*Gravestone photographic resource*

[Ruskie]

That's great news Pat! I can see real potential in the site.

[Bagpuss_Janet]

I've just discovered this site (I'm not sure if it has already been mentioned on Rootschat):

http://www.gravestonephotos.com/index.php

Is this site still working, or is it my computer? I've tried Firefox, Chrome and IE8 but I get a 404 error. 

[weste]

I'm having trouble accessing also, get broken links. I can get lists of counties.

[Joyful]

I can't access the site at all.

Joy

[Bagpuss_Janet]

Thanks for the reply, guys. 

I was walking through the churchyard this afternoon and wondered about photographing the graves and uploading pictures somewhere - this sounded like the perfect place (find-a-grave is good, but very USA oriented, I think). 

Let's hope it's a temporary glitch. 

[meggylux]

Re: Gravestone project:

I am an active volunteer. Yes the site was down for a few days as the founder was away on holiday. It is now up and runnng again.

Re: contributing photo's if you read the bit about volunteering in full it does say they are happy to accept just photo's uploaded to disc which they will endeavor to transcribe for uploading.

It may be a phaff, but this is a one man website, with a growing army of us volunteers.  If the person who has looked at offering photo's from their local churchyard wishes to put their photo's on disc and send to me in UK  or wants to email photo's to me, I will happily index and send on... Just message me.

As for the number of images and names, I think I am around 20,000 names of my own contributions, the currrent total number of names is approx 272.000 with over 120,000 images.

Remember this is a free resource, please keep returning as new cemeteries are uploaded regularly, there is also a 'list pending' advising of cemeteries that have been photographed or due to be photographed and where they are in the process.

If you wish to volunteer to take photos of your local cemetery (please do) or would like to help in other ways, eg indexing, promotion etc, take a look at the volunteer page. Just a bit of warning though.... it can become addictive.

meggylux

[Ruskie]

Meggy,

Thanks for letting us know that the site is up and running again, and for letting us know that this is a one man operation. Obviously something he does for love rather than money ... 

Although Rootschat is also a free site run by volunteers I'm wondering if Trystan and Sarah would be willing to add this resource to their "news" bar at the top of the page for a time, or at least we could get the link to the Gravestonephoto site stickied in the resources section of rootschat. Maybe Gravestonephotos could reciprocate and add a link to rootschat on their site?

I'm sure people would be willing to contribute if they knew about it. 

[meggylux]

Hi Ruskie.

I know Charles has linked with other sites and is eager to promote the website. I understand from the site that it does feature in this monhs, Who Do You Think You Are magazine. If you wish to contact Charles direct there are contact links and details on the site.

Meggylux

[PhilBeeNZ]

I salute Charles and his work.
I found a photo on his site of my gt-gt-grandmother's stone (with associated family members enscribed too). It gave me an entire new branch to research!
Of course he can't and doesn't do it all on his own - just too big a job for one. There's a growing number of volunteers - I joined the team after this success, and have my first NZ cemetery photoed, collated and ready to send (yes, it's a labour of love but not difficult). My sister liked the idea so much that SHE's volunteered as well.
The knowledge, that someone somewhere sometime in the future may find a permanent photographic record of their ancestor long after the stone's deteriorated, is a great feeling.
The volunteers will have helped for the future, just as "someone somewhere" helped with my past.
Would you like to help too?

[ http://www.gravestonephotos.com/index.php ]

PhilBeeNZ