The following website will allow you to sign up for daily genealogy tips like the following: www.tipworld.com go to the Lifestyles & Interests section HATCHED, MATCHED, AND DISPATCHED Here's something to keep in mind when you're doing research on burial records. Although your ancestors might not have been religious, they may have attended church at least three times in their life: to be hatched, matched, and dispatched! If, when looking for a burial site, you can't find the correct cemetery, or if you believe the tombstone has been destroyed or removed, search the records of the nearest church. Although you might think that people didn't travel far in the middle 1800's, they often traveled as much as five to eight hours by buggy to attend the nearest church of their chosen denomination. Ignore the county lines and draw a 30-mile circle around the area in which your ancestors lived. Check local directories for that time period, locate the churches within the area, and then locate their records. You might be surprised at what you find! FINDING OLD, ABANDONED CEMETERIES When dealing with cemetery records, people often ask, "How can I find old, abandoned cemeteries if no one takes care of them and they're out in the woods somewhere or forgotten?" You might think those cemeteries are forgotten, but they're not. Property laws required landowners to disclose whether there were burials or burial grounds on property when the property was sold. Usually, those burial grounds are recorded on plat maps. If they're not, check older plat maps, such as those from the 1880's. These maps might pinpoint cemeteries that have somehow disappeared from the more current plat maps. Be certain to check them. You can usually find plat maps in public libraries. They are provided by : Diana J. Muir, Professional Genealogist Former Host of the World GenWeb Teacher of 8 free online genealogy classes at: http://www.rootsweb.com/~genclass/ I have saved the ones from the past couple of months in a Word document if anyone is interested. You get one each business day. Some are very informative, some maybe not so much. You get a little ad at the beginning of the page, but you can just scroll past it. Paula