Web Site Offers Headstone Photos

`I brake for cemeteries” sums up what genealogy is all about.

I’ve driven thousands of miles, from one side of the continent to the other, just to stop at some very select cemeteries. Some were a couple hundred years old; one was a green island in the middle of a wheatfield; another was fenced off in an apple orchard. My sister and I picked our way through brambles in neglected, run-down cemeteries whose markers are so deteriorated that the lettering is no longer decipherable.

It’s reflective to stand at the graveside of a great-grandfather you’ve researched for years. I admit I’m a sentimental fool, so it wasn’t surprising I shed tears when I thought I’d found the grave of Charles Wesley Smith, 1829-1863.

We had located the grave of Sarah Smith, who I thought was Charles’ mother, in a cemetery in Erie County, N.Y., under an picturesque, ancient elm tree. A small brick-sized stone was “planted” at the foot of her grave, which I presumed was where Charles is buried. (Genealogists are never to presume.) I knew Charles was an inventor and died intestate, leaving his widow with five children and a mound of debts. It wouldn’t have been surprising if he didn’t have a proper headstone.

I knelt at the foot of Sarah’s grave and tried to clean that stone, and as I removed lichen, tears dropped from my eyes. My sister was appalled. She’s nowhere near as sappy as I am, and, because she isn’t a genealogist, she hadn’t made a “connection” with Charles. She was on this trip solely to keep me company. The writing on the brick revealed no information.

The next day, we learned that Charles is buried in the nearby Brant Cemetery. So, we scoured that huge cemetery, stone by stone, until we practically tripped over a large standing tombstone with his entire name and the correct birth and death dates. This was my Charles W. Smith, but he was buried with Josiah Smith and Ruhama Sovereign Smith, who were old enough to be his parents; and Ezekiel, a man young enough to be a brother. Who are they, I thought, and why is he buried with them?

I knew there had to be a reason, and it wasn’t long before I discovered that Josiah and Ruhama were indeed his parents, and Ezekiel, his brother. I don’t know who the heck Sarah Smith is, but she’s not the mother of Charles. Then, recalling the scene under that elm tree, I felt a little foolish, and wondered whose grave it was where I had shed tears.

Now I know there’s a Web site that might help me find Anna Maria, Charles’ wife. Headstone Hunter was launched in April to bring together genealogists looking for pictures of headstones, and volunteer genealogists who will snap those pictures. The second day the site was online, a match was made; some 6,000 visitors had logged on.

If you’re looking for a grandparent (and who isn’t?), post your request, telling where you think the grave is. Then, when a generous soul reads the message and discovers it’s from his area, he’ll visit the grave and snap a photo.

One grateful man posted this message: “Thanks to Brenda Davis, I now have photos of my g-g-grandfather and g-g-grandmother’s gravestones. She looked up the names at the York County Historical Society in York County, Penn., and mailed me the photos. Thanks Brenda!”

Isn’t that incredible?

Check out the Web site at www.headstonehunter.com.

The Eastern Washington Genealogical Society doesn’t meet in August but returns Sept. 9, with Robert Singletary discussing the history of Idaho.