Someone posted something very disturbing on the Edgefield County, SC mailing list at Rootsweb. This is copy and pasted from the publically available archives on Rootsweb: "It came to my attention, at the last meeting of the Nevada State Genealogical Society that some tombstones found on Find-A-Grave, may not really exist. The wife of one of the Society members received a message through Ancestry that there was a tombstone at FAG for someone in her family tree. When she checked, there was a tombstone for her husband's great-grandfather. They had visited the grave in a San Francisco cemetery at Colma, and knew the grave had no tombstone. He called the cemetery, they confirmed the grave had no tombstone. He wrote to the submitter who was only willing to provide general information as to the location and finally stopped answering his e-mails. This individual has a website that offers find-a-tombstone service for a fee. The image did not correspond to the location of the grave, although the information on the fake tombstone was correct, it was incomplete. This and other clues indicate the tombstone itself was Photo Shopped. Another member told about tombstones in FAG for a cemetery in Virginia City, Nevada, where someone has posted photos of actual graves, along with biographical information and photos of the dead person. The problem is the biography is fiction and the photos are those of other people and were copied from the collection in the local historical society. My advice is to be very careful of the information you find on Find-A-Grave, and give it the same kind of scrutiny you should give any other genealogical information you find on the web." Call me naïve but I would have never suspected that people were photoshopping tombstone pictures for profit. I am sure that this is very isolated but still. Michele

Thanks, Michele. We can all use the reminder that photographs are not unquestionable truth, especially when it can be so convenient to think that they are. In more mundane realms of well-meant errors, many Find A Grave postings include information not found on the grave marker, and not otherwise sourced: that is, information the poster thinks they know but did not bother to explain why. These can sometimes be cross-checked against more careful or earlier readings of the same cemetery. But in the end there still is no substitute for primary information: being there or having a trusted friend or colleague be there for you. Harold On Sun, Oct 14, 2012 at 7:29 AM, Michele Lewis <ancestoring@gmail.com>wrote: > Someone posted something very disturbing on the Edgefield County, SC > mailing > list at Rootsweb. This is copy and pasted from the publically available > archives on Rootsweb: > > "It came to my attention, at the last meeting of the Nevada State > Genealogical Society that some tombstones found on Find-A-Grave, may not > really exist. The wife of one of the Society members received a message > through Ancestry that there was a tombstone at FAG for someone in her > family > tree. When she checked, there was a tombstone for her husband's > great-grandfather. They had visited the grave in a San Francisco cemetery > at > Colma, and knew the grave had no tombstone. He called the cemetery, they > confirmed the grave had no tombstone. He wrote to the submitter who was > only > willing to provide general information as to the location and finally > stopped answering his e-mails. This individual has a website that offers > find-a-tombstone service for a fee. The image did not correspond to the > location of the grave, although the information on the fake tombstone was > correct, it was incomplete. This and other clues indicate the tombstone > itself was Photo Shopped. > > Another member told about tombstones in FAG for a cemetery in Virginia > City, > Nevada, where someone has posted photos of actual graves, along with > biographical information and photos of the dead person. The problem is the > biography is fiction and the photos are those of other people and were > copied from the collection in the local historical society. My advice is to > be very careful of the information you find on > Find-A-Grave, and give it the same kind of scrutiny you should give any > other genealogical information you find on the web." > > Call me naïve but I would have never suspected that people were > photoshopping tombstone pictures for profit. I am sure that this is very > isolated but still. > > > Michele > > > The Transitional Genealogists List was created to provide a supportive > environment for genealogists to learn best practices as they transition to > professional level work. Please respect the kind intentions of this list. > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > TRANSITIONAL-GENEALOGISTS-FORUM-request@rootsweb.com with the word > 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > -- Harold Henderson midwestroots.net Research, Writing, and Brickwall Dismantling from Northwest Indiana Regularly Researching at the Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center Certified Genealogist (SM) No. 1029 Certified Genealogist and CG are proprietary service marks of the Board for Certification of Genealogists® used by the Board to identify its program of genealogical competencyevaluation and used under license by the Board’s associates.

Harold's points are why I make a habit of indicating in my working citations to Find-A-Grave whether there is an image of the gravestone, and whether the image is readable and matches the supposed inscriptions. My favorite (and a frequent) Find-A-Grave error is when I see a gravestone photo with only the year of birth or death, yet the FAG memorial lists full dates. That, of course, is still a valuable clue that can lead to obituaries, death certificates, etc. I've known it is possible (for a variety of reasons) that a person isn't buried in a particular cemetery, or that the information about that cemetery at FAG is wrong, but thanks to Michelle for alerting us to evidence that there can also be blatant fraud. Connie Harold Henderson wrote: > Thanks, Michele. We can all use the > reminder that photographs are not > unquestionable truth, especially when it can be so > convenient to think that > they are. > > In more mundane realms of well-meant errors, many Find A > Grave postings > include information not found on the grave marker, and not > otherwise > sourced: that is, information the poster thinks they know > but did not > bother to explain why. These can sometimes be cross-checked > against more > careful or earlier readings of the same cemetery. > > But in the end there still is no substitute for primary > information: being > there or having a trusted friend or colleague be there for > you. > > Harold >

Silly me. Until recently, I thought the postings on Find-a-Grave were sourced from literally reading the gravestones and/or taking photographs. In the absence of these, I thought at least some evidence was available that the person was buried there---by cemetery records or at least by personal knowledge that the grave actually existed in that place. Any dates attached to the posting I thought were sourced with one or all of the above. However, lately I have been seeing graves posted, along with birth and death dates and information about immediate family, that are just incorrect. The erroneous information just happens to match some incorrect information also passed around on internet family trees. These persons are posting **as fact** information that has no basis of proof. It weakens the credibility of the whole project. So frustrating. Warmest Regards, Donna