I spent most of the weekend immersed in genealogy research and I was reminded that I have meant to share information about an outstanding source for researchers, FindaGrave.com. If you haven't visited it, you are missing an excellent source for famous graves, research and a social network. Yes! You can request a photo of a grave from someone local, post your own photos and obituaries and make a memorial with flowers.
The photo seen here is from a cemetery in Brandon, Rutland County, Vermont, where my Revolutionary War ancestor and his family is buried. No need for a trip across the country, I can see what the setting is and the specific information for the grave.
FindaGrave is searchable by person's name, cemetery name and geographically. Try searching for cemeteries in Santa Clara County. I used Cemetery Lookup on the right side of the main page. Specify USA, California, Santa Clara County and you will see 55 cemeteries. Not all cemeteries are completely recorded on Find A Grave, however, Santa Clara Mission Cemetery has 7,626 listings, Mission City Memorial Park has 8,498 and Oak Hill has 6,193.
Jim Tipton, whose hobby is finding famous graves, created Find A Grave in 1995 because there wasn't anything like it. Since then it has grown to include cemeteries from around the world. Read about his favorite famous graves on the Who's Behind Find A Grave link.
posted by mb
