My last blog post was published 8 weeks ago. Since then, while we have all been adjusting to new realities in our daily lives, I have also been busy researching other family lines.
To get myself back into the Brinston study I decided to review entries in the database of Find a Grave starting with Canada. I found 85, many for people I knew about. There are 184 Brinston entries in total including 63 for the USA, 26 for Australia, two for England, one for Papua New Guinea, two listed as cremated and two listed as burial place unknown. I have yet to determine locations of the other three. The two for England and the one for Papua New Guinea are wartime deaths that I wrote about in the post Brinston deaths at sea. https://astlemarilyn.wixsite.com/brinston-one-name/post/brinston-deaths-at-sea
Find a Grave was established in 1995 to record the graves of famous people and has evolved to include millions of memorials for ordinary people from many countries. Although it was acquired by Ancestry in 2013 the site still relies on contributions by volunteers and is still free to use. Find a Grave is not without controversy. Here is an account of one person's experience with and investigation into Find a Grave. https://onezero.medium.com/the-digital-undertakers-inside-the-obsessive-community-racing-to-put-the-dead-online-f3199147e968
Find a Grave is one more place people may find information about their ancestors and I think its value outweighs its less positive aspects. Unfortunately, the site does not provide for recording of sources making it extra important to verify information elsewhere.
Lately with any family line I am researching I have been submitting additional information to memorials already on Find a Grave as well as adding new ones. In many cases I have information that allows me to suggest linkages between spouses and between parents and children. That involves sending suggestions to the people who actually manage the particular memorials. Some have replied quickly while I am waiting to hear back from others. I also add parents’ names if I know them even if their burial places are not known. I now have my maternal (i.e., mitochondrial) line linked for 4 generations - mother, grandmother, great grandmother and 2nd great grandmother.
I encourage you to check out the Find a Grave site and add more memorials or submit updates and photos for existing ones. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial