As a genealogist, I find that most online research leads to more questions than answers. Like most, I utilize Ancestry and Family Search for the wealth of information these databases hold. For me, these are surface-level facts and numbers. By themselves, they do not tell the story of an ancestor. Their value comes in providing data that often leads to enough evidence to be considered proof. At the age of ten, my aunt took my to graveyards as she conducted family research. I learned an early lesson that gravestones contribute to research for genealogical evidence.

These databases utilize another database called Find a Grave. If a family story says that Great Grandma died in 1900, a gravestone can be the source useful to confirming this information. Often, a hint (popular on Ancestry) from Find a Grave will allow one to see a picture of the gravestone. However, it would be best to remember that gravestones are both primary and derivative sources, not evidence. The validity of the date on the tombstone depends on the informant and their knowledge of the event. The person providing the date of death was probably there at the time. However, if the person who died was in their 80s, we can assume the informant was not at the decedent’s birth. Therefore, the date of birth has to be verified.