Find a Grave

Find a Grave
Name	Find a Grave
Caption	Homepage and memorial entry
Type	Genealogy, cemetery database
Registration	Optional (required for contributions)
Language	English (primary)
Owner	Ancestry.com (as of 2013 acquisition)
Author	Brock Blomberg (founder)
Launched	1995
Current status	Active

Find a Grave

Find a Grave is an online database and crowdsourced memorial site that documents burial locations, memorials, and cemetery records worldwide. Launched in the mid-1990s, it aggregates user-submitted cemetery transcriptions, photographs, and biographical details for historical and contemporary figures. The site is used by genealogists, historians, biographers, and hobbyists researching individuals such as Abraham Lincoln, Marilyn Monroe, Winston Churchill, Muhammad Ali, George Washington, Martin Luther King Jr., John F. Kennedy and many lesser-known figures interred across global cemeteries.

History

Find a Grave was founded by Brock Blomberg in 1995 as a privately run repository focused on cemetery records and memorial photographs. Through the late 1990s and early 2000s the site expanded its coverage across the United States and internationally, attracting contributors documenting graves of persons like Franklin D. Roosevelt, Napoleon Bonaparte (memorials), Oscar Wilde, Beethoven (memorial listings), Pablo Picasso, Queen Victoria, Gabriel García Márquez and numerous local notables. In 2013 the site was acquired by Ancestry.com, linking its user base with a large commercial genealogy company that also operates databases such as AncestryDNA and archives like Fold3. Over subsequent years the platform updated its interface, integrated search features, and navigated tensions between open contribution and proprietary ownership while continuing expansion into global cemeteries and memorial projects.

Features and Services

The platform provides searchable memorial pages with data fields for birth and death dates, plot location, burial type, and links to related memorials. Users can add photographs of grave markers, transcriptions of epitaphs, and virtual flowers or notes on pages for public figures such as Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, Princess Diana, Nelson Mandela, Bob Marley, Leonardo da Vinci (memorials), Sigmund Freud and Marie Curie. Advanced search and mapping tools assist researchers tracing kinship ties exhibited in memorial clusters for families like the Roosevelts, Kennedys, Habsburgs, Tudors (memorials) and others. Paid or registered features tie into services offered by related genealogy platforms, linking records with census collections like the United States Census and immigration records such as Ellis Island manifests.

Website and Database Content

The database contains millions of memorials spanning celebrities, politicians, military figures, artists, scientists, and everyday individuals interred at cemeteries such as Arlington National Cemetery, Père Lachaise Cemetery, Highgate Cemetery, Westminster Abbey, Forest Lawn, Mount Auburn Cemetery and thousands of local burial grounds. Entries vary from brief index cards to expansive biographies referencing events such as the American Civil War, World War I, World War II, the American Revolutionary War and other historical contexts tied to individuals. The site cross-references memorials for relatives and composited families, enabling connections among figures like Abigail Adams, John Adams, Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr and regional leaders or cultural icons.

Community and Volunteer Contributions

Volunteer contributors, cemetery coordinators, and researchers create and maintain memorials, upload photographs, and correct transcriptions, forming a decentralized community akin to volunteer projects such as Wikipedia and local historical societies. Experienced contributors curate lists of famous burials at sites like Graceland, Gettysburg National Cemetery, and St. Peter's Basilica (memorials), while volunteers coordinate photo requests and cemetery tours that reference notable names like Ulysses S. Grant, Stonewall Jackson, Sitting Bull, Geronimo and cultural figures. The community organizes around regional projects, transcribing headstones, documenting veterans through links to military units like the Union Army and British Army, and participating in thematic drives for authors, musicians, and scientists.

Legal Issues and Privacy Concerns

The platform has faced legal and ethical questions around posting images and details for recently deceased persons, privacy rights, and permissions for cemetery photography, intersecting with laws and norms tied to jurisdictions such as the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Australia. High-profile disputes have involved families of celebrities and public figures requesting removals or corrections for memorial content associated with persons like Michael Jackson, Amy Winehouse and other modern-era celebrities. Ownership by a commercial genealogy firm raised questions about data use and access policies, particularly for living relatives and sensitive entries, prompting policy updates balancing contributor freedom with privacy considerations and takedown procedures.

Reception and Impact

Researchers, biographers, genealogists, and journalists cite the site as a convenient aggregation of burial information used in scholarship and reporting about figures such as Charles Darwin, Jane Austen (memorials), Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (memorials), Frida Kahlo, James Joyce (memorials) and political leaders across eras. Historians and family historians value photographic and transcription evidence from cemeteries like Arlington National Cemetery and Père Lachaise Cemetery for corroborating dates and epitaphs, while critics highlight concerns about accuracy, sourcing, and commercialization by companies such as Ancestry.com. The platform has influenced digital commemoration practices, augmented grave tourism, and supported academic projects linking material culture of death to biographies, monuments, and cemetery studies.

Related Projects and Affiliations

Find a Grave operates alongside or in relation to genealogical and cemetery documentation projects and organizations including Ancestry.com, FamilySearch, BillionGraves, National Archives and Records Administration collections, cemetery trusts such as Commonwealth War Graves Commission, and local historical societies. Partnerships and overlapping contributor bases connect the site to archival resources like the Library of Congress, university special collections, and veteran memorial registers, facilitating cross-referencing between memorial pages and primary sources used in historical and genealogical research.

Category:Genealogy websites Category:Cemetery databases