Find a Grave + BillionGraves: churchyard memorials as a genealogy discovery surface
Harvested 29 Oct 2026 23:15Z (skills harvest). Topic: family historians search grave sites by name and churchyard before they search the web; a well-sourced memorial for a historic person tied to our story is a free, durable place to be found. Not covered elsewhere in the index (0 hits for Find a Grave / BillionGraves on 29 Oct).
What the sources show (read 29 Oct 2026)
- Our churchyard is thin on the site. Find a Grave lists St. Dochdwy Churchyard, Llandough, Vale of Glamorgan (cemetery 2584039) with 24 memorial records (search snippet, 29 Oct). CWGC lists the same churchyard (2 First World War graves: Pte H. Jones, Welch Regiment, 8 May 1918, and one other). A thin cemetery means each well-made memorial stands out in its search results.
- Bio rules (Find a Grave support, "Bio Field Information", read via Wayback capture 9 Oct 2026): genealogical data is welcome; preference for "an originally written biography"; respect copyright when using newspapers; no information about living people (e.g. survivors); cause of death short, as on a certificate; Find a Grave "reserves the right to edit any biography". The documented link tool is for links to other Find a Grave memorials/pages; links to outside websites are not documented as allowed (not checked - assume none, put our source citation as plain text).
- Bio tools (Find a Grave News, 7 Feb 2024, read): link button, bold/italic, numbered and bulleted lists in the bio field - so a short sourced list ("Sources: 1841 tithe apportionment, Llandough; ...") renders cleanly.
- Virtual Cemeteries (Find a Grave News, 19 Nov 2024, read): any memorials can be gathered into a public, shareable collection with a name, description and cover photo ("interesting historical figures", "memorials you are writing bios for"). A public Virtual Cemetery is linkable from our own site and shows on the creator's profile.
- Who manages a memorial matters (Amy Johnson Crow, 13 Jan 2022, read; Find a Grave "Request to Manage" snippet): close family can request transfer of an existing memorial ("Suggest Edits" -> "Contact Manager"); edits suggested to someone else's memorial can wait (Find a Grave: suggested edits 21 days, transfer requests 30 days, snippet). Check for an existing memorial before creating one - duplicates get merged/removed.
- BillionGraves (site + practitioner comparisons, snippets): every record is backed by a headstone photo with GPS; Find a Grave has the larger database and longer bios (GeniUsers group, GetMemorial review). A churchyard photo walk with the free BillionGraves app adds GPS-tagged, transcribable records that genealogists trust.
- Etiquette (genealogy community, DNA-Explained 2022, Legal Genealogist 2019): the community dislikes memorial "farming" and copied obituaries; respect photo permissions; ask before using someone else's headstone photo.
The playbook
- Search first. For each historic person in our story: search Find a Grave and BillionGraves by name + Llandough/Leckwith/Penarth + death year. Log: exists? memorial id, manager, photo yes/no, bio yes/no.
- Improve, don't duplicate. Existing memorial: use Suggest Edits for dates/places with a source; offer a bio to the manager. Missing memorial with a known burial place: create one (as a close relative if true - the project lead only), with the headstone photo only if we took it.
- Write a sourced bio of 80-150 words: dates, places, occupation, one verifiable fact per sentence, sources as a plain list (record name, archive reference, year). No living people. No assertions or case arguments - a memorial is not the place.
- Link the family: parent/spouse/child links between memorials (the site's own relationship fields) so researchers following one name land on the others.
- Make one public Virtual Cemetery gathering the related memorials, with a neutral description and a mention of the research site by name in plain text (not checked whether outside URLs are allowed in descriptions - read the live form first).
- BillionGraves walk (optional, needs a visit): photograph the churchyard headstones with the app; GPS + transcription makes every stone findable.
Measure and kill rule
- Track referrals to cedwyn from findagrave.com / billiongraves.com in Cloudflare/GoatCounter, plus any contact from researchers (via site forms).
- Kill rule: if after 90 days there are 0 referrals and 0 researcher contacts, stop adding bios; keep the memorials (they are records, not ads).
How we apply it to Cedwyn
- Burial place is a fact to source first. Whether John Williams Sr is buried at St Dochdwy is not checked. Sources: parish burial register (Glamorgan Archives catalogue; IA captures only, no automated reading of their site), monumental inscriptions from the Glamorgan Family History Society, or a photo walk.
- Outward and public: creating or editing memorials is posting under an account in public - draft each bio in the project workspace and get the project lead's GO before anything is submitted. If the project lead is a close relative, a transfer request on an existing memorial should come from him.
- Research return: existing memorials may carry headstone photos or inscriptions we lack - log any as evidence leads (with memorial URL and date), "not checked" until compared with the register.
Sources
- Find a Grave, St. Dochdwy Churchyard: findagrave.com (snippet: 24 memorials)
- CWGC Llandough (St. Dochdwy) Churchyard: cwgc.org ; tracesofwar.com
- Find a Grave support, Bio Field Information (Wayback 20261009): web.archive.org
- Find a Grave News, Bio field updates, 7 Feb 2024: news.findagrave.com
- Find a Grave News, Using Virtual Cemeteries, 19 Nov 2024: news.findagrave.com
- Find a Grave, Request to Manage (snippet): support.findagrave.com ; edit/transfer timings (snippet): facebook.com
- Amy Johnson Crow, Major Update to FindAGrave Memorials, 13 Jan 2022: amyjohnsoncrow.com
- BillionGraves: billiongraves.com ; comparisons (snippets): getmemorial.com ; facebook.com
- Etiquette: dna-explained.com ; legalgenealogist.com
Raw Markdown: find-a-grave-billiongraves-churchyard-memorials-discovery.md · version and changes: changelog · machine index: agents.json