I've been fascinated with genealogy for a while now. It wasn't until I started a family tree in the 1980's, that I realized how little I knew about my family history and their vital records. My maternal family roots are in the Durry/Talbert, Durry/Martin families of Dallas County, Alabama and paternal family roots are in the Morgan/Garrett families of Perry County, Alabama and Wise County, Virginia.

When I discovered Findagrave.com, it was like a dream come true. Finally there is a way for regular people to create records of burial and/or cremation of loved ones, friends, classmates, co-workers or anyone else, and the records are kept. I learned how easy and how rewarding it is to become a voluntary findagrave contributor and it's free. The website is for recording records of those no longer with us. Remember it is not for the living. One major findagrave rule is not to include the names of living people in memorials without their permission.

Records can be created to respectfully recognize, remember and pay tribute to anyone who has passed away, including family, friends, classmates, co-workers, military service members, church family and so on. There are people who have no records of them ever existing. They are completely omitted from any official records of birth, death or burial. Trust me, there are a lot of people out there that you can't find any records on. Findagrave allows and helps us to correct this oversight.

Findagrave.com is also the first website I've found that allows you to freely create memorials on anyone who has passed away. The records are kept in the U.S., Find a Grave Index and eventually linked to Ancestry.com. It doesn't matter if family members are in different cemeteries, or in different states, even different countries, they can be linked and brought together at Findagrave.com.

Another nice feature of findagrave is the Virtual Cemetery. Virtual Cemetery is your personal cemeteries. It allows you to create and give a name to your own cemeteries where you can keep records on anyone who already has a findagrave memorial created on them. It doesn't matter if you created the record or someone else created it, you can add it to your virtual cemetery.

There are so many people, family and friends, who have passed away and their death records are not even included in the Social Security Death Index, U.S. State Death Indexes or any other local records. My father, Otha Morgan, of Selma, Alabama, was a good example of that omission. He was a hard worker on several jobs in Alabama all of his life for minimal wages. He had a social security number, paid his income taxes every year, but the record of his death in 1998 is not even recorded in the Social Security Death Index or the Alabama Death Index.

These death indexes are suppose to be the official death record for the United States of America and for each state in the United States. All states in the United States of America are suppose to keep records of those who pass away in their states. Some records never get recorded by states, which is so sad. Findagrave.com helped us to recognize those people, who, when they pass away, they are not left out of the pages of our national or state history. Findagrave allows you to create vital records to which anyone can have access.

I record memorial to respectfully recognize and to keep alive the memories of those who have gone before us. I enjoy finding records of burials, taking photos at cemeteries and recording them on Findagrave.com and ultimately to Ancestry.com, where so much family history can be recovered. I have actually gotten to know people better and meet people I didn't know through creating memorials on Findagrave. I have reconnected with a lot of people from my childhood, and gotten to know some of their parents, that I didn't know as a child.

Find a grave is an excellent source of information for those seeking records of burials and even some photos of graves and burial locations. It is an honorable, respectful way to pay tribute to them. It's like taking a trip back in time to visit loved ones and friends who are no longer with us, even some people we've never met. It's a trip to the cemetery, but you can do it at home on your computer or on your cell phone miles away from the cemetery. This is especially nice for people who live out of the state, county or even the country where relatives and friends are buried. Those that are cremated, with no graves to visit, can have a grave at findagrave. It is all done by Volunteers, who care enough to walk the grounds of cemeteries and take pictures to record vital records like these.

If there are negative issues or thoughts of not wanting a family member remembered like this, please remember the dead has no privacy. Please consider the voluntary work that goes into gathering this information to honor your loved ones. Remember, it is the same kind of record that we look for our state and federal governments to create. The only difference here is that we create the records ourselves.

Find a grave contributors are not paid for the memorials they create. It is all done by those who care enough to volunteer to collect information from public sources. They walk the grounds of cemeteries all across the United States, even the world, and take pictures of graves to record these records. Now anyone, family, friend, classmate, co-worker or others may be able to locate the final resting places of loved ones or friends. Personally, I used to not like going to cemeteries, but now, through find a grave, I see the history that lies among those grave markers and it has changed my entire view of cemeteries.

Most cemeteries have section names and grave locator numbers. Some are easy to locate and some are not. A contributor that's promoting adding grave sections and numbers to all memorials, wrote, "This is Find A Grave and not Find a Photo." That may be partially true, but photos are very important, even without grave locators. There are people who may never get the chance to visit a cemetery where a loved one or friend is buried, and a photo of their grave, even without a grave locator number is a God send. One of my best friends and high school classmates, Lee A. Bowden, Mem# 17368266, died in the Vietnam War in 1968. I may never get to the cemetery in North Carolina where he is buried, but I can visit his grave whenever I want to. So grave locators are not that critical. I have photos of my parents' graves, Otha Morgan - # 169130169 & Lucy Durry Morgan - # 196150973, and I know where their graves are in the cemetery, but I do not know the cemetery sections or grave numbers to add to their Find A Grave memorials.

Some cemeteries are so huge and ever changing that it is almost discouraging to go and try to find someone buried there. An example of a huge, expanded, almost confusing cemetery is Oak Hill Memorial Park, 300 Curtner Avenue, San Jose, California. There are so many cemetery sections and graves there that it is almost discouraging. But, the office workers and the groundskeepers are so helpful in finding anyone's grave you're looking for. They will actually come out and take you to a grave. I actually got lost in that cemetery just trying to find my way out.

I take pride in the memorials I submit. I strive to find important vital records to include in my memorials. Important vital records are, Complete Names, Dates and Places of Birth and Death, Cemetery location and/or Cremation information. Maiden names for married women are very important. Leaving out a maiden name is leaving out her entire side of her family. And please do not use initials for maiden names because they will almost always be entered as a middle initial. I've learned to dislike any initials in obituaries. I try to be as accurate as I can, but if there are errors found in my memorials, please let me know and I will correct them.

If there are any memorial transfer requests, I will graciously consider the transfer of any of the memorials I've contributed, except my own family and other that are dear to me. There are people who contribute to findagrave that do it to see how many they can create, that's not me and that's not the purpose of the website. Some findagrave contributors will not transfer memorials to anyone, they won't even accept messages from other findagrave contributors and they have no email addresses on their findagrave profile page, that's not me. Findagrave has created a way now for family to take control of their loved ones memorials. Family members have up to a year after their passing to take control of their loved ones memorials. If you are related to anyone whose memorial I've created, please let me know and I will gladly transfer their memorials to you. Good Luck and may God Bless you.