Find A Grave Errors

Question

This is not a question.  

I'm working on Data Doctor Find A Grave in Texas and have come across a tremendous amount of errors on their part.  The dates they enter do not match the headstone.  So I suggest we be very careful when correcting any errors.

Comments

Sometimes those headstone dates do not match the documents, so caution goes in more than one direction.  (I've had Find a grave managers mostly pretty good at ignoring the headstone dates when the death and or birth records show otherwise.)

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Bear in mind that what people think are dates of death on headstones are, in many cases, either dates of interment or dates that the headstones were placed. It's more common that people may think.

As for dates of birth - I have ancestors whose headstones show they were born 10+ years after their real birth dates as proven with census and birth records.

Many of what people think are grave markers are actually cenotaphs placed by descendants with good intentions but poor research skills. They often look just like any other headstone in the cemetery, and only by doing in-depth research can they be differentiated from grave markers.

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For however many years people have been creating these online graveyard memorials, The Doctor (my Gr-Grandfather) has been said to be buried in the same plot as his father, second wife, and infant son.  He was not.  he was buried at see.  Even supplying the exact details to BillionGraves they would not correct the memorial page.  I resorted to ADDING THE EXACT DETAILS JUST LIKE THIS, and eventually someone DID alter the memorial page so it now says (or did last I checked) that he was buried at sea, and is simply named on the memorial stone. (And it's not a small stone! )

Often gravemarkers use whatever the last records give as dates, and those last records, even when the informant was a close family member, are often based on incorrect information, bad memory, or both.  (I was VERY careful when giving the details for my late husband, as I didn't want some future person mentally (or literally) rolling their eyes at me (or worse) for bad information!)

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My grandfather actually died on the 31 of December 1986 but his stone was placed by the military so it is dated 1987 because he died at 8pm on that day and with clerical errors it is hard to get it corrected.  So I know what you mean about dates not being correct or matching true to records.

Answer 1

I've had excellent results on getting errors corrected using the Suggest and edit, but a current effort is becoming a challenge to learn from.  There was an interloper in a family and I've made 3 requests to get the parents changed and none of those requests show on my list of SENT requests.  I just went to their Forum seeking help and learned that when I click on the Suggest Other Edits option, to include text about my request, that request does not follow the same process as just filling in the top data and hitting send.  So the requests that I added text explaining, only go as a message and will never receive default approval if the manager does not make the correction.   From now on I will just fill in the top section and send a separate message, referencing the memorial, if I wish to convey additional information.  

Answer 2

Thank for the heads up Sally.

Answer 3

I had an error recently where the day and month didn’t match. I was all set to just ignore the error (can’t remember what the button that isn’t the fixed button is called), when I found out I could submit a correction, the text and photo supported my date, just not the key date on the entry. Within 24 hours I noticed the date had been corrected on FAG, surprising me with the speed that it happened. So it could be worth submitting the correct information to FAG.

Answer 4

You bring up a very important point that members need to remember....you need to do some research on these "suggestions".   I also found a whole series of memorials that had incorrect headstones associated with the memorial due to generations buried in the same cemetery and cousins with the same names.

Answer 5

Anything created by humans is open to error. Records, transcriptions, gravestones, family trees, vital data, . . . the list is endless.  Be careful using any and all sources and try to find multiple different sources to support your research.

Comments

Perfect example here at Hily Ann Farris and from Find-A-Grave. 

From her Bio.... 

"Hily Ann Farris was born in Kentucky 26 March 1812 and died in Missouri on 6 Sep 1877. Her headstone has an incorrect date of birth (12 May 1798) listed which would have meant her Mother would have been 11 years old at that time. Additionally, she is listed as being 37, 47 and 57 years old in the 1850, 1860, and 1870 US Census records respectively, which would put her year of birth at 1812/1813. Also her first name has also been spelled Hiley, but it is spelled Hily on her headstone."

So yes, always try to get at least two different sources for each fact when you can, Also make sure they are not just repeating the same source, such as a "listing of gravestone inscriptions" and 'Find-A-Grave" which may say the same info based on a headstone.