Find-a-Grave rocks!

A little bit about me:

My name is Ryan. When I was a kid the father of my neighborhood pals (two brothers I hung out with) used to call me Ryan-O (like Lion-O from the old ThunderCats cartoon in the 1980's - the best decade ever). I liked the nickname and use it here.

I've lived in Massachusetts my whole life. Since 1988 I've been interested in my genealogy. I'm 25% Scottish, 12.5% Irish but I mostly descend from English families who came here 300-400 years ago. So far I have identified thirteen ancestral lines of mine to five different Mayflower passengers. My immigrant ancestor, with the same last name, came to Massachusetts in the 1630's from France supposedly. I don't consider myself French, however, because it was so long ago and his genes have been watered down so much over the past four centuries.

If I did not have to work I would grow a big bushy red beard and buy a house with a porch. On that porch I would rock back and forth in my rocking chair, sporting a bad-ass kilt whilst learning to play the bag pipes....until I gave up 10 minutes later from being terrible at it.

If I was retired I would definitely travel the great continental 48 states in an RV searching out the historic landmarks of the USA. Revolutionary and Civil War battlefields would be on the list of places to visit. A 7th great-grandfather of mine was Gen. Artemas Ward (1727-1800).

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I welcome edits but please add a source in the box marked "Notes" at the bottom of the "Suggest Edits" page letting me know where your information is coming from. Just a heads up, I'm not a fan of calculated birth dates.

Also, I've learned over the years to always look at the original records if available. I don't trust volunteer indexed records on websites like Ancestry or FamilySearch. I have found many many mistakes.

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What I like about Find-a-Grave:

1) Pictures! Please add gravestone pictures and family photographs. If you have a lot you can sponsor the memorial for $10 and add many more!

2) Contributors who are friendly and that you get used to dealing with in your local area.

3) It's so easy to use and free.

4) Cemeteries are history.

5) Old gravestones are neat especially the decorative ones with faces and wings, etc. at the top. Also I like the ones that have a dark or morbid little inscription at the bottom letting a passerby know we are all mortal.

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A few cool epitaphs I've found:

Found on Miss Sally Jennison's (d. 1831) headstone at Upper Cemetery, Phillipston, Mass.:

Behold my friends, look down & view

The hollow, gaping tomb;

This gloomy prison waits for you,

When e'er your summons comes.

Found this engraved on Anna Barnes' ( d. 1818) stone at Warwick, Mass.:

Low in the ground my bed is made,

here in the dark alone I'm laid.

Depart my friends and let me rest,

I'm weary of this wilderness.

This one is off Zachariah Barber's (d. 1822) at the same cemetery:

Retire my friends nor shed a tear,

in sweet repose I slumber here,

to trouble me the wicked cease,

and all is silence, rest and peace.

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Found this on someone's Find-a-Grave profile:

Old Bones' profile poem

Your tombstone stands among the rest;

Neglected and alone.

The name and date are chiseled out

On polished, marbled stone.

It reaches out to all who care

It is too late to mourn.

You did not know that I exist

You died and I was born.

Yet each of us are cells of you

In flesh, in blood, in bone.

Our blood contracts and beats a pulse

Entirely not our own.

Dear Ancestor, the place you filled

One hundred years ago

Spreads out among the ones you left

Who would have loved you so.

I wonder if you lived and loved,

I wonder if you knew

That someday I would find this spot,

And come to visit you.

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SORRY, I DO NOT LINK TO RELATIVES THAT DO NOT HAVE A BURIAL LOCATION. This is Find-a-GRAVE after all. There are some exceptions of course, for example scattered ashes or bodies donated to science, but even then there could be a headstone or cenotaph somewhere. Please stop making memorials on this website if you don't know the final resting place for an individual. And certainly don't just plop deceased persons in a cemetery you THINK they are probably buried at!

I personally love the world family tree at https://www.familysearch.org/tree/find/name which is free to use (you just need to register). You don't need to know where anyone is buried and it is so easy to use. You can add your whole family by typing it in or upload an old Gedcom file from a family tree program. There's a cool button that tells you how you are related to someone you find on that tree. I am amazed every time I use it at how connected we all are! ***

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From The Doors song "The End" (live version):

Don't let me die in an automobile

I wanna lie in an open field

want the snakes to suck my skin

want the worms to be my friends

want the birds to eat my eye

as here I lie

the clouds fly by