Find A Grave photo volunteer question

Question

I have found Find A Grave (and others like it) to be a very handy resource and in my free time I sometimes go and act as a photo volunteer. Many times when I come across old un-fulfilled photo requests it is because there isn't a headstone to photograph.

When I first started out I would just mark the problem so whoever requested would know but many times the request would stay there and I didn't know if whoever was on the other end would trust that I looked in the right place. So now I take a photo of the plot even without a headstone.

If I have dates from a cemetery record I add them like in this example: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/118377656/charles-alansen-glover. If I don't I just mark the plot best I can like here: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/136690649/marion-maclarty.

My question is if you came across this in your research would you find it helpful or am I just wasting my time? I currently only do this for photo requests and not just on profiles without photos but I was thinking of changing that practice if it would be helpful.

Comments

I think the photos you have provided are beautiful! I love your ingenuity. The only thing is I think you should add to your "no headstone" note that the dates come from the cemetery's record.

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I can do that

Answer 1

I think this is wonderful. It does answer the question and shows the result: there is no headstone. You cannot change that, so the only fair answer is to show the actual situation.

We don't see enough of this, thank your for taking up this responsibility.

Comments

I agree, I would prefer that information to be added to the Find a Grave profile. As long as you know it is the correct plot, it is helpful.

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I always check the surrounding graves plot numbers to make sure and if there is gps plot information I use that as well. Plus I verify with the office that the grave is unmarked.

I know how easy it is to come across incorrect information on find a grave and I don't want to contribute to the problem. I'm glad people find it helpful. I think I'll start doing it with all the profile without photos now.

Answer 2

I find it helpful. It has also given me the idea to label (identity) other graves in the same picture with just their name if unreadable.

Comments

I came across another volunteers photo and he had put text labels in the photo to identify where the family members were in a large plot in a wide shot photo.

That is what gave me the idea to do this. I thought his effort was great at helping people find graves I could help people find unmarked plots the same way. That way there wouldn't be 5 year old requests just sitting there and anyone who came to the page hoping to find information would know it's not available.

Answer 3

This in impressive Leilani.    Not only for my WikiTree work but for my cemetery adventures.   (You can't imagine how many times I've strolled around cemeteries searching for a headstone.)

I'm a photo volunteer too  (though infrequently these past years)  and you've raised the bar.

Great Job!

Comments

The cemetery I regularly go to had so many photo requests and it is not that big of a cemetery. I can walk the whole thing easily in a couple hours. So many are unmarked though.

If you make a request and get the note that there isn't a headstone and then take the request down, the next person to come along isn't going to know that. Which is why I started doing it.

I am glad everyone agrees, I was a little worried people might prefer no photo. I don't know why I thought that though, I would prefer to see this when doing my own research.