Friday, May 23, 2014

FIND A GRAVE.com - SUBMITTING RECORDS USING THEIR SPREADSHEET




I just submitted my very first spreadsheet to FindAGrave.  I have been a member for 7 years, 11 months and 23 days.  I have added 296 memorials and I manage 384 memorials.  

When I go to any cemetery to look for my own ancestors, I always try to check the FindAGrave site to see how well documented that cemetery is.  While I am photographing headstones for my own family, I also take additional photos of headstones nearby, if they are not on the FindAGrave site.

Many of the cemeteries I have visited are well documented.  However, during our trip to Scotland earlier this month, we visited a cemetery that I knew was not well documented.  I took pictures of over 50 headstones.  Only one of the headstones I photographed is a verfied family member.  However, there were many other headstones with the same surnames as my ancestors.  

Why not take the pictures and add them to the FindAGrave site?  That way family members can locate them.  And, I may later find out that those people are part of my own family.

So, that is exactly what I did.  I have always added memorials one at a time.  Since there are so many, I decided to try the spreadsheet submission method.  I downloaded the Excel template and followed the instructions.  
Here is a link to the spreadsheet: http://www.findagrave.com

(Click on this image to enlarge it)
Here is the spreadsheet from FindAGrave
Their spreadsheet was easy to use.  I saved my own blank copy of it for future use.

I've submitted the spreadsheet and will await their email to see the results.  They say I should receive the email within about a week.  

I have more names to submit, but I want to see if this spreadsheet method works correctly before I submit the rest of them.   

I'll let you know if my additions were successful.  If you have submitted spreadsheets to the FindAGrave site I'd love to hear how it went.  Did everything you had on the spreadsheet come out correctly?  Were there any problems?

OTHER POSTS THAT MAY BE OF INTEREST

Adding Sibling Links to FindAGrave
Michigan Death Records - Where can you find them?
Evernote - A useful tool to help you organize your research and everything else

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl



Copyright ©  2014   Diane Gould Hall
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION


3 comments:

  1. Diane--I looked at the FindAGrave spreadsheet and it looked very user-friendly. Thank You!!! Did you check the cemetery first to see if the marker was already posted or does FindAGrave do that?? Also after you complete the spreadsheet info, how do you go about adding a photo of the marker itself? Appreciate your help as I have several pictures of markers that I could contribute.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi - So glad you found my post helpful. Yes, I always check the listings on FAG to see if there is already a memorial. FindAGrave does not check. This cemetery was only documented with 14 names and there are hundreds. Once the memorials are posted by the site, then I go back and add family links and photos. You add the photos just the same way you would for any other memorial, by clicking the "add a photo" icon. I have submitted two spreadsheets so far and both were approved and added to the cemetery page the same day. Have fun. It is very rewarding to get these burials documented. Oh, and if they are not my family I will always transfer to family of the deceased, if they send me a request.
      Thanks for stopping by,
      Diane

      Delete
  2. Thanks for your response! Ahhh . . . one more project toad to my list!!! :)

    ReplyDelete

I look forward to reading your comments. If you have any connection to the people mentioned in this blog, please let me know. I write about mine and my husband's ancestors and would welcome new information or meeting a new cousin or two. Thanks for visiting and come back soon.