Find a Grave

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Find A Grave
Web address www.findagrave.com
Commercial? Yes
Type of site Online database
Registration Optional
Available language(s) English
Owner Ancestry.com LLC
Editor Jim Tipton
Launched 1998 (1998)
Alexa rank positive decrease 3,878 (February 2014)[1]
Current status Active

Find A Grave is a commercial website that allows the public to access and add to an online database of cemetery records.

History

The site was created in 1995 by Salt Lake City resident Jim Tipton, who sought a site to cater to his hobby of visiting the graves of celebrities.[2] He later added an online forum.[3] It was launched as a commercial entity in 1998, first as a DBA[4] and then incorporated in 2000.[5][6]

As of October 2013, the site contained over 106 million burial records worldwide.[7]

On September 30, 2013, Ancestry.com announced its acquisition of Find A Grave.[8]

Content and features

The website contains listings of cemeteries and graves from around the world. American cemeteries are organized by state and county, and many cemetery records contain Google Maps (with GPS coordinates supplied by contributors) and photographs of the cemeteries. Individual grave records contain some or all of the following data fields: dates and places of birth and death, biographical information, cemetery and plot information, photographs (grave marker, the individual, etc.), and contributor information.[9]

Interment listings are provided by individuals,[10] genealogical societies,[11] or major institutional contributors, such as the US Veterans Department,[12] the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, the American Battle Monuments Commission,[13] and the International Wargraves Photography Project.[14]

Contributors must register as members to submit listings, which are called memorials on the website. Upon submitting a listing, that member becomes the manager of the listing, but may transfer management. Only the current manager of a listing may edit the listing. Members and non-members may send correction requests regarding listings. Members and non-members can submit notations, which consist of images or pictures or flowers, flags, religious symbols, etc., which are posted on the individual listings, usually including a message of sympathy or condolence. Managers of listings may connect them via hyperlink to listings of deceased spouses and parents for genealogical purposes. Members may also request photos of graves which other members may then fulfill.[15]

Find A Grave also maintains links to memorials of famous persons such as Medal of Honor recipients,[16] religious figures,[17] educators[18] and miscellaneous other celebrities. Find A Grave exercises editorial control over these listings.[19]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ "Findagrave.com Site Info". Alexa Internet. Retrieved 2014-02-01. 
  2. ↑ "Find A Grave Contributor: Jim Tipton". Find A Grave. 2007. Retrieved May 11, 2012. 
  3. ↑ Maynard, Meleah (February 16, 2000). "Grave Matters: Minnesota's dead are only a click away". City Pages (Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota: citypages.com). Retrieved September 8, 2012. 
  4. ↑ Utah Secretary of State Entity No. 2442925-0151 Retrieved November 11, 2011
  5. ↑ Utah Secretary of State Entity No. 4729413-0143 Retrieved November 11, 2011
  6. ↑ Delaware Department of State: Division of Corporations Entity File No. 3168328 Retrieved November 11, 2011
  7. ↑ "Find a Grave". Find A Grave. Retrieved 2013-05-11. 
  8. ↑ "Ancestry.com Acquires Find A Grave". Ancestry.com. Retrieved 1 October 2013. 
  9. ↑ Find A Grave: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) www.findagrave.com
  10. ↑ Loudon, Bennett J. (August 30, 2011). "Civil War history carved in stone in Pittsford". Democrat and Chronicle (Gannett). Retrieved September 28, 2011. 
  11. ↑ Moody, Sharon Tate (January 24, 2010). "Find A Grave can shorten the search". The Tampa Tribune (TBO.com Tampa Bay Online). Retrieved December 28, 2011. "The entries with tombstone photographs obviously are reliable, but if the entry is based only on a paper record of the interment (without a photograph), it's easy to mistype the date, so you're bound to find errors." 
  12. ↑ Find A Grave: Member Record number 5 (1.9 million records)
  13. ↑ Find A Grave: Member Record number 6 (750,000 records)
  14. ↑ Find A Grave: Member Record number 46770518 (1.6 million records)
  15. ↑ "Find A Grave FAQs: 'How do I submit a photo request?'". Findagrave.com. Retrieved 2012-01-02. 
  16. ↑ "Claim to Fame: Medal of Honor Recipients". Findagrave.com. Retrieved 2012-05-31. 
  17. ↑ "Claim to Fame: Religious figures". Findagrave.com. 1954-10-11. Retrieved 2012-05-31. 
  18. ↑ "Claim to Fame: Educators". Findagrave.com. Retrieved 2012-05-31. 
  19. ↑ "Famous Bio Guidelines". Findagrave.com. 1935-05-02. Retrieved 2012-05-31. 

References

External links

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