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Today's Poll!Dying tradition? Technology used to connect instead of visiting graves
Griffin McCurren, left, stands with his cousins, Forrest McCurren and Quinn McCurren, and their friend, Olivia Wilbers. Forrest, his brother Quinn and their older brother, Mathias, lost their father at a young age. Forrest says he visits the cemetery a few times a year, but also remembers family members at places around town that remind him of them. Photo by Jim Dyke.
Saturday, May 26, 2012
The tradition of gravesite visitation is alive and well in our community, according to Jefferson City area observers. But, they quickly add, younger generations seem to be adopting some new methods of honoring deceased loved ones.
Samantha Renner of Riverview Cemetery has noticed younger generations have a different method of paying homage to the deceased. “It’s mostly older generations — the baby boomers and generations prior to that — who visit graves."
But Renner has observed younger generations seem to have a hunger for their overall family heritage and that they are taking advantage of modern-day genealogy resources to learn their origins.
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Comments
mia 12 months ago
As silly as it sounds, we love visiting family gravesites. We like to look at the old head stones and take in the history. Especially along the MO River bluffs. (Good looking group of people in the pic, by the way).
kring1bc 11 months, 4 weeks ago
I think it depends and not based on which generation one belongs to. As someone who is either a Baby Boomer, Generation Xer, or cusp (depending on which definition of Baby Boomer/Generation X you choose), I see a lot of younger people visiting graves. I do take advantage of FindaGrave.com, USGenWeb, etc. for my genealogy research. In most cases, my immediate family (parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins) grave markers are at least 800 - 1,000 miles away so visiting them in person isn't much of an option.
Many younger people who are interested in genealogy/family history won't mind visiting graves. Visiting a grave generally has a stronger emotional connection than seeing a photo of a grave marker.
A great way for younger, or any age for that matter, person to get involved is to volunteer to take pictures of grave markers. I am photo volunteer for Findagrave in my area. I rarely get to take a picture because there are so many active volunteers in my area. However, there are plenty of areas where there are few or no volunteers (FindaGrave, etc.). My oldest aunt is buried in Bayou La Batre, AL, outside Mobile, but her cemetery has outstanding photo requests dating back almost 2 years.
Thanks to FindaGrave, USGenWeb (and its state affiliates: KS, AL, MS, NC, VA), I have been able to learn about family members I did not know about. In many cases, volunteer photographers have taken photos of the grave markers.
FYI, most of the volunteers are not related to the people requesting the photos so you don't have to be related. Some people become volunteers as a way of paying it forward because other people have taken photos for them.
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