to read. This method has been used a lot in the past, but it can cause more harm to the tombstone because the chalk will wear out the letters faster, but highlighting the dates with chalk will make it easier to read so when you take a picture of the tombstone it will be much more readable. Be careful doing this, some cemeteries have banned this method of reading old stones.
Anyway, by taking the information from cemeteries, libraries, census reports, obituaries, and marriage, birth, and death records; you can now start piecing together your family’s history like a detective solving a mystery. Like I mentioned earlier, don’t forget to interview living relatives before they die, because once they are gone, there goes a wealth of information. I used a tape recorder and I had a list of questions that I asked in helping me piece all this information together on my family history.
If you don’t join a genealogy site, then a genealogy department in a library will be the cheaper way to go, but nothing beats having information you can access on your own personal computer. Here is some additional information that will be helpful. There is a site called findagrave.com, where you add the name of the person you are searching for, as well as additional information like the state they are interred at etc. This site is free and you will find many of your relatives here, some showing a picture of their headstone, but not everyone is listed here. This site is still a work in progress.
FEATURE ARTICLE
".... don’t forget to interview living relatives before they die, because once they are gone, there goes a wealth of information."
If you want to locate obituaries then you may want to join newspaper.com which will give you much information on your past family that will help you piece together your family information. I hope the information I listed was helpful. There is more information you will learn as you go, but this information will give you a good start.