Monday, April 29, 2013

Findagrave Tips & Tricks


 Find a Grave


* Enter the surname of the family you are investigating and choose "before" and "1850" to get a good list of the first families in this group.

* When you do make a "find" be sure to check the cemetery for close relatives.

* It is better to only enter date of death if known because date of birth is often unknown or disputed so your subject will not come up if you add too many qualifiers. Enter as little information as possible that still brings up a manageable list in order to not cause the search engine to hide your subject because it is listed under "1850 deaths" not "1851 deaths". The search engine is very exact.

* For women, always click "Include maiden name(s) in my search" or the engine will not search by the woman's birthname.

* To search by a birthdate you will need to use Google. To search for those born on January 31st 1900, enter this into the Google search box:
Jan. 31, 1900 site:findagrave.com
* Before you leave Find a Grave take a look at the people who have left flowers on your search subject's
Ancestry.com Free Find a Grave Search
Findagrave entry. Consider contacting that person if they look like they might want to collaborate on your research.

* Ancestry.com now has their own search for Find a Grave and you don't need a subscription to use it.

*Search gravestone images only at WorldVitalRecords.

* If you would like to match the pink-brown background color to make your photos blend in (like I did for Pearl) use the hex code #dcd0cf [the fourth digit is a zero] in your paint program.



This Findagrave entry  for Pearl Rutherford was only found
by clicking "include maiden name" in the search parameters.