Self Help

When obtaining cemetery records, you need to locate the one in which your ancestor is buried. Knowing the person’s religion will narrow the field down to less than a handful. Start by calling the cemetery offices of the cemeteries located in the town where your ancestor was last listed in the city directory.

If you do not locate the correct cemetery right away you should try those located in neighboring towns. For some of the smaller cemeteries that do not have an on sight office, you may have to contact the municipal clerks’ office to learn where and who is keeping the records.

Include alternate spellings of your ancestor’s surname when you ask someone to conduct a search. Some cemeteries have no formal records at all which means that you will have to make a trip to the cemetery grounds and conduct the search on foot by reading headstone inscriptions.

If you are still unable to locate the correct cemetery then one of three things may have occurred:

1. There is no record of your ancestor’s burial even though they may have died there.
2. They are buried in a town in which you have not yet searched.
3. The year your ancestor died was outside of the range of years you searched.

At this point it may make more sense to use another resource to try to learn more information about when and where your ancestor died.