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General => The Common Room => Topic started by: oldfashionedgirl on Friday 26 March 21 10:40 GMT (UK)
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Inspired by River Tyne Lass I was thinking of joining the Find a Grave site with a view to photographing graves for others. There are numerous cemeteries within walking distance of me and I noticed there were quite a few requests for one in particular which I have been to often and had a guided tour of.
What I wanted to know was when you take on a request are you given any details of which area of the cemetery the grave is in ? I have spent many fruitless hours not finding ancestors graves.
I have completed a couple of specific requests for people here but they had previously been in touch with the council and gave me an area to search in. This made it ‘easier’ as I knew I was looking in the right area but it was challenging as in one case the stone had fallen face down (they were able to contact the council and get them to turn it to see if it was the correct one) and another was covered in ivy.
Pre COVID you could email a council to find out location, it that for you to do or the requester ?
Secondly on some of the requests the person requesting is named as Deleted user but the request is still there ? Is the request still to be fulfilled ? How will they get it if they are no longer a member ?
I have watched the relevant tutorials on their site but they don’t answer my questions.
I would appreciate advice from someone who has participated.
Thanks
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I have not put anything on findagrave, someone has already fully covered my nearest cemetery with photos.
Have you considered perhaps concentrating on one cemetery, perhaps the smallest or the nearest to you and putting on as many of the graves as you can regardless of requests.
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I have been a contributor on findagrave for years and have fulfilled many photo requests in a large London cemetery.
If there is no plot information on the memorial page there is not much hope of finding the grave, though I did once find one by accident because it was an unusual surname and I thought I remembered seeing that surname in the photo request list for the cemetery so I photographed the grave. When I got home I was pleased to find that my photo matched the request.
There is a plot field on the memorial page but sometimes people put the plot information in the note that accompanies the request, or elsewhere on the memorial page, so I always check.
There is no obligation on volunteers to get plot information or do anything they don't want to. Some councils charge for looking up plot details, and some will only give information to relatives.
Deleted users won't get notified if their photo requests are fulfilled, but you would still get Volunteer Photo Credit on your profile, so it is up to you if you want to bother with those. Findagrave memorials get picked up as hints on familysearch and Ancestry so the requester may see your photos one day.
Hope I've answered all your questions. If you want to know anything else, I will be happy to help.
I don't just fulfil requests, I photograph as many graves as I can and make memorial pages for them. Graving is a great hobby, don't know how I would have got through lockdown without it.
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I concur with the " photograph all headstones" approach. Work on a section at a time. You don't have to transcribe your own photos, after 7? Days anyone may transcribe them. If using a camera/ phone with GPS, have it switched on.
I've tried to do that with a couple of small local yards, and had a lovely message from someone who had tramped around a yard twice looking for a grave, my photo popped up and with the GPS attachment in the photo header, they were able to go straight to it on their third visit.
Pauline
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Thankyou all of you for your help and advice. I understand it better now.
Since I haven't actually signed up yet I didn't realise that it may have a plot location. I had just looked at the first page with requests and when I put Edinburgh in I saw there were many requests for the cemeteries nearby.
I so wish I had thought of it in the first lockdown ::) it's not like I had never done it before ! Lack of joined up thinking.
I'm going to sign up, it will give me a reason to get OH of the sofa.
Thanks again
OFG
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Graving is a great hobby, don't know how I would have got through lockdown without it.
I agree completely. I'm photographing and transcribing a fairly local graveyard (not for FindAGrave), and it's been a great place to exercise as well this year - it's open enough to feel safe, and large enough to get in a mile up and down the paths without meeting more than a handful of people.
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Hi Pauline, I find the transcribe feature too tricky on a mobile phone so I don't use it. After searching the cemetery for, say, all the Jacksons to ensure I will not be creating a duplicate, at the bottom of the list it says Add a Memorial for Jackson. So I click that, make the memorial and post the photos after.
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Another thought, don't be too disappointed if you get no response after fulfilling a request. People could have the decency to say thank you but many don't, well maybe they have changed their email address and didn't get the notification. I content myself with seeing my Volunteer Photo Credit count go up on my profile. Then when I do get a response it is a lovely surprise.
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When you transcribe a photo, entering the name as " James Jackson", it will search for "James jackson" in the existing memorials for that yard and ask if its a match.
So unless there is a variation in spelling and the match isn't spotted, the photo can be assigned to a pre- existing memorial .
Pauline
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Another thought, you don't have to sign up as a Photo Volunteer in order to fulfil requests but if you do you can get emails for requests in your area. You won't get emails for all the requests near you, and you won't be the only person getting them, so it's not like an email is a personal request to you (a common misconception).
I elected not to get the emails. I do all my work in one cemetery so I just look at the cemetery page regularly to see if there are any new requests. When it's possible to travel to other cemeteries again I can check their requests when planning my visit.
If you do say Yes to the Photo Volunteer question you have to give a location but it doesn't have to be your home location. I stuck the map pin in the cemetery as my home location. Well I do spend a lot of time there so it feels like home.
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Thank you for your thoughts.
My thoughts were that I would do it like you Enumerated and choose one or two from the list.
I don’t really want to get constant emails asking as I would be feel pressured to do it.
My OH and I have an interest in old cemeteries and sometimes go to different parts of town for a wanders my idea was that I could look for a request on the board for which ever one I was going to.
Thanks for your and everyone else’s help.
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I find the transcribe feature too tricky on a mobile phone so I don't use it.
I don't make a habit of looking at graveyards, but I have been lucky enough to find some online photos of Irish gravestones. Your mention of a transcribe feature may explain some errors in transcribed dates, which have revealed discrepancies of a decade when compared with online death records. Lichen growth on the stone showed how this has happened; transcription software might be able to correct a misread name, but I doubt it would (or should) attempt to correct a date.
So might I urge any keen cemetery searchers to do all they can to verify what their devices transcribe for them ?