Exploring Almost Forgotten Gravesites in the Great State of Ohio

Dedicated to cemetery preservation in the great state of Ohio


"A cemetery may be considered as abandoned when all or practically all of the bodies have been Removed therefrom and no bodies have been buried therein for a great many years, and the cemetery has been so long neglected as entirely to lose its identity as such, and is no longer known, recognized and respected by the public as a cemetery. 1953 OAG 2978."

Monday, November 28, 2016

Utilizing Both "Billion Graves" and "Google Local Guides" Leads to Better Locating and Documenting Obscure Cemeteries & Sharing Results with Other Researchers

I am pleased to share information and links from Kerry Porter who enjoys "raising awareness of obscure cemeteries" -- And she is doing a great job of it! 

Sharing information from Kerry about the advantages of using both "Billion Graves" and "Google Local Guide" programs:


"A quick summary of why I use Billion Graves is quite simply that it helps me the best to find obscure cemeteries while on the road and document them efficiently. When I first started many years ago Find A Grave did not have a mobile app and was completely archaic in its ability to document and upload photos of cemeteries. Billion Graves is free. Billion Graves offers a great system that I have thoroughly enjoyed using and has never presented any problems for me.  

The find a cemetery feature of the app is the main way in which I locate obscure cemeteries in the country that are otherwise not known to sites such as Google. While locating and finding many of these obscure locations I do make a point to add the locations to Google maps to better help genealogy researchers and other people find them more efficiently. 

If you enjoy visiting and locating cemeteries the way I do I really recommend joining the Google Local Guide program which will help you better document and preserve the cemetery; it is through Google for general public knowledge that is better access by anyone."


"The Google Local Guide program is a fantastic free program offered by Google in which you can update, review, and even add new locations to the official Google Map and search engines.  I am a member of this program, and use it with my smartphone to update information on obscure historic cemeteries, and even add them to the Google Map to help other genealogy researchers find obscure cemeteries. 

Many older cemeteries are not on the Google Maps and this makes it harder for people to locate and research using the internet. There are also rewards with this program for frequent use, not to mention the great satisfaction of Simply helping other people. 

If you enjoy visiting cemeteries and have a SmartPhone, I highly recommend joining this program so you too can help document and share information about the cemeteries to the public." 
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Kerry is also posting her cemetery and gravestone photographs on "Instagram." 
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Thanking Kerry for sharing her useful tips that enable other researchers to also better locate, document, and share information about Ohio's obscure cemeteries that might otherwise remain lost and forgotten!