kopets

Permission to post this article copied from the Watertown Daily News given by Tom Schultz, managing editor, Watertown (WI) Daily Times

Watertown Daily News

Serving Watertown , Wisconsin area since 1895 Saturday, June 03, 2006

News
Couple has photographed more than 100,000 graves
By Rob Ebert of the Daily Times staff

In the last year and a half, Larry and Linda Kopet of Oconomowoc have taken over 100,000 pictures of headstones in 903 cemeteries covering 60 of Wisconsin's 72 counties - for free.

Never has the phrase “a labor of love” been clearer or held more meaning.

And what sparked this mass genealogical undertaking?

“This project started when I told my husband to get off the couch and get a hobby,” Linda, 56, said.

Their process is simple and effective. Larry, 60, visits the cemeteries and snaps the photos, which are then put on a computer disk. Linda then goes through each one and names them. Finally, the photos are sent on to Tina Vickery, the state of Wisconsin coordinator for the USGenWeb project, and they are placed on the USGenWeb Internet site for anyone to view.

Genealogy is the history of the descent of families, which is commonly listed in order of succession on a family tree, with the earliest known ancestor placed at the head.

The USGenWeb project started 10 years ago as a way people could easily trace their family roots, be it through census records, cemeteries, memorials, newspapers, or a host of other avenues.

Larry found the USGenWeb site while attempting to trace relatives in Iowa. He noticed people were sending in pictures of tombstones. He then contacted the Web site and told them he had taken a few pictures, which the site was happy to accept. Now “a few pictures” has transformed into a number with five zero's.

When Larry got off the couch and decided to make his hobby genealogy, he wasn't alone. According to the USGenWeb site, “genealogy (is) reported as the fastest growing hobby in the country. The availability of on-line, easily accessible genealogy and historical information has fueled the phenomenal growth” of this hobby.

For families tracing back their relatives prior to 1906 it has proven extremely useful. That's because before that year it was not required by Wisconsin law to record births, marriages, or deaths.

Naturally, photographing 100 percent of all the cemeteries isn't possible for Larry, as erosion has taken its toll on some of the headstones.

“The ones you can't read, we don't bother with those,” Linda said. However, she said they did try to go for the oldest headstones first.

After photographing and naming over 100,000 photos, one might be led to believe the process would get tiresome or repetitive. The Kopets would beg to differ.

“There really isn't a tedious part to it. We've learned a lot from it. We've learned the time periods where wives were buried next to their husbands and the times they weren't. We've learned about the different types of headstones. You can also tell what diseases were prevalent at the time,” Linda said. Most interesting to her was discovering how, over time, families changed the spellings of their names, she said.

The couple has also learned something unfortunate through their work. A lot of cemeteries are not receiving the required care they deserve. They have found cemeteries, especially in rural areas, that are overgrown and where stones have broken off and are just tossed under trees. Larry even found one cemetery in the corner of a farmer's corn crop.

“Sometimes I just sit here and cry at the conditions of these cemeteries,” Linda said. “I wish someone or some group would get together and restore them.”

Cemeteries in Watertown the Kopet's have covered include Ebenezer, Oak Hill, St. Bernard's and Whitney. They have also covered almost all of the cemeteries in the surrounding areas. They do take special requests, provided the sites are not too far and the picture isn't already on the Web site. Otherwise, Larry will go out and take a photograph.

When people find out about what the Kopets do, they become excited. Especially if they meet them.

“Once, when my husband was out taking pictures, a little old man approached him and said ‘I know you! Wait until I get back into to town and tell people I met you!'” Linda said. “A lot of people come up to him.”

Thanks also comes by the way of e-mail - and not just one or two.

“We get many, many, thank-yous. They're from all over the country, all the states, and beyond,” Linda said. “The ones that mean the most are the ones that come from Europe. When their relatives moved here, they lost contact with them.”

But with the Kopet's contribution, now they're found.

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