Interment.net: A Resource for Burials

Interment.net, "A free online library of cemetery records from thousands of cemeteries across the world, for historical and genealogy research," is a new-to-me resource which I've used only a few times.  I already love it.

From their website:

This website contains 25+ million cemetery records, transcripts, and burial registers, from tens of thousands of cemeteries across the world, all contributed by genealogists, cemeteries, government agencies, and private organizations.
What makes Interment.net different?
Each transcription we publish comes from a single-source, be it the cemetery office, government office, church office, archived document, a tombstone transcriber.  Other websites already do an excellent job of crowd-sourcing a single cemetery together.  But genealogists also need to see the original records from a single source.  That's what we offer.

Interment.net's search engine is based on Google's search engine.
Using the "Search All Cemetery Records" box you can search for
- a name + region
- a name + specific cemetery
- cemeteries in a state
- individuals buried in a cemetery

The results will look like this when you search just a name.  I had to look intently to see if the person I was trying to find was on the list.

Because not all cemeteries are part of this database yet, my favorite way to search was by geographic location.  For example, choose "United States" then "Browse Cemeteries by State." 

I chose "Ohio" which offered me a list of counties. 

I chose "Jefferson" and saw that only three cemeteries had been added to the database.  Union Cemetery is one where ancestors are buried.

When I clicked on "Union Cemetery" I was presented with a page that gave me an address, GPS coordinates, the date the records were added to this database, and a history of the cemetery. 

Scrolling down I saw that collections of surnames are listed alphabetically.  I clicked the one that would take me to Bickerstaff. 

I was presented with a long list telling me names, (and, if available) birth date, death date, burial date, Section, Lot, and Grave/Niche/Crypt for each.

You can probably guess how helpful this list will be.  I can copy and paste it into a word document and then organize it in a variety of ways -- by burial dates, by Sections, into family groups as I know them, etc.  I think this may also help me find "lost" individuals so I can search for them in other places and add them to family groups.  

I like that the address of the cemetery is given because I can contact the cemetery to get more detailed information.  (That's true for Union Cemetery but may not be true for all cemeteries.)

Not every cemetery is included but they continue to add cemetery listings as they are submitted.  If the one you need isn't included yet, check back.  Jefferson County, Ohio, has only three; Northumberland, England, has five; but Yorkshire, England, has 25.  Toward the bottom of the homepage there is a list of newly added cemeteries.  

In addition, there are special collections which include U.S. Veterans Burials, Train Wreck Deaths, Mining Disasters, Flooded Cemeteries, Airship Disasters, and Ship Disasters.  Again, none of these is all-inclusive for every disaster or every death from a train wreck or a mining disaster, etc.

Also, be sure to click the links in the upper right to learn more.  Their blog offers articles and several tutorials for searching.  Click Submit Transcription if you'd like to learn how you can contribute to the list and what the requirements are.  Yes, there are ads from Interment.net's sponsor, Genealogy Bank, but it's easy for me to ignore them if I'm not interested.  There are a host of other organizations that help make this a free website.  You can find them here.

I think this could be (or become) a helpful resource for finding burial locations when you're not sure where an ancestor died or is buried.  It's just one more search source in our efforts to leave no stone unturned.

Did you already know about Interment.net?  If so, have you found it helpful?

-–Nancy.

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