Find a Grave Team

2023 in Review

What a year! Our heartfelt thank you to the Find a Grave community! It’s time to review and reflect on all that you have accomplished together!

Memorials Added

In 2023, you walked the world’s cemeteries and added 13.7 million memorials from your records and documentation.

In January 2003, there were only 3.9 million memorials total on the site.

Photo Requests Fulfilled

That’s the same number of smiles, joy, and thank you’s from the requesters.

Photos Added

A very small portion of the 20.7 million photos you added make up this beautiful one.

Edits processed

Thanks to you Find a Grave is 43 million times better. 🙂 You’re angels. Way to work together! It truly is incredible what you have accomplished this past year! Thank you for you!

125 comments

  1. It is an honor and a privilege to work with Find a Grave. I’ve received so many comments, thanking me for helping them find their loved ones. It’s a true labor of love and it is neverending. Thank you for providing such a wonderful website to work with, always improving, and always there to answer any questions. A very sincere THANK YOU!

  2. Also, hundreds of thousands of veteran and gender edits. But what did you do to the gender field yesterday? It’s no longer visible or editable unless you manage the memorial?

    • I’m curious about this too and unable to find any mention of it on the forum.

      • News to me, too, so I just edited my 334 memorials to be sure each has a gender assigned.

    • We added an option for gender to the site in 2018 to support some of the partners we share our index with. While we don’t use gender directly on Find a Grave, that field is helpful to some of the other sites that use our index. In June 2023, we updated the Edit system and opened gender as an editable field. We’ve been reviewing this field and its use for Find a Grave and decided it is best left for managers to add.

      • Did you have the courtesy to announce this change before moving forward?
        Have you responded to all those asking about this is the Forum?

      • I think after death, such a change should be a family change thru the persons will. We as contributors should not have a say over that, unless it is a family website owned by family. To much illegitimate and false information abuse could occur with out family knowledge. Just Saying!

      • Thank you!! I don’t feel you have to notify users like mentioned below, most of this amazing site is FREE, even to managers. I’m very thankful for your existence!

      • Initially being able to send a gender edit to the memorial manager seemed like a good idea. But from my perspective, we started to be inundated by meaningless gender edits. That would be acceptable if the people sending in the gender edits had put some extra effort into filling in other edit fields.
        Just speculation on this thought, but how long would it be before Find a Grave would have to change the gender selection list to accommodate other gender selections, such as I am seeing on medical forms. Maybe this could be part of the reason that Find A Grave decided to leave gender selection up to the memorial managers.

    • I noticed the same thing with the gender field. Please don’t tell me Find a Grave has become woke…

  3. I am still interested in taking photos of graves in the Southern Nevada area.

  4. Thank You FindaGrave Staff for all the great work you do to provide users like me with wonderful genealogy information about my family as needed. Also, I would like to thank all the FG members who have posted family information on the website as well.

    • Unfortunately, there are possibly a few ( for sure 1 that I know of that I have run across ) people that wants to delete family information on previously posted pages (no kin), if she/he happens to become a new “manager” of those pages. Myself, I have already let that person know that I think it is really sad that they would want to delete information that the original manager placed there (unless it was proven wrong). I do not submit information to that person anymore.

  5. “Thank you” for being there and helping all of the newby Genealogy researchers find their relatives.
    I would like to go in and correct some of the errors (mostly spelling) on the Census records I peruse with Ancestry.com. Then they are posted onto your site. To the Future of Researching!

  6. Thank you! This site is wonderful. So many folks assisting with photos, documents and obituaries. It’s so nice to be able to build a family backward so far, to the beginning in some cases. I have so many relatives spread out all over, I would never have been able to find them all! Especially overseas. Many, many thanks!!!

  7. cant wait for QR codes to be added from the graves! ❤️ continue this amazing job! 🎉

  9. If you find two identical entries, how do you combine them? If you put two of the same numbers in, it says you cannot merge them because they are the same.

  10. I have heard from a few managers won’t update the gender edits. How about making the field available only if people are making other changes to a person. That would massive prevent gender-only changes. It really is a good field to have there and helps greatly with some family names that can be either male or female. Thank you for all you do!!

  11. Glad to help hope to get back out soon for more photos as soon as my leg heals

  12. I just love “Find A Grave” however, even after signing in as a member you can not save any pictures to Ancestry like you could before. I don’t know is it just me?? Thank you

    • I wish you hadn’t removed the all buried in a cemetery plot. It’s a pain to change all the information just because the last name is different. I’m still getting use to the country, state,county city thing on the search. Just don’t ever let others change sites without proof or good reliability of what they want changed.

  13. I am very thankful for your time and your effort to tackle that tremendous job.

  14. Wonderful to be able to find a grave – thanks for all you have done to make this happen

  15. Thank you, its great having the access. I hope it remains free, it fills many gaps including living relatives we may never have known of

  17. It would be a massive help if you could add gender from the transcription page. If I am transcribing for someone else the memorial disappears instantly and I cannot locate it. If I am adding my own photos I have to go to my memorials to add this information.

    I have come across a lot of memorials which have been transcribed that have no gender on.

    PS What a lovely thank you, its a pleasure to be part of this community.

  18. Thanks for the FindaGrave yearly update. It was quite informative. I have roamed many cemeteries in many different countries, some were in FindaGrave and some were not, so I put in the new cemeteries and many of the pictures and information. I put in information that is available and let others do the research to add to the obit. At my age, research and walking the cemeteries are not on my agenda, but I can place obits on FindaGrave and let others add to them. I take this hobby seriously and hope others do the same.

  21. I really enjoy volunteering here. I’ve added some 6000 photos and many memorials. I love the app since it came out. Still not thrilled with the scrolling for Month and Day but I live with it.

    I got started when a family member nearly 3000 miles away in Washington State asked me to photograph a stone as there was no other documentation that the deceased ever lived. Got me started and hooked. Been doing it for over 20 years now.

  22. How do I go about posting a picture of my wife’s grave site. Thank you in advance for any assistance. Larry A. Lail

    • Is there already a memorial for her? If not, you can create one by going to the cemetery where she is buried and add memorial, then you will be able to add a photo.

    • Use your phone to photograph the site , download the findagrave app on your phone, find your site, touch the camera icon on the top right , find your picture and download. It is really easy and I use it all the time !

  25. Love this site and all that it does. Most of the volunteers are selfless and wonderful.

  26. I love this site, it provides information that you couldn’t get otherwise.

  28. I’ve been on here for 14 years and all though I have slowed down some. I’m still adding. And yes it is rewarding in many ways. I have gotten many thank you’s. And I even connected 2 elderly family members who though one had passed. He sent me an email and asked if I could find a grave of his niece. So I went to searching knowing the area real well. When I couldn’t find her I searched further and found out that she was still living. So I connected the two of them. He said he talked to her for 2 hours and they we so happy. He sent me the sweetest message. So rewarding. There had been other stories but that was my most rewarding. 🙂

  29. Thank you for all the hard work to adding details. We are closer to connecting to family

  30. I enjoy linking family members to each other. Without that, everyone feels “Lost” to me. When I do that, I feel like I’m reuniting familie together again.

  31. I love find a grave and it has helped me to find ancestors that I may have never found. I trust it because it is usually correct on things. I would love to be able to do more volunteer work but at my age it is hard for me to get out to get to a cemetery now. I work on 7 different families 3 on paternal side 3 on maternal side and 1 on my husband’s side. I try to help others when I can. Thanks again for this site it has been a great help to me.

  32. I appreciate being able to add veteran recognition to the memorials. And all the edits that I have sent have been approved and posted. Thank you to all who photograph, all who manage, and all who tromp through the cemeteries so that our loved ones are identified.

  33. I just love “Find a Grave” but I still don’t understand why I can no longer add pictures to Ancestry like you used to be able too. I would like to know is it only me and my computer.

    • If you copy and paste a picture to you desktop then you can chose to post it in Ancestry. At least I have.

    • It may be a copyright issue. In 2021 Ancestry notified subscribers that it would take possession of any materials posted to its site without restriction. I believe FamilySearch has a similar policy. Judy Russell, legal genealogist, has several blogs on this issue. In Tipton’s reign many contributors specifically stated that their photos were not to be used on Ancestry who is now owner of Find a Grave. One could link from Ancestry to Find a Grave, but uncertain if you can take a photo a contributor might deem copyrighted on Find a Grave and just post on Ancestry.

  34. Sometimes we wonder if we have made a mark on the world in our lifetime. Despite being a nurse for 40 yrs, I think my walking graveyards and taking gravestone pictures and adding memorials is just as fulfilling, and with the help of other Find a grave contributors searching and adding information we help others find their family members and friends. Thank you Find a Grave for staying free and being so helpful on our journey to fulfill our passions!

  35. I have a situation and a question: I lived in Matawan, NJ as a child, walked past Mount Pleasant Cemetery every day for 10 years… it is on New Brunswick Avenue in Matawan, New Jersey, directly behind an antiquated gas station which is at the corner of Main and New Brunswick. Whoever originally entered that cemetery onto your FG site said that this cemetery is located in Freneau, NJ. It is not, never was, never will be. I have written and complained several times to no avail. My question: Why is this not corrected?

  36. I love the site! It has been great for my family genealogy work for over 30 years. The one thing I wish you would do is check with a memorial owner before merging a duplicate memorial. Once you merge them any incorrect information from the merged memorial stays on your memorial. I try to correct it but because I did not create the merged memorial I can not correct or remove bad information. Thank you for all that you do. Richard F Anniston Al.

  37. I love this site and the sense of community I feel when researching, adding, editing, etc. It’s a wonderful example of collaboration and a labor of love.

  38. Love helping families connect. Findagrave was where I started. May I ask what happened to the family edit?

  39. In Photo Requests, when a request has been fulfilled, I would like to see a way to delete that fulfilled line and just have the open ones.

    • Thanks for your message. Are you looking at the “My Requests” tab on the photo requests page? If so, you should be able to use the dropdown on the left, just above the list, and change it from “All” to “Open,” “Fulfilled,” or “Problem Reported” to see just the requests you want to see. Hope that helps. If that’s not where you are seeing this, please send some details to feedback@findagrave.com and we’ll look into it.

      • Thank you for the response and I understand what you have said. I have 155 pages of fulfilled requests and was hoping to just clean up my records.

  40. Instead of a gray V to signify a veteran why can’t we have Veteran written out in red where the V is now. The V doesn’t reflect the lives and the service that all the veterans have given us.

  41. I love Findagrave and especially like being able to link parents and children that have memorials but no one had linked them. I found a cousin who recently passed away and thought to see if I could make her a memorial, only to find someone made her one three years before she died. So I edited it with all the correct information and links to her parents etc. The manager approved it very quickly. I just thought memorials were not supposed to be made of living people, just because their name is on a stone.

  42. I always take my grandson with me to help me find the right gravesite. He’s 14 now and has been helping now for about 7 years. He will continue when I eventually can’t. He even goes through and straightens anything that may have fallen over and fixes all veteran flags. We love going out and taking pictures. I found out how much it means when someone took a picture I requested of my grandparents site. Thank you for having this site for us to help others.

  43. I only work one Cemetery in Miami,Florida. It is with great pleasure that I help people find graves. Think you Find a Grave for this site to assist those in need.

  44. This site has been a great help to me, and I now am the big old 95! And yes, still researching, for sure! Keep up the good works, you affect so many lives, including mine!!

  45. This findagrave site, has been a great help to so many, and I’m very proud to help every which that I can, for sure! Colleen Newsome Jolly, Bamberg, South Carolina-AMERICA-WE LOVE YOU!!

  46. I so love FindaGrave! Many times I have found the only pic of a relative, or an obituary, and they are so valuable! Also I have found that some entries have been erroneously connected to others in the cemetery having the same last name, but as their relative the parents were buried in a different cemetery, either another city, county, or state, and I’ve had to submit a correction, along with proof, and most requests have been corrected. (Seems there are a few genealogy “hobbyists” who make a FG for every obit in their local newspaper, and if the new entry is for a “Jones”, they look for other Jones’ in that cemetery and “just pick a couple” as their parents!!
    But anyway, I do wish that the “cemetery name, county, state” were included in the “facts upload” to Ancestry when we save it to our Ancestry person. Currently, it only uploads county and state! Can this be changed?
    Thank you!!!

    • Thanks for your comment. We’re glad to hear about the value you’ve found on the site and from the community. The Save to Ancestry feature is handled by Ancestry and is a little generic because they use if for a variety of sites, but we can pass along your suggestion.

  47. So very glad & grateful that FindaGrave has remained free & Generous ,& Hope it continues the way it has for so many years. Great Job!!!

  49. Great site! I have added eight cemeteries now in Poland that used to belong to Germany. I only wish I could enter the historic birthplace as Germany, when it was Germany. FamilySearch catalogs under both jurisdictions. Maybe allowing these to be entered into FindaGrave?

  50. I’m wondering how you know if a contributor has died and what happens to their submissions. I have repeatedly asked that a person mistakenly reported to be in a small cemetery is NOT there, and it does not get removed. I’m on the cemetery board and know the person is not there. It never gets changed. Then, when I ask for my family to get reassigned to me, no one answers. I can only assume the person is dead or wants to set a record for how many people are added. I have reassigned when asked by family. It seems really rude not to even answer.

    • Thanks for writing in about this issue. Did you send a suggested edit for the cemetery change? If it was declined, try sending it once more along with a note that includes your source. If it is declined again, contact our support team at support@findagrave.com and we’ll work on it for you. When we are notified that a member has passed on, we will mark them as a fallen graver by linking their member page to their memorial on Find a Grave.

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