This Memorial Day I honor my maternal and paternal ancestors (veterans and non-veterans) virtually with the launch of the – Claiming Kin Virtual Cemetery– at FindAGrave.com! [1]
I actually established this “on-going” virtual cemetery New Year’s Day of this year, but did not want to release it online until –
1) I had 20 or more ancestors listed
2) I had a chance to verify each ancestors’ connection to me and my family
The purpose of this new virtual cemetery is to link the interments of all my maternal and paternal ancestors together despite the geographical location of their graves. Those of you who have been following me for a while know FindAGrave.com is one of my favorite online resources to use with my family research. I started creating virtual cemeteries last year with the launch of my “on-going” Chapple Family Virtual Cemetery and when I see the number of visits that post has received via my blog’s Google Analytics dashboard widget and Feedjit live traffic feed, I hope that this post about this new virtual cemetery will do just as well too!
According to the Office of Public and Intergovernmental Affairs, on May 5, 1865, Decoration Day was established for our nation to decorate the graves of veterans with flowers. The first observance of this federal holiday took place at the Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia. But by the end of the 19th century, Memorial Day ceremonies were being held on May 30 across the United States. By 1971, the US Congress declared Memorial Day a national holiday and it was at that time that it would be observed on the last Monday in May.
With so many Americans honoring the deaths of love ones who were not veterans on Memorial Day, in December 2000 Congress passed and the president signed in to law — “The National Moment of Remembrance Act” — so that veterans are particularly not forgotten on this national day! [2]
The National Moment of Remembrance encourages all Americans to pause wherever they are at 3 p.m. local time on Memorial Day for a minute of silence to remember and honor those who have died in service to the nation.”
To my family and friends, have a wonderful Memorial Day and if time allows, visit a local cemetery today! If you cannot make it to an actual cemetery, then I invite you to take a virtual stroll through the Claiming Kin Virtual Cemetery by clicking the link or the graphic above; feel free to leave virtual flowers if you like!
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Source Citation:
1. Taylor-Harris, L. (2013, May 25). Claiming Kin Virtual Cemetery. Find A Grave – Millions of Cemetery Records and Online Memorials. Retrieved May 25, 2013, from http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=vcsr
2. U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs. (2012, November 30). Memorial Day History. Office of Public and Intergovernmental Affairs. Retrieved May 25, 2013, from http://www.va.gov/opa/speceven/memday/history.asp
Claiming Kin Genealogy 
What a GREAT idea! I want to do the same thing;) How did you create the site–is it basically setting up another blog or did you use some other software?
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Robyn, thanks for checking out my Claiming Kin Virtual Cemetery; I’m glad you like the concept! Find A Grave makes creating Virtual Cemeteries a breeze and is one of their features that they hope you will take advantage of! There’s no need to create another blog or buy any special software. Everything you need is provided at FAG.
If you already have a free FAG account, from your account dashboard under the “Customize” section click the blue “Edit” button by My Virtual Cemeteries. You will be taken to another screen to create a new cemetery which will be added to your FAG account. Click the [Add New] hyperlink, give your virtual cemetery a name, a quick description, and click save.
Now visit one of your memorial pages and if you scroll down the page you will see the – [Edit Virtual Cemetery Info] – hyperlink. Click that link which will take you to screen where the new virtual cemetery is listed. Once you click the name of your virtual cemetery, it will automatically link that memorial page to it. Do this for every ancestor you can account for at FAG.
So let me know how this process works out for you; I would love to leave some virtual flowers for all of your ancestors!
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I am so glad that you enjoy FAG too! I just knew all of the wonderful photos that you have would be such a major contribution to that community. Thank you for stopping by and Happy Memorial Day to you!
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So well put together! Since you lead me to findagrave.com, it is one of my favorite research spots as well, in addition it is a wonderful place to contribute to the community.
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