So, you are thinking about collecting various information to help others. There is a saying: “ Help others and they will help  you”. If we all will work together we can achieve a lot.

Here you’ll find suggestions for cemetery tombstone transcriptions and copying church records.

Tombstone Transcription in cemetery

Before you start:

*Notify me about which cemetery you are planing to work on and in which town (settlement), subdistrict (if known) and region (or municipality). I’ll include that on the web site so that other individuals or groups would not start doing the same one as you are. If there are more volunteers who want to work in the same cemetery all of you could get in touch and divide that cemetery into different parts . It would be very helpful for bigger cemeteries;

*Find out who has legal jurisdiction over the cemetery property and get permission to be on the grounds;

*The cemetery office or Church office ( very often- cemetery caretakers) might have a copy of the plot of the cemetery and copies of internment records. If they don’t want to share the info they have ask them for at least a copy of the plot.

*Check the local library (or any other possible place) for any previous transcription work done on that cemetery. This would come handy if some of the stones are no longer legible (readable).

* It would be very nice if, especially in older cemeteries, you could take pictures of older tombstones. This way if the writing would dissapear in time there would be at least a picture.

Bring these supplies:

*Small mirror ( to make shadow to beter see hard to understand letters or numbers) ;

*Large spray bottle of water ( it helps engravings to “come out”);

*Soft brushes, scrubber pads (preferably white ones), not to rough ( to scrub off mold and dirt) ;

* grass clippers or other garden tools that can be used to clean up the area around the tombstone;

*plastic pad for kneeling on;

*Paper and pencils or pens.

* Sticks (preferably longer ones) with brightly colored scraps of fabric attached to the top. It might also be helpful instead of fabric have sticks painted bright waterproof colors. Put these sticks into the ground so that they would be seen from at least small distance. Try to put them where blocks end (at least their corners). This kind of marking would especially helpfull when there are few people working near each other.

To record the data:

• *If you have a plot of a cemetery map-great, if not- try to make it yourself: divide the cemetery into easy-to-recognize blocks and these- into smaller ones (or maybe it would be enough to divide it by rows). For easier orientation use the walkways as the dividing lines. When you have a plan try to make a copy of it , leave one at home ( better- original copy) and bring other with you to the cemetery. It might be easier to mark the rows and blocks that you finished recording on that copy so that you wouldn’t miss any. Work by your divided parts in rows. Here is an cemetery mapping example

*Record the info on tombstone without making any changes.  Here are the lineup suggestions for it:

• Last name, First name / Any other name / The date of birth (month, day and year if it is known) / the date of death (month, day and year) / Any other writings on the tombstone / Block and row number (from the plot).

Formatting the data (putting it together in proper order):

*Begin your file with cemetery name, settlement, subdistrict and municipality;

*Give the location of this cemetery, using street names (to make it easier to locate); if the cemetery is far from the street or is in the field give the directions to that place;

*Don’t forget to include your name & contact info at the top of the file;

*Include, if known, the data on when the cemetery was established, which religion it belongs to (or without any religion) background info, etc.;

*If you have a plot of the cemetery or made it yourself, send it with all other information from that cemetery;

*Enter the tombstone inscriptions as noted earlier ,preferably in an alphabetical order (by last name). If you don’t have the capability to type it at all (or want to do it in smaller parts) try to scan it in the computer and send it as an e-mail attachment(s).

Church information

For church information, check the name , address and remarks about the particular church in this website’s page of the applicable county’s region, city or municipality. The best way to compare the statistics is by contacting that church’s office personally. Also try to find out what kind of records it has:

*birth- christening (baptism);

*first communion;

*marriage;

*religion changes;

*death; etc.

They usually have it all in different books so find out when these books start (and maybe end) and especially pay attention if any years are missing (a lot of books were lost because of wars, fire, flooding, church’s closings etc.). Find out if it would be possible to transcribe any of these books especially birth, marriage and death. Don’t forget to explain why it would be useful for a lot of people to see that information on the web. (If you don’t know here is my opinion- some of interested people might want to get a copy of the original record; besides, it might bring more people to that church ). Remember, a lot of priests (or other religion communities “heads”) might say “No” to transcribings. Don’t forget to thank the priest for seeing you and especially for agreeing to help with this project. If he would agree and if you can’t  or don’t want to transcribe these books (or maybe do only one or two), notify me and I will post it on that church’s page because someone else might want to help you. 

Write all the information or at least most important- names, dates, birth or death places, parents names by page number so that it would be easier to find it later in the original book. If you can, type it all in the computer by last names in alphabetical order. If you don’t have the time or means to put it in alphabetical order- don’t worry- me or someone else will do it for you. At the top of the file give the name of the church, its address, contact information (if applicable), the name of the priest, if he doesn’t object, and your name with contact info. If you don’t want to be known-send your contact info ,preferably e-mail address separately to me (the webmaster) so that I could contact you if I have any questions .

Thank you and good luck!

P.S. Don’t forget that even a little bit of information helps. If you want you can send it in parts- maybe this would help to put everything in alphabetical order faster. If you have any questions, need more advice or explanation- don’t be affraid to ask.

Send your questions, comments or other info to the webmaster:

[email protected]