Join the Nationwide Service Project "Finding the Fallen"

National Service Project: Finding the Fallen

Finding the Fallen project organized by BillionGraves presents several wonderful opportunities for genealogists. Cataloguing headstones of fallen military members is a way for them not to be lost to history. The digital image creates a permanent record for those searching for relatives who served in the Armed Forces.  Second is the opportunity to collaborate with others that day, whether they be Boy Scouts, veterans or other local genealogists. Participants can share their family history and their love of genealogy.

From the National Service Project: Finding the Fallen website we learn …

On Saturday, July 30th the Boy Scouts of America, in conjunction with the United States Armed Forces and BillionGraves, will be honoring the sacrifice of the brave men and women who have given their lives in defense of our freedom. You can help honor their sacrifice by ensuring that they are never forgotten. By joining in the project, you and your troop will serve these heroes by photographing and logging the GPS locations of the headstones and markers in our national cemeteries and uploading them to the BillionGraves.com website.

If you are interested in participating, provide your email address to the project and you will be sent information on how to plan and carry out a project.  You will be asked to share your location (to assist in suggesting nearby national cemeteries near you) though that is not required.  Many of those who served are not found in national cemeteries.  You will receive a confirmation email upon registering your interest and providing your email address.

If you are or know a Boy Scout interested in participating, you can learn more about this special project on the Voice of Scouting website -- Join the Nationwide service Project “Finding the Fallen”.

If you or a group you know will be joining the project, please let us know! 

Have some photos from your or a groups participation?  Send them along and we’ll do a follow-up post.

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copyright © National Genealogical Society, 3108 Columbia Pike, Suite 300, Arlington, Virginia 22204-4370. http://www.ngsgenealogy.org.

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NGS does not imply endorsement of any outside advertiser or other vendors appearing in this blog. Any opinions expressed by guest authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the view of NGS.

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Republication of UpFront articles is permitted and encouraged for non-commercial purposes without express permission from NGS. Please drop us a note telling us where and when you are using the article. Express written permission is required if you wish to republish UpFront articles for commercial purposes. You may send a request for express written permission to UpFront@ngsgenealogy.org. All republished articles may not be edited or reworded and must contain the copyright statement found at the bottom of each UpFront article.

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Suggestions for topics for future UpFront with NGS posts are always welcome. Please send any suggested topics to UpfrontNGS@mosaicrpm.com

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Unless indicated otherwise or clearly an NGS Public Relations piece, Upfront with NGS posts are written by Diane L Richard, editor, Upfront with NGS.

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The Seeming Indication of Their Death is Premature -- Tombstones may not just list the deceased!

Source for blank image: http://aremid.deviantart.com/art/The-Blank-Tombstone-119712435

Edited by DLR 

I am happy to report that my father and his wife are alive!

You may wonder why I feel the need to do this.  Well – they are both listed in Find-a-Grave!

Find-a-Grave, BillionGraves, CemeteryCensus, Interment.net are wonderful resources for our research.  We can learn a lot about the burial, death and maybe family members of the deceased.

Now, sometimes – a person is listed in Find-a-Grave for a particular cemetery and yet they are actually not buried there.  A surviving spouse may have remarried and is now buried with the first spouse (or vice versa). A person may have died elsewhere and is now buried with other family members in a completely different location. Maybe the person died and is buried in the cemetery and no-one ever updated the tombstone. 

There are also other reasons why we have to be careful in how we interpret the information we found on these websites – information based on a death certificate or an obituary (which might be in error on where the burial took place), people get reburied elsewhere, graves get moved, etc.  All of these factors can impact the accuracy of the information provided.

In the case of my father and his wife, it just so happens that in preparing for what is eventual for all of us, they went ahead and purchased a cemetery plot, had a tombstone  engraved with their names and birth dates and have arrangements in place for when they die for the stone to be updated. 

Their current listing has their death date as “unknown.”  This is true.  It’s just not unknown in the sense that we don’t know when they died, it’s unknown in the sense that they are not yet deceased!

Just a reminder to always keep looking for records and information even when we think we might have an answer – we might not have the full story.

Did I also mention that the cemetery is not in the community where they have lived for over 20 years?  It’s located where they met and grew up ... and, that’s a story for another day.

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copyright © National Genealogical Society, 3108 Columbia Pike, Suite 300, Arlington, Virginia 22204-4370. http://www.ngsgenealogy.org.

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NGS does not imply endorsement of any outside advertiser or other vendors appearing in this blog. Any opinions expressed by guest authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the view of NGS.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Republication of UpFront articles is permitted and encouraged for non-commercial purposes without express permission from NGS. Please drop us a note telling us where and when you are using the article. Express written permission is required if you wish to republish UpFront articles for commercial purposes. You may send a request for express written permission to UpFront@ngsgenealogy.org. All republished articles may not be edited or reworded and must contain the copyright statement found at the bottom of each UpFront article.

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Think your friends, colleagues, or fellow genealogy researchers would find this blog post interesting? If so, please let them know that anyone can read past UpFront with NGS posts or subscribe!

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Suggestions for topics for future UpFront with NGS posts are always welcome. Please send any suggested topics to UpfrontNGS@mosaicrpm.com

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Unless indicated otherwise or clearly an NGS Public Relations piece, Upfront with NGS posts are written by Diane L Richard, editor, Upfront with NGS.

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150,000 Gravestones Photographed in One Day

MyHeritage recently reported

I wanted to let you know about a project we undertook this week as part of our global initiative to preserve and digitize cemeteries worldwide, with the help of some friends.

We embarked on a very ambitious goal to digitize Israel's largest cemetery, Holon, collaborating with genealogy companies, genealogy organizations, societies and other volunteers who love genealogy. It was our biggest challenge yet, and one of the largest events of its kind ever organized - in the world!

The day was a huge success! Over 150,000 gravestones were photographed. It is a great model for how similar activities can be organized around the world. 

Please read more about the event in our blog post: http://blog.myheritage.com/2014/12/digitizing-cemeteries-myheritage-is-at-it-again-with-friends

This event was part of the global initiative that MyHeritage and BillionGraves launched earlier this year.  Read more here.

Earlier this year, BillionGraves and The Federation of Genealogical Societies partner to image ALL cemetery markers for WAR OF 1812 Participants.

Collaborations between entities with reach into the individuals who make up our genealogical community and a crowdsourcing-based software such as BillionGraves or a web platform such as Find-a-grave or other up and coming projects, like Cemetery Census, are dramatically increasing the amount of cemetery information available to us.

There is something so very basic and human about wanting to know where our ancestors are buried and ensuring that they “will not be forgotten.”

All of these projects welcome volunteers.

Are you helping or have you helped to digitize the residents of a local cemetery?  Would you like to give a shout-out to local efforts to digitize a cemetery?

Editor’s Note: Recent cemetery posts on Upfront with NGS

+ You Can Help! Institutional Cemeteries Website Seeking Assistance -- Let's Do What We Can to Remember These Often Forgotten Individuals

+ Using Radar To Do Cemetery Mapping and Find Unmarked Graves -- Fascinating!

+ Coffee cafes in cemeteries -- popular in Europe! Might we see the same in the US?

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copyright © National Genealogical Society, 3108 Columbia Pike, Suite 300, Arlington, Virginia 22204-4370. http://www.ngsgenealogy.org.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

NGS does not imply endorsement of any outside advertiser or other vendors appearing in this blog. Any opinions expressed by guest authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the view of NGS.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Republication of UpFront articles is permitted and encouraged for non-commercial purposes without express permission from NGS. Please drop us a note telling us where and when you are using the article. Express written permission is required if you wish to republish UpFront articles for commercial purposes. You may send a request for express written permission to UpFront@ngsgenealogy.org. All republished articles may not be edited or reworded and must contain the copyright statement found at the bottom of each UpFront article.

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Think your friends, colleagues, or fellow genealogy researchers would find this blog post interesting? If so, please let them know that anyone can read past UpFront with NGS posts or subscribe!

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Suggestions for topics for future UpFront with NGS posts are always welcome. Please send any suggested topics to UpfrontNGS@mosaicrpm.com

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Unless indicated otherwise or clearly an NGS Public Relations piece, Upfront with NGS posts are written by Diane L Richard, editor, Upfront with NGS.

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BillionGraves and The Federation of Genealogical Societies partner to image ALL cemetery markers for WAR OF 1812 Participants

AUSTIN, TX – 1 JULY 2014 The Federation of Genealogical Societies and cemetery website BillionGraves announced today a joint project to image all of the gravestone markers for participants of the War of 1812. “The images from these markers, coupled with the Federation’s current project to raise the funds to digitize the 7.2 million images of the pensions for those who participated in the War of 1812 are a natural fit,” said D. Joshua Taylor, President of FGS.

Hudson Gunn, President of BillionGraves said, “This July our focus is to see that the nation’s military headstones are documented and preserved for future generations. Headstones from early American history are quickly deteriorating, making it only a matter of time before they are lost forever. We are very pleased to have the Federation lend its help to spread this message for the War of 1812 veterans.” It is estimated that as many as 350,000 men may have served in the war. Although it is impossible to know how many may have cemetery markers, there could be as many as 50,000-80,000 markers for these veterans.

BillionGraves and The Federation of Genealogical Societies are asking anyone with knowledge of a cemetery marker for a War of 1812 veteran to upload the image of the marker to the BillionGraves website (www.billiongraves.com) using their free mobile application during the month of July to honor and remember the service of those who served in the “Second Revolution.”

If you upload an image for a War of 1812 veteran during the month of July or anytime thereafter, please let us know on Facebook or Twitter by using the hashtag #1812today and/or #warof1812 and/or #billiongraves. The Federation will also be posting the progress toward the fundraising goal of $1,812 per day on Facebook and Twitter, so check often and pass the word!

The efforts from these two organizations will provide a very valuable asset for researchers and historians researching 1812 veterans. With the Federation raising awareness of the project to digitize the War of 1812 pension records during the month of July and BillionGraves making the cemetery markers of War of 1812 veterans immediately searchable, it should be an exciting month for all genealogists and historians – everyone wins!

Those interested in preserving this valuable piece of America’s documented history can make a single contribution or become a monthly contributor of the Preserve the Pensions project. For more information, go to http://www.preservethepensions.org/ .

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Want to learn more about interacting with the blog, please read Hyperlinks, Subscribing and Comments -- How to Interact with Upfront with NGS Blog posts!

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NGS does not imply endorsement of any outside advertiser or other vendors appearing in this blog. Any opinions expressed by guest authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the view of NGS.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Republication of UpFront articles is permitted and encouraged for non-commercial purposes without express permission from NGS. Please drop us a note telling us where and when you are using the article. Express written permission is required if you wish to republish UpFront articles for commercial purposes. You may send a request for express written permission to UpFront@ngsgenealogy.org. All republished articles may not be edited or reworded and must contain the copyright statement found at the bottom of each UpFront article.

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Follow NGS via Facebook, YouTube, Google+, Twitter

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Think your friends, colleagues, or fellow genealogy researchers would find this blog post interesting? If so, please let them know that anyone can read past UpFront with NGS posts or subscribe!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Suggestions for topics for future UpFront with NGS posts are always welcome. Please send any suggested topics to UpfrontNGS@mosaicrpm.com

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Unless indicated otherwise or clearly an NGS Public Relations piece, Upfront with NGS posts are written by Diane L Richard, editor, Upfront with NGS.