I live in western Michigan, was born and raised in northwestern Pennsylvania, and have many kin who live in Virginia. I tend to be obsessed with this genealogical hobby of mine and have been doing it for multiple decades. My profile picture is of a younger me standing on Mt Rogers, in Grayson County with the awe inspiring mountains and valleys of Virginia behind me.

For a number of years my wife ("Scout,") and I would photograph entire cemeteries. Over those years we photographed countless cemeteries and have taken somewhere around 400,000 pictures of gravestones which are now on Find A Grave. My wife was the one who did the majority of the work uploading the photos.

When possible we have always tried to take pictures of headstones in context, i.e., we also include a picture of the lot in which the person is buried. This can be very helpful for researchers in identifying others who are related. We have had favorable comments regarding this in the past.

Both my wife and I have done all of this hoping that our work will assist someone in locating either a lost ancestor or being able to view for the first time the headstone of a known loved one.

The majority of our pictures have been taken in Western Michigan, Western Pennsylvania, Grayson County, Virginia, as well as some in Ohio, New England and bordering states. My wife often transfers from her account to mine the memorials of Revolutionary War and Civil War veterans as well as those of my ancestors and cousins that we have created over the years. Hence the appearance that I have not done much work except gobble-up memorials.

We have now retired from photographing entire cemeteries. Although I enjoyed the adventure of discovery, I am too old for that kind of grueling work anymore (I'll let my wife speak for herself). Periodically, we still visit cemeteries to do a little photographing. We have made good team over the years.

I particularly joy photographing the headstones of veterans of the Civil War which either have not yet been documented or need a better quality picture. I have written a number of biographies on veterans over the years for their respective Find A Grave memorials, and as the inspiration hits, I still do that. Some of the bios are more extensive than others, and some of the veterans are related to either my wife or myself, but many are not. If you stumble across one and see any grammatical mistakes, please let me know. I can proof read something ten times over and still miss my own errors.

I generally use my profile for either my ancestors or for doing pet projects, such as the biographies for veterans mentioned above. I and others, have memorials and links up for my northern roots-my Allen, Burns, Kleckner, Stull, Woodring, and Wright ancestors along with their descendants when possible.

I would welcome any contact from my Burns relatives, as I am unable to trace them back beyond 1780. John Burns is my earliest known ancestor.

My southern ancestral roots, most of whom ended up in Grayson County, Virginia, include Halsey, Hash, Anderson, Cobb, Comer, Cornett, Lane, Parks, Parsons, Peak, Phipps, Rutherford, Ward, Sutherland, and Wright to name a few. Between myself and my many cousins, we manage most of those memorials and have provided links to many of the major family groups.

Since my maternal ancestors were early Grayson settlers, I find I am related to many of those who live there, especially in the Independence-New river Area. It is God's country-a very beautiful and welcoming area.

Feel free to use the photos I have taken and uploaded. I only ask that you give me credit as their source.

Godspeed and happy hunting!

MY ELUSIVE ANCESTOR

I went searching for my ancestor;

I cannot find him still.

He moved around from place to place

And did not leave a will.

He married where a courthouse burned,

And the Census he did spurn.

Tried he did and did succeed

To leave no stone for me to turn.

He always kept his luggage packed,

This man who had no fame;

And every twenty years or so

This rascal changed his name.

His parents from the land of Europe came;

On a list of passengers there should appear their name;

Even though I look and look, it is all in vain.

And no one else in this wide world searches for this man;

So I play genea-solitaire to find him if I can.

He was buried in a plot, with tombstone he was blessed,

But throughout the years it did erode,

And vandals took the rest.

Author Unknown