GRAVE CLUES Sharon Rhodes Graves can often provide information beyond the names and dates on the tombstone. 1. Check the stone for markers that might give clues to church or group membership. 2. If you can't find the grave of a relative, check the local history for epidemics. Check cemeteries in the area for mass burials. 3. Sometimes the position of the grave holds clues. "Christians believe [believed] that the Angel Gabriel would appear in the east on Resurrection Day, bodies in the cemetery were often buried with the person's feet pointing to the east. The thought being when they arose from the dead, then they would be facing the east to see the Angel Gabriel."1 Blacks were often buried facing east. "One freed slave explained that the dead should not have to turn around when Gabriel blows his trumpet in the eastern sunrise. Others have suggested they were buried facing Africa." 2 Early Quaker cemeteries often contain unmarked graves in cemeteries where individuals were buried in rows as they died. 3 Gravestone Markers Veterans Administration images of church crosses for headstones. http://www.cem.va.gov/hmemb.htm Gravestone Marker symbols from the International Black Sheep Society Of Genealogists http://blacksheep.rootsweb.com/acronym.html Epidemics An informative article from the University of Hartford. http://uhavax.hartford.edu/bugl/histepi.htm Some class notes from Indiana University http://www.indiana.edu/~h333/notes.html List of known epidemics with a source for the list. http://www.rootsweb.com/~iaclinto/resources/epidemics.htm Mass Graves http://www.wilmingtontoday.com/History/CivilWar2.html http://www.stmaryonline.com/history.html http://oldcitycemetery.com/cholera.htm Burial Customs Davison Community Schools list of links, Davison, MI http://www.davison.k12.mi.us/dhs/english/burial.htm 1. Old Wives' Tales. "Funeral and Burial Traditions". Accessed Apr 2 2005. http://www.oldwivestales.net/articles/1017.html 2. Chicora Foundation, Inc. Grave Matters: the Preservation of African-American Cemeteries. "What is the History of African-American Cemeteries?". 1996. South Carolina Information Highway. http://www.sciway.net/hist/chicora/gravematters-1.html 3. Margaret Sherman Lutzvick. "Old Quaker Cemetery, Macedon Center, Macedon, Wayne County, New York". Accessed Apr 2 2005. Wayne County NYGenWeb Site. http://www.rootsweb.com/~nywayne/cemeteries/quaker.html