From actual experience, I’ll say that visiting the cemetery where your ancestors are buried in relation to whom you are searching is one of the main stages of the genealogical investigation.
Frankly, in the investigation that I conducted, a visit to the cemetery was an invaluable contribution to my search. But here I was lucky. It was a family cemetery. My family’s cemetery on the mother’s side. Plus, there were relatives with me who showed the graves and told about the ancestors. Also on the phone I took pictures of the monuments on which were photographs and milestones of life. It’s more complicated on the father’s side and I’m unlikely to be so lucky yet.
So what can be found in the cemetery
- Burial (grave).
This is good luck if you find the right grave. The cemetery office or the data in the registry office’s death metric can help in the search.
- Monument (gravestone).
If preserved, it can tell the name, year of life, even occupation or photo. By the appearance of the monument, one can judge the situation of the family at that time.
- Documents in the cemetery office about the necessary burial.
The office is not an archive, you don’t have to wait much, but go in and ask about the burial place you are looking for.
And if the cemetery where the ancestor is buried is unknown
In some cases, publications on necropolis of the 20th century or modern scholars of necropolises can help.
If there is no hope for the fame of the grave, death certificates can be used. However, the chances of finding the grave of an ordinary citizen before the second half of the 20th century are few.
If you can’t find anything, don’t give up, look, pay attention to any little things, any clues and you will find what you have been looking for so long.
Good luck in finding.
