Finding a grave - some advice needed

[rickvox79]

Hello all, I thought I get with the research forum to get some advice or help. I'm looking to see if I can track down where my 3rd generation great-grandfather is buried. When I started researching my ancestry back at the beginning of 2011, my great-great-great grandfather Isaiah Boles was one of the first ancestors I found that fought in the Civil War and so it has kind of been a mission of mine to find where he is buried and even a picture if I can one day. I've tried the usual findagrave.com and ancestry.com but didn't have any luck there.

His first years were spent in Coffee County, Alabama and that is where he lived when the war started. I have him dying in 1906 and the last census I have him on is 1900 and he was living in Covington County which is next to Coffee County. His son and my uncle William Jasper Boles is buried in a church cemetary at Smyrna Baptist Church in Florala, AL which is in Covington County. His grave is on findagrave.com but the cemetery, at least per the site, doesn't have an Isaiah Boles. It does say that roughly 70% of the cemetery is documented on the site so I'm guessing my first bet is to check there. I just wanted to see if you guys and gals had any other advice on tracking down cemetery records or the best place to start looking. Would there be local records that might have that information? Is it best to contact churches directly for inquiries on their cemetery's?

 

[Nathanb1]

Most cemeteries have a master list, so your instinct is a good one. I'd check with the local genealogical society to see if they have a county cemetery book, which would have everyone on it. Have you tried GenWeb for your state? Each county is listed, and they should have links to most of the cemeteries.

 

[AndyHall]

Starting with that cemetery is clearly your best bet. Check with both the church and the town/county, which will hopefully have interment records that you can use to at least confirm or refute his burial there. Also keep in mind that his grave, for whatever reason, might not now have a marker and so may not be possible to locate, even if you know the cemetery.

 

[donna]

I too would check with cemetery. Also is there any death certificate for him? The ones for Ky. give cemetery too.

In my research I found that my Dad's parents had had two other sons who died as infants. My Dad nor my Grandmother ever spoke about them. I did find their death certificates (Kentucky). The cemetery was listed. It was same cemetery where my grandparents are buried . I talked to manager of the cemetery. He actually went to my grandparents graves and found the two boys grave sites. Most of these cemeteries will give you all kinds of information. He sent me copy of original papers when my grandfather had bought the sites.

 

[AndyHall]

There is a tree on Ancestry that gives his death date as 17 Aug 1906 in Coffee County, but does not cite a source for that information.

 

[rickvox79]

There is a tree on Ancestry that gives his death date as 17 Aug 1906 in Coffee County, but does not cite a source for that information.

Yeah, I've kinda taken that with a grain of salt since there isn't a source for it. But I do have a census from 1900 that has him in Covington County. Also a pension request that shows in Covington County but that was 1891.

 

[Drew]

I'd look for him with his sons in Florala. I'd also look for info on 3rd great grandmother - he may be with her. Alabama didn't issue death certificates until 1908. If she outlived him the answer might be on hers.

Finally, if his own parents can be found and are buried locally, he could be with them. It's a tricky business but it looks like you've got some good leads.

 

[rickvox79]

I'd look for him with his sons in Florala. I'd also look for info on 3rd great grandmother - he may be with her. Alabama didn't issue death certificates until 1908. If she outlived him the answer might be on hers.

Finally, if his own parents can be found and are buried locally, he could be with them. It's a tricky business but it looks like you've got some good leads.

Thanks for the advice everyone. My 3rd generation grandmother was Susan Sanders Boles. Per Ancestry it has her dying in 1900, but again no source for that I guess. Nothing on findagrave.com for her either that I can find.

 

[Cumpston1862]

The WPA (Works Progress Administration) records from the 1930s are also helpful. They walked the cemeteries and recorded a lot of headstones that were still ledgible or even there at that time that are now gone.

My 4th Great Grandmother fell into this category. Her headstone was recorded by the WPA with its inscription but now there is nothing there.

The county historical office even had recorded the location of where she was buried so I can go to the cemtery now and get a pretty good idea where she rests. They had it recorded as "left side of cemetery, along the road, fifth row, 17 paces down row" or something to that effect.

 

[rickvox79]

My gut tells me he is probably buried in Florala near his oldest son William Jasper Boles.

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/f...=all&GSdyrel=all&GSob=n&GRid=57818996&df=all&

That's my uncle's findagrave.com site. I believe he was shown as living with him in the 1900 census. My 2nd gen grandfather was the younger brother and he moved closer to where I live today and is buried probably 20-25 mins from where I live now.

 

[donna]

I also advise you go to the cemeteries and just walk around where relatives are buried. Sometimes a grave shows up that hasn't been recorded. I know this been true for several of my ancestors.

 

[John Winn]

Good advice here. I'd vote to see if there's a genealogical society in the area; they've often got good records for cemeteries and burials. Not all cemeteries make their records easy to access but definitely do see if the most likely ones have records available too. Just don't be surprised if they aren't.

If you have a death date you might also see if you can find an obituary. Those often say which cemetery was used. Those can be got from some genealogical societies or, often, libraries that have the old newspapers on film.

Just a note on the Find A Grave statistic: all that says is that of the memorials already created, X percent have been photographed. It does not have anything to do with what percentage of burials have been documented. Even the photographed percentage is only of marginal help because you don't know if the remaining non-photographed graves just haven't been got to yet or if those have no monuments and the whole cemetery has, in fact, been photographed. So, I wouldn't rule out anything based only on Find A Grave.

Good luck on your search.

 

[DixieRifles]

Buy a BBQ grill fork.

I learned that from my genie cousin. She was searching a cemetery where my gr-gr-grandmother was buried. We had 20-year old photo that showed an infant marker but it was missing. She bought a fork and probed the ground and found it under his mother's grave which had been moved.

 

[GenDeb]

Most of my ancestors, clear down to my dad, picked the cemetery closest to where they lived the last part of there life. So if I can't find somebody (love finding their final resting place for some reason,) I shift gears and concentrate on figuring out where they lived towards their end. One rascally female ancestor isn't cooperating with me, so now I'm trying to find where all her kids were living near her death date, thinking she might have been staying with one of them when she died.

 

[18thVirginia]

Hello all, I thought I get with the research forum to get some advice or help. I'm looking to see if I can track down where my 3rd generation great-grandfather is buried. When I started researching my ancestry back at the beginning of 2011, my great-great-great grandfather Isaiah Boles was one of the first ancestors I found that fought in the Civil War and so it has kind of been a mission of mine to find where he is buried and even a picture if I can one day. I've tried the usual findagrave.com and ancestry.com but didn't have any luck there.

His first years were spent in Coffee County, Alabama and that is where he lived when the war started. I have him dying in 1906 and the last census I have him on is 1900 and he was living in Covington County which is next to Coffee County. His son and my uncle William Jasper Boles is buried in a church cemetary at Smyrna Baptist Church in Florala, AL which is in Covington County. His grave is on findagrave.com but the cemetery, at least per the site, doesn't have an Isaiah Boles. It does say that roughly 70% of the cemetery is documented on the site so I'm guessing my first bet is to check there. I just wanted to see if you guys and gals had any other advice on tracking down cemetery records or the best place to start looking. Would there be local records that might have that information? Is it best to contact churches directly for inquiries on their cemetery's?

Here's a site where you might find someone who would help you out. http://www.floralahistory.com/

You might also call the historical museum in Walton County, Florida. Florala is just across the border from Walton and the person who runs the museum has a lot of contacts in the area. She might be able to tell you who to get in touch with. http://www.waltoncountyheritage.org/

 

[rickvox79]

Would anyone on here with ancestry.com access be able to pull a census for Isaiah Boles for me? Looking for the 1900 census from Covington County, Alabama. He was born in 1835 so should be listed as 65 at the time and living with his wife Susan Boles. I had to cancel my account on Ancestry.com for the time being so was looking for this one census that I must have forgotten to download. Thanks for the help from anyone that can get it!

 

[huskerblitz]

This it?

 

[JohnnnyReb]

You should talk to the local historical society, alot of civil war veterans were given C.S.A markers. They should also have the grave listings at the historical society.

 

[JohnnnyReb]

Try looking for a C.S.A. iron cross that might be near a marker that is hard to read. That is how I found my GGGrandfather. Also, if you do find his grave and it is unmarked you can send request to the VA to provide either a stand up or flat marker for the grave.

 

[rickvox79]

This it?

Awesome, thank you huskerblitz I owe ya! So 1900 it confirms what I thought, he was in Covington County and died 6 years later in 1906 so I'd assume there is a good chance he is buried there especially considering his son William J Boles is living with him per this census. I tried calling the church where his son/my uncle is buried but haven't gotten a response there. The cemetery seems pretty small at least per findagrave.com so I'd almost think it would be listed there unless it was so old that it is not readable anymore.

I tried emailing Covington County's genealogical group but haven't gotten anything back. Same goes for Coffee County, where he lived between 1850-60 and fought out of that county with the 53rd Alabama Partisan Rangers. I think it may be possible that he was buried in Coffee County (which is close to Covington) since he lived there and was born there but then like someone mentioned above many times people are buried where they lived last. In this case it sounds like that would be Covington County.