Last week, the site ran an article - The Mystery of the Heart-Shaped Grave Marker - trying to match up what was thought to be a grave marker with the proper grave. The only information available was the date of birth and date of death of the woman, Fran Galvin.
Thinking this was a chance to help out, I put my research skills to work and was able to locate the grave at the Massachusetts National Cemetery in Bourne. Realizing that Fran Galvin was buried there with her husband Donald, I figured that the marker which was found must have been a personal commemoration which somehow got separated from its owner.
There are many ways in which genealogists can leverage their research skills and access to online databases to help out others. One fine example is the work that Unclaimed Persons does to match up unclaimed bodies at morgues and medical examiner's offices with their families.
So next time you are reading the news or scanning tweets on Twitter, see if your research savvy can't help out someone else.
© 2009, copyright Thomas MacEntee
1 comment:
That's so true. I try to help people on different surname boards that I subscribe to, even if we're not related. Just some pro-bono work that might help them & will help my skills as well. It's a win-win.
Caroline
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