No, this is not an article about the upcoming presidential campaign, although a few snide remarks do pop to mind. In fact, a web site called The Political Graveyard describes itself as "The Internet's Most Comprehensive Source of U.S. Political Biography," or, "The Web Site That Tells Where the Dead Politicians are Buried." If you had an ancestor in politics, you might find this to be an interesting and useful site.
The Political Graveyard presently has transcribed records of 138,150 politicians, judges, and diplomats. The coverage of the site includes many federal officials, state officeholders and candidates in all 50 states, state and national political party officials, federal and state judges, and mayors (including candidates at election for mayor) of qualifying cities.
This web site is much more than a listing of cemeteries. It has extensive lists of political figures, many of them with mini-biographies or else links to more detailed information about the individuals listed. Such information usually includes states and places of birth and sometimes includes the names of the politician's parents. Of course, with the word "Graveyard" in the site's name, you can also expect to find the place of interment of most of these individuals.
With information about 138,150 individuals, there is an excellent chance you can find a politician or two in your family tree, perhaps one that you never knew about before. You can find Horace Greeley, Daniel Webster, John C. Calhoun, Aaron Burr, Sam Houston, and thousands of lesser-known politicians. There is always an excellent chance that someone in the family held public office. If so, he or she may have information listed on this site.
As usual with any site I try, I first launched a search for my own surname. I was amazed to find about 40 Eastmans listed. (Please don't tell my aunts. They will be so embarrassed to have a politician in the family!)
I didn't recognize any of the names as being close relatives although I suspect that I share DNA with a few of them. Looking through the list, I found numerous state legislators, delegates to national political conventions, and one lieutenant governor.
If you are looking for more information about someone in your family tree, The Political Graveyard might be worth a visit. You never know whom you will find there.
The Political Graveyard is created and maintained by one person: Lawrence Kestenbaum, of Ann Arbor, Michigan. He must have spent tens of thousands of hours on this so that others can benefit from the information there.
The Political Graveyard is free and open to everyone at http://politicalgraveyard.com.
The best thing about this group of candidates is that only one of them can win. ~Will Rogers
Will Rogers was correct, of course. So if CON is the opposite of PRO, is Congress the opposite of Progress? Though a bit limited, the site is free and should be useful for some folks. Thanks for sharing.
Happy Dae.
http://www.ShoeStringGenealogy.com
Posted by: HappyDae | December 28, 2007 at 10:31 AM
Will Rogers was correct, of course. So if CON is the opposite of PRO, is Congress the opposite of Progress? Though a bit limited, the site is free and should be useful for some folks. Thanks for sharing.
Happy Dae.
http://www.ShoeStringGenealogy.com
Posted by: HappyDae | December 28, 2007 at 10:32 AM
Many thanks for the very flattering review. I'm working on a new version of the site, with some new features and more than 30,000 added names.
I doubt I have spent more than ten thousand hours on the site, as you speculate, but I have been at it for more than eleven years, and stuff accumulates. (I have also gotten help from hundreds of volunteer researchers all over the country.) This coming year, my time will be in somewhat short supply, because I have to work on my re-election as County Clerk.
Posted by: Larry Kestenbaum | December 28, 2007 at 01:42 PM