Lost Genealogy
A number of my ancestors are in unmarked graves. The burial sites of others are lost to history.
For all the tombstones recorded here at Find-A-Grave, many dead are lost, forgotten, and unknown.
As a participant on Find-A-Grave, my goal is to identify and document:
--The Lost Dead, those in Unmarked Graves and Burials
--The Forgotten Dead, those with no linkages to parents, siblings, or children
--The Unknown Dead, those whose identities were uncertain, even to to their contemporaries

Find-A-Grave members each contribute in numerous ways to keep heritage alive.
I'm grateful to those contributors who have walked the cemeteries, taken the photos, and posted tens of thousands of entries. They are the collectors who have provided the source data for the rest of us. In my own research, I've been repeatedly thankful for the efforts of Bethalene and David Woody.

I'm grateful to those contributors who strive to make the connections between parents and children, between siblings, and across geographies. They have expanded our family trees and made genealogy easier for us all.

I have been inspired by those whose call is to give life to the entries through well-written biographies and the posting of photos and obituaries. Great models for me have been Geo Clinton, Cheryl Locher Moonen, and James M Phillips.

Tombstones, graves, burials, obituaries, birth dates, and death dates are not personal property - even of family members. The deceased were more than just your parents, siblings, children, aunts, uncles, or grandparents. They were friends, community members, teachers of students, and neighbors. Deaths, tombstones, obituaries, birth records, death records, marriage records, and census records are public. Do not presume that public information is your private property.

Some individuals object to the posting of newspaper obituaries without transcribing them - as if the transcription of a written work is a magical means of avoiding copyright.
As stated above, many people are buried without tombstones and an obituary or death certificate may be the only evidence of their place of burial.
Newspaper copyright expires 75 years after publishing and enters the pubic domain. There is no copyright infringement with obituaries 75 years or older.
Additionally, Fair Use doctrine indicates that the copyright owner must be able to assert standing and demonstrate damages from the use of material still under copyright.
Find-A-Grave members need not live in trepidation of the prospect that the 1882 owner of the Kalamazoo Gazette newspaper will come a-haunting over your Find-A-Grave posting of your 3 x great grandfather's obituary from the Feb. 7, 1882 issue. The 1882 owner, if still alive, would have to demonstrate that your posting is somehow preventing present-day sales of that same Feb. 7, 1882 issue.

Quoting from the profile of Find-a-Grave member, Jeff Gonyea:
"We don't "own" the memorials we manage - they are not ours. We may create them, we may update them, we may transfer them to others - we are but stewards. They are Find A Grave memorials of human beings, departed. They are not "friends" on a social media network website to be collected like baseball trading cards. And there's no prize for the one who dies with the most."

Lost Genealogy
A number of my ancestors are in unmarked graves. The burial sites of others are lost to history.
For all the tombstones recorded here at Find-A-Grave, many dead are lost, forgotten, and unknown.
As a participant on Find-A-Grave, my goal is to identify and document:
--The Lost Dead, those in Unmarked Graves and Burials
--The Forgotten Dead, those with no linkages to parents, siblings, or children
--The Unknown Dead, those whose identities were uncertain, even to to their contemporaries

Find-A-Grave members each contribute in numerous ways to keep heritage alive.
I'm grateful to those contributors who have walked the cemeteries, taken the photos, and posted tens of thousands of entries. They are the collectors who have provided the source data for the rest of us. In my own research, I've been repeatedly thankful for the efforts of Bethalene and David Woody.

I'm grateful to those contributors who strive to make the connections between parents and children, between siblings, and across geographies. They have expanded our family trees and made genealogy easier for us all.

I have been inspired by those whose call is to give life to the entries through well-written biographies and the posting of photos and obituaries. Great models for me have been Geo Clinton, Cheryl Locher Moonen, and James M Phillips.

Tombstones, graves, burials, obituaries, birth dates, and death dates are not personal property - even of family members. The deceased were more than just your parents, siblings, children, aunts, uncles, or grandparents. They were friends, community members, teachers of students, and neighbors. Deaths, tombstones, obituaries, birth records, death records, marriage records, and census records are public. Do not presume that public information is your private property.

Some individuals object to the posting of newspaper obituaries without transcribing them - as if the transcription of a written work is a magical means of avoiding copyright.
As stated above, many people are buried without tombstones and an obituary or death certificate may be the only evidence of their place of burial.
Newspaper copyright expires 75 years after publishing and enters the pubic domain. There is no copyright infringement with obituaries 75 years or older.
Additionally, Fair Use doctrine indicates that the copyright owner must be able to assert standing and demonstrate damages from the use of material still under copyright.
Find-A-Grave members need not live in trepidation of the prospect that the 1882 owner of the Kalamazoo Gazette newspaper will come a-haunting over your Find-A-Grave posting of your 3 x great grandfather's obituary from the Feb. 7, 1882 issue. The 1882 owner, if still alive, would have to demonstrate that your posting is somehow preventing present-day sales of that same Feb. 7, 1882 issue.

Quoting from the profile of Find-a-Grave member, Jeff Gonyea:
"We don't "own" the memorials we manage - they are not ours. We may create them, we may update them, we may transfer them to others - we are but stewards. They are Find A Grave memorials of human beings, departed. They are not "friends" on a social media network website to be collected like baseball trading cards. And there's no prize for the one who dies with the most."