Ancestry’s Corporate Genealogist, Crista Cowan, explores the powerful utility of Find a Grave®, a free, volunteer-driven platform dedicated to documenting final resting places. In this event, Crista details the history of the site, explaining how it evolved from a passion project for celebrity burials into a global resource where taphophiles, enthusiasts who love cemeteries, collaborate to preserve history. The primary objective of the session is to teach researchers how to use the platform not just to locate ancestors, but to uncover and share family stories, while understanding the vital role of the mobile app in capturing precise GPS coordinates.
This event is structured around answering common user questions regarding navigation, volunteering, and data reliability. Crista provides a deep dive into evidence analysis, cautioning that memorial pages, much like death certificates or census records, are only as accurate as the informant and should be verified against other sources. The presentation includes a walkthrough of key website features, such as creating Virtual Cemeteries, leaving digital flowers that can lead to cousin connections, and using the suggest edits function to fix errors. The session concludes by explaining how Find a Grave’s® databases are indexed and updated on Ancestry, allowing users to link burial records directly to their family trees.
Chapters:
- Introduction to Find a Grave®
- The Power of the Mobile App
- Evaluating Accuracy and Evidence
- Website Features and Management
- Integration with Ancestry
Download the free Find a Grave® app to start exploring local cemeteries and search the database today to connect your ancestors' final resting places to your family story.