Find A Grave Reviews

(based on 53 reviews)

32 of 60 people found this review helpful

I am a Find a Grave contributor. Recently, I have found three memorial pages that were falsified. What do I mean by falsified? Example: A female's obituary was published on a funeral home website. I created a Find a Grave memorial page for the deceased woman, in the cemetery where the obituary said she was interred. Then, I went to the Ancestry website to attempt to locate the deceased woman's parents on Find a Grave. I discovered that a Find a Grave contributor had already created a memorial page for the deceased woman. The memorial page stated that the deceased person's body had been cremated and that the ashes were given to a family member or a friend. The memorial page went on to state that the deceased woman's maiden name was 'Matcher.' The surname 'Matcher' came from the indexing job done by Ancestry and/or FamilySearch.org. Indexing is done when census records and marriage records are looked at (by volunteers and others). The names from the written documents are then indexed. Sometimes written documents are difficult to read and incorrect names get indexed. The incorrect names are then 'corrected' when the obituary for the person(s) in question is published. Had... (Read the full review)

In summary, I would recommend Find A Grave to a friend.

30 of 57 people found this review helpful

I was required to give every line a star but I have not needed tech support and there has been no exchange of money so that is a little bit of an unfair way of rating. I have been managing many of my family's Memorial Pages for some time and have been appalled at some of the complaints seen online as I have never had a complaint, a bad experience with other members or any problem at all--until I did. There is a small percentage of nasty, competitive members with ego/control issues who have turned the site into their own Personal Olympics. Some want to have the highest number of photographs, some want to have the highest number of created memorials, and some want to have the highest number of pages managed. Unfortunately, a man in the last group thinks he owns about 60 Memorial pages of my family members, refuses to edit them or transfer them to me--both violations of policy. When we agree to manage pages, we agree to transfer memorials to a family member when requested to do so. He won't edit anything at my request (this would involve actually doing something instead of just "owning" the... (Read the full review)

In summary, I would recommend Find A Grave to a friend.

125 of 236 people found this review helpful

All it takes is one contributor to spoil Find A graves purpose.
With a contributor IIIo 482,718 Memorials Added
o 482,312 Memorials Managed
o 1,713 Memorials/Week
o 1 Photo
o 3 Virtual Flowers
o 1 Fame Rating
Disables their email, refuses transfers and edits....yet.....they are an asset?? They are a hindrance! They are in it for one reason only in my eyes. The TOP 50. I think that should be done away with. I want to add correct info. I research my findings when I add something to my family. I gave document # and page # and still no changes. Can't get it transferred as I do not fall into their GUIDELINES. I feel a family member should be in control of a memorial vs a complete stranger. This contributor adds inscriptions that are NOT there!! They have a person with inscription with wifes name. He was never married! The woman was his niece. I have everything to prove this. They wrote an inscription on my daughters memorial and there is NO inscription! They will not transfer a great aunt of mine because of their guidelines- she had no children and no siblings... (Read the full review)

In summary, I would recommend Find A Grave to a friend.

239 of 482 people found this review helpful

I've been contributing to Find A Grave for several years, beginning by adding some of my ancestors and loved ones and then branching out into fulfilling photo requests in my area and helping to document local cemeteries. I want to be sure that deceased people are not forgotten and that anyone who comes looking for them years down the road will be excited to find my work, so I don't find it weird to add the graves of strangers. I send some well wishes into the universe for each one of them when I stop by to photograph graves. I consider Find A Grave to be collaborative, so I'm happy to add new information and to transfer memorials to people who feel a connection to the deceased.

Really, the only negative is that there are some long-time contributors who frequent the forums, especially the help forum (ironically) and are truly rude and petty dictators, yet the administrators do NOT step in. These are the same people who dislike being asked to add things to memorials and definitely will not transfer memorials to non-immediate family members. It really ruins the forums and drives away the nice people.

I think Find A Grave... (Read the full review)

In summary, I would recommend Find A Grave to a friend.

212 of 454 people found this review helpful

As a Find A Grave contributor it can be rather time consuming to add all the detailed information to individual memorials. A major annoyance is archaic place names are not supported, such as Schley County Georgia was created in 1857 from parts Sumter & Madison Counties. If your person died in La Crosse, Sumter Co., pre-1857 then you are forced to enter Schley Co.

Find A Grave is often the only available source of information where cemetery records have been lost or in states such as Pennsylvania where birth, marriage and death records are difficult at best to obtain.

I have found many far flung relations on Find A Grave and have been able to adjust family genealogical data. The discovery of 2 burials in Florida lead to obtaining information on that branch living in Florida for a decade, information previously unknown.

I have mostly been pleased with the response of other contributors when offering additional information about the persons they've memorialized. Memorials to my relatives have been transferred to my care without my having asked, which is a very nice extra step for the other contributors to have taken. In exchanging information with other contributors I've found... (Read the full review)

In summary, I would recommend Find A Grave to a friend.

224 of 425 people found this review helpful

This website is a very specific resource, but for free it is very useful. I have gotten photos of gravesites of some of my ancestors and even found information that I didn't know from research using the best site (Ancestry.com of course).

This is not a comprehensive site such as Ancestry.com, but it provides a large database that can fill in the gaps. I'm glad it exists, and I use it.

In summary, I would recommend Find A Grave to a friend.

231 of 433 people found this review helpful

I have found a lot of very useful information here. In addition, I have corresponded with a number of volunteers, and have always found them to be extremely pleasant and helpful.

My recollection is that, when I first started, navigating the site was somewhat confusing. But, once I got used to it, I have been able to do what I wanted quite easily.

I have had no problems with the searches. I believe that I have always found memorials where they should be. And, I have found many that I did not know existed.

Entering data, and sharing information with others has always been easy.
Overall, my experience has been very positive. I would recommend that any genealogist regularly use this site. One can obtain assistance of others, and assist others at the same time.

In summary, I would recommend Find A Grave to a friend.