-mail newsletter to which you may subscribe.
Find A Grave, at www.findagrave.com,
claims to have 2.8 million records of the famous, infamous, and not famous persons.
You can search by name, location, date, claim to fame, and a variety of other
criteria. One facility allows you to search for cemeteries throughout the U.S.
and to view the names of persons for whom burial information has been submitted
by people just like yourself.
As you can see, there are quite a few sites to check. In addition, you can use
your favorite search engine and enter the name of the cemetery and the location.
Enclose words in quotation marks to make them exact phrases and use a plus sign
( + ) to indicate both are required to be found. For example, I tried to locate
information about a cemetery in my hometown:
"woodland cemetery" + "madison, NC"
The search gave me results including obituaries, advertisements, and funeral
related information. These may provide pointers to funeral home contacts, churches,
and other resources.
Invest some time in researching cemeteries online and, perhaps, in submitting
records of your own family members into some of the virtual online cemeteries.
You may make connections with some of your own dead relatives online.
The Citation Corner
In last week's "Along Those Lines . . ." column, I introduced a new feature
called The Citation Corner. It's purposes are to help you understand the importance
of citing your research sources and to provide samples of the citation format
for your use. Last week we discussed books and magazine/journal articles. In
this week's column, I referenced a number of Web sites. With all the Internet
research we are all doing today, it is important to be able to cite these resources.
Recognize, of course, that information you find on the Web is by and large secondary
material. You still want to locate and examine the actual primary source materials
for yourself. However, information you find on Web sites is still a source of
genealogical data.
Let's examine two common types of Web site citations: simple Web pages and information
gleaned from a Web-based database, such as that you might find in Ancestry.com's
databases.
The component pieces of information about a simple Web page, such as the subsidiary
pages of Cyndi's List referencing cemeteries, would include the following:
Author—Name of the organization or individual who created the Web site,
if known. Otherwise, omit this piece of data.
Name of the Web Site—This part can be a little confusing but bear with
me here. If the Web page you are citing is a stand-alone page, take the name
from the top of the Web page itself or from the data on the title bar at the
top of your browser window. When I say stand-alone, I mean that it is not a
subsidiary page of another Web page. If the Web page you are citing is a subsidiary
page, you will need the name of the master page AND the name of the actual page
you are citing. You will see two examples below.
Date of the Page—If you can find a page date, use it and state it in DD
Month YEAR format. Some Web authors indicate the date on which the page was
last updated. Others do not. If you cannot locate the date, omit it from your
citation.
On-line-Use the word 'On-line' and the URL (Web address) of the page you
are citing, enclosed in angle brackets.
The Date You Accessed the Page—Indicate the date you actually connected
with and used the page. Web pages tend to disappear over time. What this information
does is provide a path in case another researcher wishes to backtrack and contact
the Webmaster/originator for more information.
The citation for Cyndi's Web page on cemeteries and funeral homes, which is
a subsidiary page of her main page, and which includes the date of the last
update, would look like this:
Howells, Cyndi. Cyndi's List. Cemeteries and Funeral Homes. 07 September 2001.
On-line www.cyndislist.com/cemetery.htm.
8 September 2001.
A stand-alone Web page without a known author and without a publication or update
date would look like this:
Save Our Cemeteries, Inc. Online www.saveourcemeteries.org/.
8 September 2001.
When citing an online database from which you have obtained information, include
the following:
Author or Originator from Which the Database Records Were Derived—make
every attempt to determine the actual source of the database content, and include
this as an author.
Title of the Database—This is typically on the main screen of the database.
Date of the Database or Project—If there is a publication or production
date, this is valuable because an earlier or subsequent version may contain
different information.
Name of the Sponsoring Organization—List the name of the entity at whose
Web site you accessed the database. For example, if I were accessing information
on an ancestor in Ancestry.com's Civil War Service Records database, I would
list Ancestry.com.
Access Date and Network Address—Indicate the date you actually connected
with and used the page, followed by the URL of the Web page, enclosed in angle
brackets.
As an example, using the Civil War Service Records database at Ancestry.com
to locate a record of a certain Solomon MORGAN, my citation would read as follows:
United States National Archives and Records Administration. Civil War Service
Records. 1999-. Ancestry.com. 8 September 2001 http://search.ancestry.com/cgi- bin/sse.dll?db=cvwrmr&cres=33;7%2c34;96%2c35;42%2c36;1%2c38;3%2c39;48
%2cssdi;6%2cgenepool;22%2chdssoldiers;10%2c&gsfn=solomon&gsln=morgan& gspl=36%2cnorth+carolina&submit=search&prox=1&ti=0&gs=morgan+solomon&
gss=angs&fh=10
United States Social Security Administration. Social Security Death Index (SSDI).
May 2001. RootsWeb.com. 8 September 2001. ssdi.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/ssdi.cgi
Just remember it is important to cite your research sources for Web pages as
well. Spend a little time analyzing the format and include as much information
as possible.
Happy Hunting! George
George G. Morgan is a proud member of the International Society of Family History
Writers and Editors, Inc. (ISFHWE) at: www.rootsweb.com/~cgc/cgc2.htm.
He would like to hear from you at atl@ahaseminars.com
but, due to the volume of e-mail, he is unable to answer every e-mail message
received. Please note that he cannot assist you with your individual research.
Visit George's Web site at ahaseminars.com/atl
for information about speaking engagements.
Copyright 2001, MyFamily.com. All rights reserved.
|
|
 |
|
