The Grand Traverse Area Genealogical Society Cemetery Committee is about to launch their latest CD-ROM disk of cemetery transcriptions. The new disk covers the 26 rural cemeteries of Grand Traverse County although the three Oakwood Cemeteries will be released later on a separate disk (that will require another CD due to the size of the data).
This CD represents about four years of work by the society. It will be published in PDF format which can be read by Adobe Acrobat on Windows or on Macintosh systems by either Preview or by Adobe Acrobat. (Those are all free programs.) The CD will sell for $35.00 plus $3.00 for shipping and handling to U.S. addresses.
You can reserve a copy of this CD by sending an email to Kfarley40@charter.net. Send no money at this time; you will be asked for payment later.
My thanks to Kathi Farley for telling me about this new CD.
My interest is that of a cemetery transcriptions co-ordinator in Massachusetts. I have no known MI ancestors, but the database formatting and technology employed by the MI Genealogical Society Cemetery Committee is of great interest. At the Irish Cultural Center of New England, (ICCNE) we are initiating a Cemetery Committee, and would like to discover what has worked in Grand Traverse and see if what works is transferrable to other societies.
Posted by: Bernard Couming | July 29, 2008 at 07:21 AM
I only hope they transcribed the records properly. Many people go to a cemetery and just copy the headstone data - which is actually the second step. The first step is to find out who has the cemetery records and transcribe the data from the paper records and then verify them with the headstones. Many old headstones are illegible, or missing, and the paper records will provide the missing data.
I see too many online cemetery transcriptions where someone just copied the headstone data. The only exceptions should be if the paper records were lost or destroyed; or it's a Catholic cemetery and the Church will not release the records to the public - which can be reqeusted then to the local arch-diocese for genealogical purpose. You'd be surprised how the local bishops are more cooperative than the local priests.
Posted by: Timothy Eastman | July 29, 2008 at 08:36 PM
this cd will help me out alot. i am most definate going to order it. i was told about it by my mother inlaw. and i just like oh wow. i am going to get that cd.
Posted by: Faith | October 18, 2008 at 08:25 PM