How to Cite a Find A Grave Memorial Correctly

 

How to Cite a Find A Grave Memorial Correctly

Find A Grave is one of the most-used resources in genealogy. It is also one of the most misunderstood when it comes to citation. People cite it as though it were an authoritative source of vital records. It is not. It is a database of volunteer-contributed memorials — and understanding what that means changes how you should cite it and how much weight you should give it.

What Find A Grave Actually Is

Find A Grave is a database of memorial pages created by volunteers. Anyone can create a memorial. Anyone can add dates, locations, and photographs. The information is contributed by individuals who may have visited the cemetery and photographed the gravestone, or who may have copied the information from another source without verifying it, or who may have made assumptions about dates and relationships.

This does not make Find A Grave unreliable — it makes it a secondary, volunteer-contributed source that requires the same evaluation you would give any other secondary source. Some memorials are meticulously documented with gravestone photographs and linked records. Others contain estimated dates, assumed relationships, and information that was copied from online trees without verification.

What to Include in Your Citation

A proper citation for a Find A Grave memorial should include: the name of the database ("Find A Grave"), the name on the memorial, the memorial ID number, the cemetery name and location, the contributor's name (if available), and the date you accessed the memorial. The memorial ID is critical because it allows anyone to go directly to that specific memorial and evaluate the information themselves.

You can find the memorial ID in the URL — it is the number at the end of the web address. For example, if the URL is findagrave.com/memorial/12345678, the memorial ID is 12345678.

A Find A Grave memorial is a volunteer-contributed entry in a database. Cite it as: Find A Grave, database and images (findagrave.com), memorial no. [number] for [name], [cemetery name], [location]; [contributor name if known]; accessed [date].

The Gravestone Photo vs. the Memorial Text

There is an important distinction between the photograph of the gravestone and the text of the memorial page. If the memorial includes a photograph of the actual gravestone, the photograph is evidence of what the stone says — which is itself a derivative source (the stone was carved after death based on information provided by the family). The text of the memorial page is a volunteer's interpretation of the stone or other sources.

When the memorial text and the gravestone photo disagree, the photo takes precedence. When the memorial includes dates or relationships that do not appear on the stone, those additions came from somewhere else — and you do not know where unless the contributor noted their source.

Always look at the photoIf the memorial includes a gravestone photograph, read the stone yourself rather than relying on the memorial text. Volunteers sometimes misread dates, miss inscriptions on the back or sides of the stone, or transcribe names incorrectly. The photo is the evidence. The text is an interpretation of it.

When Find A Grave Is Your Only Source

Sometimes Find A Grave is the only record you can find for a burial — especially for small rural cemeteries, unmarked graves, or stones that have since deteriorated. In these cases, cite the memorial but note that it is the sole source and that the information has not been independently verified. Then look for corroboration: obituaries, funeral home records, church burial records, and county death records can all confirm or contradict what the memorial page says.

Find A Grave is a finding aid — it tells you where to look. It is not a replacement for the primary records that verify the facts. Use it as a starting point, cite it correctly, and always look for the original evidence behind the memorial.