If visiting a cemetery where your ancestor lived, consider leaving your name and address on an index card at the stone you've been to visit. Put the card in a plastic baggie and use something (such as a rock, etc.) to keep it from blowing away. Don't harm the stone in the process, but perhaps someone visiting the cemetery another day will find your baggie and contact you.
Not everyone with genealogy information goes trolling the internet, but they may go cemetery visiting.
Trust me this works. When I started my research, I visited the cemetery office where my grandparents were interred. The clerk told me of others with the same surname. I was surprised to find that my great grandparents were also buried there because my mother and father never mentioned nor did we place flowers as we had on my grandparents graves when I was a child. I immediately walked a different section and found my great grandparents graves and adjacent a familiar name of a great aunt (sister to my grandfather). There were flowers on that grave which meant I might be able to reconnect with distant cousins. I left a note covered in plastic under the rim of the urn thinking I might get a call at Christmas or next Memorial Day. To my surprise, I got a call in two days when they went to add more water to the flowers. Norma and I got caught up on all the news, have shared priceless photos, stories from childhood like the fact that I could remember her mother always wore a wide brimmed hat when she lived and gardened next door to my grandparents. They now come to the 100+ yearly family reunion that I found on the internet. It's a great way to reconnect with loved ones.
ReplyDeleteExcellent advice. I have also made useful contacts by using visitor's books in chapels and churches to leave my name, address, permanent email address and details of memorials/graves of interest.
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