I began as a young teenager asking family history questions of my parents and grandparents. Oftentimes, I took notes on whatever scraps of paper were at hand...backs of envelopes, napkins, brown paper bags. This inquisitive behavior continued into adulthood and I've never stopped digging. I've spent thousands upon thousands of hours doing family-related research, both online and the old-fashioned way –– at town offices, libraries, far-flung family reunions and, of course, cemeteries. I especially enjoy researching, identifying and digitally restoring old family photos.

My family history includes the following: Indigenous peoples of North America – esp. Cherokee and Creek; some of the earliest European colonizers, including such families as Brewster, Winslow, Soule and Howland of Mayflower and Plymouth colony fame; influential Puritan spiritual leader and one of the earliest American feminists, Anne Marbury Hutchinson; pioneer of civil disobedience and martyr for religious freedom, Mary Barrett Dyer; the Virginia Company settlers at Jamestown; many of the Dutch colonists of the New Netherland province; several victims and victim-families of the Salem witch hysteria; a veritable who's-who of Colonial Maryland families; and numerous other remarkable pioneers of the Westward Expansion. I am in awe of my many pioneering ancestors who suffered unimaginable hardship in search of a better life.

----------------------------------------------------------------

I am happy to transfer memorials for folks who are not my relatives or close personal friends. I am conscientious about verifying all submissions, so please be patient as I research your requests. Thank you to all who have contributed to Find-A-Grave.

----------------------------------------------------------------

Do not stand

By my grave, and weep.

I am not there,

I do not sleep—

I am the thousand winds that blow,

I am the diamond glints in snow,

I am the sunlight on ripened grain,

I am the gentle, autumn rain.

As you awake with morning's hush,

I am the swift, up-flinging rush

of quiet birds in circling flight,

I am the day transcending night.

Do not stand

By my grave, and cry—

I am not there,

I did not die.

— Clare Harne