If you’re familiar with Find A Grave and love all things graveyards, it might be fulfilling for you to volunteer by looking up photo requests and submitting them. To do this, you will first need to register on Find-A-Grave, which only takes a couple of minutes. From there, the world of people looking for headstones is all yours for the taking!

People ask me frequently if I make this a practice and the answer is yes and no. Yes, when I’m working in a cemetery that is not fully photographed or abandoned I will check my photos against the data when I get home. Because of this I’ve been able to add several people. But I don’t do it with every cemetery I visit, though it is my goal this year to be more conscious of the fact that there may be requests listed in the cemeteries that I go to.

Requests will be listed on the cemetery main page on Find-A-Grave. When you click on them you will see a list of the requested photos, along with whether or not anyone has claimed them. I find it interesting to look at any problem requests, just to see what others encountered in that cemetery. Usually it is simply that the marker is missing or there never was one to begin with.

When you register Find-A-Grave will periodically send you an email if someone submits a request in your area, and the other day I got one for Corporal Charles Esters, who died in 1967. When I looked him up on the website it said that it had already been claimed, but there were no notes from the claimant and no photos of his headstone, and I decided to go take a look. Washington Park Cemetery is just about 3 miles from my house, and I had nothing going on that afternoon that couldn’t be put off until later. I’d been by the cemetery before but had never been inside, so it seemed like a good way to spend a couple of hours.

This request was detailed in that it listed his section and the plot number. Sections are usually easy to locate in most modern cemeteries, but plots can be difficult. Section C was quite large and on 2 sides of the road, so I started on the right.

Washington Park isn’t unusual in any way, but it is a very modern take on a cemetery. There are no headstones, just flat markers, and almost no shade. It’s hot as hell in there in the middle of the day and I could feel my skin aging the minute I was out of the car. Since there wasn’t a way for me to tell which way the plots ran I just decided to walk up and down the aisles as best I could. Find-A-Grave says that this cemetery is 46% photographed, and I think the reason why the number is so low is because there are a lot of unmarked graves. In the longer stretches with no markers the ground still undulates slightly and has numerous patches of greener grass. This cemetery is also still a very active and busy site. They have a large supply of vaults around the property and new burials toward the back.

I walked for an hour with sweat running down my face and back before I called it a day. Even though I had been in a section of burials from the 1960’s I still didn’t see his marker.  Disappointed, I drove home to nurse my sunburn and drink a gallon of water.

The next night Shawn and I had just finished dinner when he offered to go out there with me again. It had rained and was much cooler, and we figured that maybe with 2 of us searching we might be able to find him. Because it was the night before Mother’s Day there was steady traffic coming in and out, and a lot of families grouped around graves, talking and enjoying the breeze after the recent rain. We headed for Section C, each of us took a different part, and we started walking.

The cemetery has trees and brush to one side and there was an intoxicating smell coming from them. I took a closer look and saw a lot of pink flowers. They smelled amazing! It made me think of the unidentified floral smell in Page Jackson and I wondered if these were in the woods somewhere.

After an hour dusk was looming we decided to leave. The cars coming in had their headlights on now and the cemetery wasn’t gated, but I didn’t think we should be in there for too much longer. As we walked to the car the sky behind us was the color of fire, and the grave lights were coming on in the cemetery, creating little stars of light against the green grass. It was beautiful, and completely transformed from it’s somewhat stark daytime appearance.

The cemetery dates back to at least the early 1930’s. Shawn and I were unable to locate any graves earlier than 1932. The one that I did see was actually a headstone but had been knocked flat to blend in with the rest of the markers, which was a practice I’d never seen at another cemetery. Mowing this place must be a nightmare. Cemetery maintenance does a good job with the upkeep of this place, and is on a very large piece of property.

I was sorry that we didn’t find Mr. Esther’s headstone, and I’ll probably go look one more time and contact the cemetery office if the claimant doesn’t add notes or photos. His one photo on Find A Grave shows him in his uniform looking young, strong, and proud. I love the photo and hope that someone can locate his grave.

Meanwhile, prayers and positive thoughts for my family would be appreciated as we lost one of our own yesterday. My cousin passed away suddenly on his birthday. He was 57 years old. I am still shocked, and hoping to hear more about what happened when I see my family for the funeral this week.