Retrieving Gravestone Inscriptions

Remembering those you love who have passed on is important to many. Keeping the memories of the deceased alive may not only be comforting but it also enables you to share their memory with others and learn of the existence of past relatives.

Unfortunately, if the information written on the tombstones of those who have gone before us is not recorded, it can be lost to time, erosion from weather, vandalism, bulldozers and so on. Discovering a tombstone that is unreadable, broken or demolished can be heartbreaking. However, this heartbreak can be avoided with the US GenWeb Tombstone Transcription Project.

The US GenWeb Tombstone Transcription Project (TTP) was established in March 1996 by a group of genealogists who organized the Kentucky Comprehensive Genealogy Database Project. This journey to collect genealogical data sparked the interest of many people around the country and it was decided in June of that same year it should go nationwide.

The purpose of the project is to create a lasting tribute to the ancestors of those who wish to remember them. The thousands of volunteers involved transcribe tombstone inscriptions and archive this information digitally, making it easily accessible to all now and in the future. The goal of the TTP is to record down the data from every possible tombstone before it becomes lost, so that our ancestors are never forgotten.

Anyone who is interested in this project is welcome to join the endeavor. The TTP is always looking for interested individuals to record the memorial information that can be found in the various cemeteries in the person's area.

Those who would like to become involved can register on the USGenWeb Project site, as well as view the registry to find out which cemeteries have been or are being transcribed and who is making these recordings. Volunteers are invited to donate the data they find directly to the sites Archives file manager for the appropriate sate or they may simply forward the information they find for deposit.

In order to begin transcribing, all you need to do is select a cemetery to record and register it. To register you will require the name of the cemetery, the name of the county and state where it is located and the names of the transcribers.

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