One of the best genealogy resources I have found is FindAGrave.com. Findagrave.com is a volunteer driven website dedicated to a growing database of cemeteries and graves from around the world. With the majority of the graves listed from the United States, findagrave.com is a great place to search for the graves and memorials of your ancestors.
The site has allowed me to connect to many of my ancestors through a simple search of the person’s name and city. Of course, it helps to have some more information available to narrow the search down, but findagrave.com provides a great service to the genealogical researcher. On findagrave.com you can find several helpful items to assist in your family history research. You can find, primarily, the grave locations in different cemeteries, if the cemetery has been recorded and uploaded. In many cases, you can also find a photo of the grave marker. These are exciting to see, since many of the graves I look up are those of people who lived far away. You can also find obituaries and photos of the people. In some cases, these obituaries reveal very good information about the person and the life that they led.
In 2013, Findagrave.com became a part of the Ancestry.com family of resources. This acquisition has brought great help to the website as Ancestry.com has slowly made the findagrave.com website searchable from the Ancestry.com search functions and incorporated into the “Shaky Leaf” hints updates. As an Ancestry user, I was very happy to see the FindAGrave.com information available to merge into my tree while I conducted searches. I hope that you will be able to use findagrave.com in your next research project!