Find-a-Grave is a free, donor-based "for profit" website staffed by volunteers. You do not have to become a member to view memorials or leave notes & flowers - but you do need to register (free) in order to create and manage memorials - this assures the integrity of the website's content.
Find-a-Grave contains millions of memorials, famous and non-famous, from all over the World. It makes no difference whether the deceased's remains were never found, buried, cremated then buried/vaulted, or cremated and scattered - all are welcome at Find-a-Grave... even pets.
Go to Find-a-Grave Website
Navigating & Searching the Database
Although we provide direct links to our PHS classmates' Find-a-Grave memorials, you can also go through the "front door" and browse the database via the link above. Popular Find-a-Grave sections are the (1) Famous Grave Search, (2) Yearly Necrologies, and (3) Interesting Monuments. From any un-sponsored memorial or results list you can also take a random tour of the database via the "Honoring..." link and photo in the upper right portion of the page (just click on the right-pointing arrow at the top of each bio to move to the next).
You can navigate between a memorial's bio, photos, and virtual flowers & notes using the "tabs" at the top of the bio. Note that photos may have captions that do not show on the bio page (use the "Photos" tab to see captions).
Feel free to leave virtual flowers and notes any time you wish to visit - it's amazing how theraputic it really is. You are not required to leave a note with your flower. If you leave a flower & note that you later want to remove, click on the flower and select "delete this offering".
While the concept of leaving virtual flowers on a virtual grave may seem odd at first, it can be a very comforting gesture to the family of the deceased, this I know first-hand. For out-of-town friends and relatives, the memorial may be their only way to view the head stone or monument, and may be the only link remaining to their departed loved one.
To search Find-a-Grave's database, click on the "Begin New Search" link on the "Actions" menu on the left side of the page.
If you are searching at Find-a-Grave for people or pets that are not physically interred or have no physical cenotaph in a specific cemetery, do not specify a state in the search criteria - if you do, the search will exclude the person or pet you are searching for in the results.
Note that many professional women may have (a) dropped their birth-given middle name at marriage and taken their maiden name as their middle name, or (b) dropped their first name, taken their middle name as their first name, and their maiden name as their middle name. Examples:
Given Birth Names: First Name, Middle Name, Surname
(a) First Name, Maiden Name, Married Surname
(b) Middle Name, Maiden Name, Married Surname
Confused? First try searching without the middle name, then try variations. Note also that the memorial creator may have abbreviated first and/or middle names, or used nicknames in the first or middle name fields.
Maiden names at Find-a-Grave are shown in parenthesis, and nicknames are shown with quotes - BUT ONLY if the memorial creator initially entered the information in the correct fields as the memorial was created.
Corrections & Additions
Click on the "Edit" tab at the top right of the Find-a-Grave bio, and submit your corrections and/or additions via the instructions that follow.
If you have additional photos to add to a memorial, please upload them via "Upload Photos" on the "Contact" menu above, photos can be resized and cropped to meet publishing requirements and/or to exclude other people in the photos. Generally speaking, the higher the resolution, the better.
Removing Banner Ads from Find-a-Grave Memorials
You can sponsor all pages of a memorial in-perpetuity for a donation of $5.00 US (five dollars) - click on the "Learn About Sponsoring This Memorial" link provided at the top of the bio just under the navigation tabs.
Sponsoring a memorial...
(1) removes the banner ads from all pages of the memorial,
(2) allows for 20 photos to be uploaded (in addition to any cemetery photo automatically provided). The photo limit for "unsponsored" memorials is 5 photos (in addition to any cemetery photo automatically provided).
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