Findagrave.com is an ever expanding online resource of grave stones and grave markers around the world.

Launched by the creator of saveagrave.net, you can search a database of over 61 million graves.

Most of the graves are centred around the United States but there is a rapidly increasing number of graves being added in Europe, Asia and the Antipodes.

Users of findagrave.com are encouraged to add to the database.

Find the graves of ancestors, create virtual memorials, add ‘virtual flowers’ and a note to a loved one’s grave, etc.
• Search 61 million grave records
• Search for a cemetery
• Add burial records
• View recently added names
• Stroll through the online cemetery
• Join the Find A Grave Community

Graves are also listed for thousands of famous people from around the world.
• Famous Grave Search
• Browse by Location
• Browse by Claim to Fame
• Search by Date
• Posthumous Reunions
• Interesting Monuments
• Interesting Epitaphs

The sister website; Saveagrave.net is dedicated to the preservation of graves and has a wealth of information, including; How to read worn gravestone inscriptions without damaging the monument.

More information

Findagrave.com – A searchable index of over 61 million graves around the world.

Saveagrave.net - Encouraging grave preservation and restoration, one gravestone at a time.

Full transcriptions of all headstones in New Zealand have been recorded by the New Zealand Society of Genealogists.

Transcriptions are available from most public libraries and family history centres and the local cemetery authority maintains a database of all burials in their area of responsibility.

Visit the New Zealand Society of Genealogists website

The Borders Family History Society aim to help people with their family history primarily in the Border counties (Berwickshire, Peeblesshire, Roxburghshire and Selkirkshire) of Scotland, as well as in adjacent counties of England and Scotland.

There are many small kirk yards in the Scottish Borders

Monumental Inscriptions
Shows all Monumental Inscriptions volumes currently for sale.

Society members get a discount per volume.

Search the Gravestones Index
All published volumes can be searched online.

Each volume contains the inscription on all the (readable) gravestones (tombstones) in the respective burial place at the time of publication, and there is an index to the surnames in the inscriptions at the back.

Most volumes also include a Hearth Tax list, War Memorial inscriptions, a list of kirk ministers, and many have a militia list.

BFHS – Latest publication

Roxburghshire Monumental Inscriptions – No 21: Melrose Abbey
Available as a CD or an A4 format book, each has the same content.
564 gravestones.
Photos of the gravestones and their inscriptions.
Hearth Tax and Militia Roll.
Gravestone inscriptions in Melrose Abbey and grounds.

As well as the recorded volumes of tombstone inscriptions, the society also have useful indexes for Magazine Articles, Poor Law Records, Borders Family Trees.

Visit the Borders Family History Society Website

National Archive of Scotland (NAS)- The NAS holds historical records created by businesses, landed estates, families, churches and other corporate bodies. Every year tens of thousands of people from all over the world use the NAS’s services to carry out research, seek advice on record keeping, and enhance the learning and teaching of history.

A great website resource called History from Headstones allows you to search the largest collection of online gravestone inscriptions in Northern Ireland.

Take the work out of trailing through graveyards

The History From headstones database contains over 50,000 inscriptions from over 800 graveyards in counties Antrim, Armagh, Down, Fermanagh, Londonderry and Tyrone.

Graveyards are outdoor museums and the most accessible source for studying the local community and its history.

History from Headstones shows you how to find out more about the graveyards of Northern Ireland through case studies, maps and photographs.

You can find out useful background information to aid your ancestral search.

When clicking on the map link to a searched gravestone or graveyard you are given a little table denoting which religion the graveyard belongs to.  This can be invaluable when searching parish records and archives and gives you a small window into the lives of your forebears.

Many gravestones also have interesting stories to tell.

Who was the woman who lived once and was buried twice? Why was a Portuguese sailor hanged in Belfast in 1810? Where are the resting places of the men and women of 1798? What do the strange carvings on some gravestones really mean?

History from Headstones explores the many interesting stories behind gravestones and their inscriptions.

One of the central aims of the website is to highlight the importance of gravestone inscriptions as historical sources that can be used to study the past. With this in mind they have gone through their holdings of gravestone recordings and where possible categorised the inscriptions by theme.

These themes are divided into sub-categories which can then be searched. Short essays draw attention to the more interesting inscriptions within each theme.

Military, Ships and the Sea, Illness, Geographical, Child Mortality, Interesting

Credit is required to gain access to view a full inscription record and costs 4 Credits.

However, members of the Ulster Genealogical and Historical Guild (the membership association of the Ulster Historical Foundation) now have unlimited access to the database of inscriptions via the Member’s Area. For multiple searches or if you are unsure who or which graveyard you are looking for, this may actually be a cheaper option.

Visit the History From Headstones website.

Ulster Genealogical and Historical Guild at www.ancestryireland.com.