Burial Customs from Around the World
Burial customs from around the world provide an important link to our ancestors. They are physical evidence of a society’s spiritual beliefs, sometimes dating back thousands of years. Most people believe that their ancestor’s spirits journey to an afterlife but what their families do to…
Animals at the Cemetery: Wildlife Meets Afterlife
Cemeteries are usually associated with death, but they are actually full of life – animal life. As cities around the world expand and the number of urban green spaces decrease, animals are crowded out of their natural habitats. They have to go somewhere, right? And…
Using Gravestone Clues to Grow Your Family Tree
Using gravestone clues to grow your family tree may be one of genealogy’s best-kept secrets! Do you have some brick walls in your family tree? A trip to the cemetery may be just the thing to help you break through! What a Clue Can Do…
20 Tips for BillionGraves Transcribers
These tips for BillionGraves transcribers are fantastic! Whether you have been transcribing gravestone images for years or are just thinking about volunteering, there is something here for you! BillionGraves is preserving the world’s cemeteries, one headstone at a time. Using the BillionGraves app on smartphones,…
Cemetery Projects for Church Groups
Planning cemetery projects for church groups is easy with BillionGraves. BillionGraves is the world’s largest GPS-linked cemetery data resource. As volunteers take photos with the BillionGraves app, each gravestone is automatically marked with a GPS location. The data is then transcribed by volunteers, plotted on…
Winged Skull Gravestone Symbols
Winged skull gravestone symbols were common in 18th-century cemeteries. While they may look strange to us today – even morbid or creepy – they held important meaning for our ancestors. Death was a frequent visitor to households in the 1700s. In many areas, it was…
3 Amazing Gravestone Obelisks
Gravestone obelisks have been one of the most popular types of cemetery memorial stones since the mid-1800s. In fact, it is difficult to find a cemetery from that time period without one. Obelisks, defined as upright four-sided pillars that gradually taper off at the top…
8 Outstanding Eagle Scouts Serving in Cemeteries
There are some outstanding Eagle Scouts serving in cemeteries, taking hundreds of thousands of gravestone photographs to help others find their ancestors and expand their family trees. We would like to give a shout-out to a few of them. The rank of Eagle is Boy Scouting’s…
5 Awesome Mausoleums from Around the World
Awesome mausoleums from around the world vary in size and style, but they share the common purpose of showing respect for the departed. Since the beginning of time, people have developed different ways to bury their deceased loved ones. Mausoleums were some of the earliest…
Occupational Gravestones are Family History Clues
Occupational gravestones can help you discover the story of your ancestor’s life. It’s the dash between the dates! As family historians, most of us look for gravestones to find birth and death dates to add to our family trees. What a pleasant surprise when we…
Catholic Cemetery Symbols
Is your halo slipping or shining? Do you know why the rosary was invented? What does a sideways horizontal cross mean? This blog post will help you understand Catholic cemetery symbols. And after that, your trips to the cemetery will never be the same! My…
Rescuing Abandoned Cemeteries
Rescuing abandoned cemeteries can be addictive! Barry Russell, a retired engineer for Verizon and current BillionGraves volunteer, was born and raised on Long Island, New York. And although he has had a life-long love for graveyards, Russell never suspected he would spend his retirement years…