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Archiver > CEMETERY > 1998-09 > 0905183382


From: "Janice Danielson" <>
Subject: Re: [CEMETERY-L] Treading on toes -- the finished version
Date: Mon, 7 Sep 1998 10:49:42 -0500


Liane, I will try to answer part of your question--not all. I am familiar with
cemetery books that have been published by our county. To begin with,
none of the information in our books was taken from any printed records.
Our members took the challenge from our state genealogical society to go
out and walk and record ALL of the cemeteries in our county. So we did.
The leader of the project made the decision that all of the cemeteries
needed to be walked the same direction, the rows etc., so that there was
a sense of direction when reading the records. What I mean is, the rows
were read from right to left let's say. And from North to South. I'm not sure
that's the direction that they were read--just an example. Then they started
out reading EXACTLY what was on the stones. If something wasn't clear,
there was an ___ spot put in place of what couldn't be read, even if it was
only one letter or number. In most cases, someone in the group would
have first hand knowledge of a particular grave, and would like to add that
information to the book. But rather than do that, it was decided to put
JUST what was on the stone itself. Then we printed up these books, and
offered them for sale. We have sent them all over the country, including the
big library in Indiana. We do have an Internet site for our county, and the
books are offered there for sale. At this point we are NOT offering the text
of these books online, just the books that are for sale. It may seem
wrong, but a LOT of time was spent doing this project, and it is just about
the only income our group has. Most of the groups in this state offer the
same kind of things for sale--newspapers, cemeteries, funeral homes, etc.
I'm not sure whether it is etiquette or not, but that's how we do it. Just
thought I would give you our side of the coin, so to speak. Thanks. Janice
-----Original Message-----
From: Liane <>
To: <>
Date: Monday, September 07, 1998 7:20 AM
Subject: [CEMETERY-L] Treading on toes -- the finished version

>My apologies if the list gets this twice -- my e-mail program did something
>odd before I finished, and it may well have sent this out already....
>
>Greetings all --
>
>I am fairly new to genealogy and have never surveyed a cemetery so forgive
>me if my questions seem odd, obvious or unnecessarily convoluted -- they
>probably are! BTW, I'm being deliberately vague about locations so I don't
>offend anyone -- if you want to know, e-mail me.
>
>I recently searched the USGS system for cemeteries with a particular
>surname -- I found a grouping of four very close together in a county 100 or
>so miles from me. I thought I'd take several Fall weekends and survey them
>for inclusion in the US GenWeb Tombstone Project. I thought I'd contact the
>CC for the County in question to ask for help in determining who owns the
>properties etc.., when I discovered on the County page that there is a local
>group which sells a cemetery book for the area.
>
>This raised some concerns for me. I have already experienced a county with
>a group which publishes various genealogical records -- there is subtle (and
>not so subtle) pressure to *not* provide records/transcriptions for the
>online community, so as to not interfere with group publication sales. I'm
>not referring to copyright violations, lifting straight from the books, but
>any similar work at all.
>
>Is there some sort of 'understood' etiquette to all this that I'm missing?
>Should I avoid surveying these cemeteries because a) I might hurt someone's
>book sales or tread in someone's toes or b) because these cemeteries have
>(I think) already been recorded somewhere so why waste effort duplicating
>work?
>
>If how should go ahead, how to I get permission from land owners -- or even
>discover if permission is needed? Any advice at all will be greatly
>appreciated -- clearly I need all the help I can get.
>
>Please reply directly to me or to the list as seems most appropriate.
>
>Thanks in advance,
>
>Liane
>
>
>
>
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