Monday, June 5, 2006

Genealogy heroes in the graveyard



I ran across this article in the Watertown (WI) Daily Times. It tells the story of Larry and Linda Kopet of Oconomowoc have taken over 100,000 pictures of headstones in 903 cemeteries covering 60 of Wisconsin's 72 counties in the last 18 months - for free. They say:

Their process is simple and effective. Larry, 60, visits the cemeteries and snaps the photos, which are then put on a computer disk. Linda then goes through each one and names them. Finally, the photos are sent on to Tina Vickery, the state of Wisconsin coordinator for the USGenWeb project, and they are placed on the USGenWeb Internet site for anyone to view.

Check quickly for the article - it may go into the Archives any time soon.

What a super addition to the USGenWeb sites.

I wonder if they've found my Mary Smith in Dodge County (I'm not kidding - Mary died in the 1860's, the wife of Ranslow Smith who moved to Iowa by 1870 and married again)? I guess I'd better go look.

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