Or at least tombstone transcriptions....but pictures are the best.
While doing research for a friend, I came across a discrepancy in the death years of this friend's great grandparents.
The death information was first obtained through Ancestry which now searches FindAGrave's database through the Ancestry portal. This database provided my first set of death years. With each entry, Ancestry provides a link to FindAGrave's website for the person. I followed the link but no picture existed. I did the logical thing.... I put in a request for a picture. But my instant gratification was not satisfied.
Yes, I know genealogy is not about instant gratification most of the time. But I can dream. Anyway....
I did a search on the internet for the great grandfather of my friend. I find his name in a cemetery listing online. But his death year and his wife's death year are switched! That is when the conundrum started. Still no picture of the tombstone at FindAGrave.
How was I going to resolve the discrepancy?
In the past two decades, the search for genealogical information has become easier and easier. To get information from a tombstone, you had to go to the cemetery or have access to a library that had a reliable listing on those interred at the cemetery. But now you may find the same information at FindAGrave, the Tombstone Transcription Project or several other websites.
So I searched with no luck. Then one day I received an email stating that someone had taken pictures of the tombstones and posted them to FindAGrave. You never know when a picture is going to be posted. I have some requests that have waited for years for someone to take a picture. But the genealogy genie smiled on me that day.
From those pictures I was able to determine that the dates had been posted transposed. Yet another reminder, that seeing the original is the best way to confirm information.
As I said at the beginning, I was doing this work for a friend. No good work goes unrewarded. A day later someone posted the pictures of two tombstones I had been waiting years to see! I know there are a lot of requests out there for pictures.... now my turn to pay it back!
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