Photographing Tombstones

Charles Garrison is photographing every tombstone in DeSoto County, Mississippi and donating CDs with the photographs to his local genealogical society. See the DeSoto Appeal for the story. However, there are many others like him in Mississippi whose contributions are significant for genealogical researchers, particularly those living at a distance. Many times persons surveying cemeteries these days do photograph each stone so they can double-check their transcriptions. When Terry Thornton surveyed the Lann Cemetery in Monroe County, Mississippi, he created a way for researchers to contact him so that digital copies could be obtained if someone needed them. Jackie Rhodes, MSGenWeb county coordinator for Webster, Chickasaw, and Choctaw counties, along with her husband Kenneth is planning to photograph all the stones in her counties and make them available online. This couple has photographed some of the markers in other counties and submitted those to their counties as well. What a great way to help researchers, especially those who cannot visit the counties of their ancestors easily!