Quick note to let you know that I have just counted and I have over 5000 photographs to upload to this website just from West Virginia alone. I have about 1000 from Georgia to upload.
Now that this website has everything set and in place, I can start uploading photographs sections at a time. It's a very slow process. After the uploads have been accomplished, then I go back and re-edit each individual photograph for clarity and add a name to the caption. If you have photographs that you have personally taken and wish to contribute to this website, please reach out to me! Our only request is that you agree with us on our Photo Policy. We will ensure, on our website, you get 100% credit for all photographs you have personally taken. We request that you agree to offer your photographs for free to the World. Sandy
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I have given you snippets of what this website is about on the Home page. But I have not given you the details on why I am putting the effort into taking photographs of tombstones, creating a website to showcase them and allowing you to use them, at will, for free.
Many years ago, my Uncle, Drex King, got me hooked on family trees, family folklore/stories and Ancestry searches. That was when you went door-to-door talking to people. Thankfully, he did that. Fast forward, decades later, to Ancestry.com, My Heritage and even DNA Testing and I realized that my family Ancestry search needed to take me to the places where my people lived, worked, walked, worshiped and died. I needed to feel a connection with them and the land of West Virginia, particularly Webster and Randolph Counties, that they loved and did not stray from. My connection to them was by finding their tombstones. This leads me to Find A Grave. In general F.A.G. is a wonderful website. I would say that it is accurate about 65% of the time. If you think that number is higher, good for you. I also have a goldmine in my backyard to sell you and my kid makes straight A's. Umm, no. I found that F.A.G. has a lot of knowledgeable contributors as well as a lot of "crazy neurotic scared you are going to use their data/photographs/memorials" contributors. Users get so possessive on F.A.G. that I find it less collaborative and more combative. The Admins are no help either. Their messages are usually founded in aggression that even a 2 year old would be fearful of. The alternative is Ancestry.com where some photographs/documents are on public trees.... but a lot are on private trees and they aren't sharing either. We are not competing with anyone. I could care less how many photographs I have taken. I truly am not counting (except when I realize how much work I have to upload). I am drawn to the connection of my Ancestor's and their resting places and to helping others. If just one photograph solves a mystery, a brick wall or brings a connection or bond to just one person, then this project has been a success. In the past two years, by photographing cemeteries, I have tore down two of my own brick walls. I must travel to Scotland to try to tear down a couple more, darn. :) One day, after walking through a cemetery taking photographs, my husband, Mike and I were have a beer (yes, a beer) and discussed why people are so possessive of tombstone photographs. Most of the photographs are of people that they don't even know or are so distant relatives that it shouldn't make a difference. At my cemetery where my Dad is buried, a lady saw me taking photographs and inquired what I was doing. She asked if I would take one of her husband's tombstone and post it on F.A.G. I was touched. It was then that Mike and I realized that we don't own tombstones. We might own the photographs we took of them but for what good or purpose? So, in our very humble opinion, it is completely idiotic, stupid and just plain dumb to survey, document and photograph cemeteries and keep them on our secret hard drives away from the entire world. These photographs and this information belongs to the World. We are just conduits. This website started in 2/2017. I have thousands of photographs to upload and not a lot of time during the week between a home schooled teenager that competes in golf competitively and constantly as well as my daily drawn out procrastination of housework. I also own a professional genealogist firm that supplies my income that allows me to do this volunteer project, pays for my lattes and pepperoni rolls. Be patient with me. This is a work in progress. In the meantime, if you have a specific request, ask me if I have the photograph. I might not have uploaded it yet. I do plan on uploading to Find A Grave, Ancestry.com and Wikitree as I go along. The Adventure Begins.... I hope this website brings you the same connection to your Ancestors as it does for me. Sandy |
Sandy PatakProfessional Genealogist. You can usually find me searching through dusty piles of papers, photographing tombstones of Ancestors and drinking lattes. Research is my life. Living in an Airstream at the Beach is my Dream. Archives
October 2022
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