Cemetery Research

     the local cemetery may contain the only evidence of some young 19th century lives.

    the cemetery is sometimes the only real evidence of some women's lives.

Types of Cemeteries

    Church Burial Yard - until around World War II

     Public cemeteries - most are village, town, township, or city burial sites.

     Family Burial Plots - the most difficult to locate.

     Commercial Memorial Parks - since World War II

Types of Research

     Entries in burial registers are chronological as the funerals occurred.

     Church Burial records may have been placed in central church archives or affiliated university librariess.

     Sexton records are often accurate record of cemetery deeds and plats.

     Cemetery deeds may be retained by the sexton in separate cemetery.

Research Preparation

     Clues to take to cemetery for research:

            surname variants

            people who married into the family

            maiden names of women on the pedigree

            dates of settlement and migration into and out of the area

     Take print-out of pedigree chart, family group record, and individual summary record