Graveyard & Ancestral Location Visits
Recording or Honoring your Ancestors
Location Visits
With all Location visits regardless of the service you've requested, I attempt to keep costs down. I endeavor to arrange client Location Visits into groups so that I can do several in one county at a time.
I can only arrange travel once I have reached my minimum bookings for this service with this low-cost option.
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Consequently, it may be a week before I can complete your visit, or it could be six months down the road. You only pay me for the service when it's scheduled to take place up to 6 weeks later.
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If you subscribe I send out proposed visit locations to give you a chance to book if it's in your area of interest.
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If you'd like me to arrange an exclusive visit where I only work on your family research at one or more locations please contact me to discuss as my time is limited, but possibilities are endless.
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Ordained as a Reverend in 2012 with Universal Life Church and remain open to all religions offering relevant prayers according to beliefs.
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I offer this service as your proxy and offer no religious advice or judgments.
Graveyard Visits
Okay, I admit it, I'm a bit of a Tombstone Tourist, and I say that with the utmost respect.
Whenever I go someplace new the first visit I make is to the coffee shop then off to a cemetery or churchyard. Maybe that's strange to some people, but I have always liked to read the names from the past and pay my respects to those who have gone before.
I see the ages of people in family groups and imagine how they would have spent their days when they lived. Even as a child I noticed stones that were weathered that left me wondering who lay beneath.
In the present day (and possibly in the past) there are flowers at one site, weeds at another. Sometimes there is a solitary unkempt grave. Is this the identifier of there being living descendants that care as opposed to those that are long gone? Maybe.
I supposed one day that some graves are only bereft because people are far away, not because they don't care. As I visit anyway I decided to offer to visit graves on behalf of those people that cannot get there.
For Birthdays, anniversaries, or just for the one time honoring of an ancestor. (Sometimes several if they are in the same churchyard)
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When I visit a specific graveyard for a client in the UK or the US, I take digital photographs of the grave or possible grave if ancestors have not been found already at the same location.
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If my client has requested flowers I lay some on each grave and either say a brief prayer selected by the client or give a short silent vigil. There are occasions where a live link can be provided so that my client can "be right there" with me.
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In some instances, I clean headstones, remove debris or weeds as well. I take before and after photos so that you can see the difference.
Clearing the grave is an additional service, but is dependant upon rules of churchyard or cemetery and what this would entail. Heavy lifting for example when gravestones have fallen over would be out of my hands.
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