Ancestry Daily News 6/28/2000 - Archive • Cemetery Tips from Readers • Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter Headlines Cemetery Tips from Readers The following are some of the many great tips readers sent in to help those of you who will be visiting cemeteries this summer. When visiting cemeteries, I find it helpful to document the names on the tombstones on either side of my ancestor's, and also the one directly behind it and directly in front. Of course, landmark identifiers, like "tall pine tree three tombstones to the left," are helpful to note also. All these notes will be useful if I ever want to find the tombstone again, or if I want to tell another family member how to find it. I also write down directions from the entrance of the cemetery to the tombstone for the same reasons. Gay S. Weston Newbury Park, CA I took a picture of a landmark with my grandparents' tombstones in the foreground. Unfortunately, the stadium was torn down and a high school was built on the site. This could be confusing if one was not aware that a new structure had been built in its place. If possible, obtain a plat of the cemetery or a map indicating the cemetery road intersection closest to the gravesite. Kathy Lock My mother was with me when I visited a cemetery in Waterville, ME in 1964. We visited several family plots, one of which I remembered was her grandfather's. When I began family research and contacted the cemetery for his information, I was told he was not found in the records. I visited the cemetery also and was told the same thing. I knew that he had remarried following the death of my great-grandmother, so a few years ago I asked the sexton to check for a family plot under the married name of his daughter by that second marriage--and so the lost was found! There was also a record of a very old, unmarked plot there, and I feel it must have been my great-grandmother's, whose records can't be located. So don't give up on the first try! Helen Dotts I wanted to share some information I obtained while trying to locate my grandmother's grave. I knew where she died because I had obtained a copy of her death certificate, but she wasn't listed in any of the nearby cemeteries. I got in touch with a local library to get a copy of the obituary, and the obituary mentioned a cemetery that nobody was familiar with. There was only one cemetery in the area, and it had a different name. Eventually, I learned that the county had purchased the cemetery in 1944 and then changed the cemetery's name. I came upon this by calling the county recorder and having the deed to the cemetery located, which showed that the cemetery had been in operation during the time of my grandmother's death. The deed held the key I had been looking for. Once I located the cemetery, I found that they had incomplete information on my grandmother, and I was able to fill them in. Barbara Tovrea PS - Your articles are good resource information. Keep up the good work!