Find a Grave Team

Addition to Memorial Search: Bio keywords

Our team has been working on an update to Memorial Search. We’ve added a new field called ‘bio keywords,’ which gives you the option to search for keywords in the bio field. We hope that this helps everyone find even more information through the biographies on Find a Grave memorials.

To use this search, go to Memorial Search and select ‘More search options.’ Add your search terms to the ‘Bio keywords’ field and select Search. You can also use the bio keywords field in addition to other search fields in a single search. Learn more about searching through the tips below or visit our support site.

Why is searching the bio field useful?

You can use the bio keyword search to narrow your search, find interesting memorials or research topics on Find a Grave. You may be researching a surname, like Eastman, and are curious about a certain occupation, say farming. Go to Memorial Search. Add Eastman into the last name field and then farmer into the bio keyword field. Then select Search. This results in a list of all memorials with the last name Eastman that include the word farmer in the bio field. You can then read the biographies and find more information. Refine your search further by scrolling to the top of the search results list and selecting Refine Search. For instance, you could change the word ‘farmer’ to ‘farm*’ which would bring up search results for memorials that include the word farm, farming, farmer, farmhouse, etc.

When you search with a bio keyword, you’ll see the search term you entered and the text around the search term from the bio to help you determine its relevance to your search.

Remember that when you search with bio keywords, you are limiting your search to memorials that include information in the bio field.

Tips for searching with bio keywords:

  • Use the ? or * wildcards in name fields. ? replaces one letter. * represents zero to many letters. E.g. Sorens?n or Wil*
  • If you are only searching for a specific term or phrase, use quotes around it, to get exact results.
  • You can search for multiple terms and also use multiple quotations around each term.
  • To search for results using one or both terms use parentheses and capitalize all letters in the word OR between the terms. Here’s an example: 
  • (keyword) OR (keyword)
  • Other options include using AND or NOT in the same format:
  • (keyword) AND (keyword)
  • (keyword) NOT (keyword)

16 comments

  3. It would be great to be able to change the photos on a memorial after it has been transferred to you after a request from the previous creator or the person who provided a photo that was put on the memorial. In order to remove the photo you have to ask that person to do that and that takes time for that person to respond if at all. If that member has passed on what next! Something to think about.

  5. You tell us not to add obituaries. They add obit to the bio area. Yet again you allow this and break your own rules. Fix it someway where obits can not be added to the memorials anywhere on the memorial page. Bio’s. pictures. they find a place. I know you have no way to control what others do but you can take away the option to do it someway.

    • You can use obits under the rule in the bio section, you just need to reword and eliminate identifying info on possible living relatives. At the end of obit info that I add, I write full obit (at name of newspaper and date). Adding this search let’s me find others of same name with obits which could narrow down the person you are looking for.

  6. I’m going to give this a try using “His Wife” in the national cemeteries to remove the veterans status that were added in error to wives who did not serve, but were interred with their veteran husband. Thanks!

    • Good idea, but be cautious as some women did serve during WWII and Vietnam in Women’s Army Corps, and Navy nursing corps.

  7. Bizarre feature. Maybe do changes which are more important and used daily. Cemeteries can’t be located unless they are spelled exactly as on the FG database (St Peter Cemetery does not bring up Saint Peter Cemetery). Double names as in two marriages (Mary Smith Jones). On the right it will ask if you want to search the cemetery for more Smith Jones. It should allow you to search for Smith Jones or Smith or Jones. How many other Smith Jones would you expect there to be? Her children would certainly not carry that surname.

  8. Fabulous addition! This helps validate volunteer efforts to tell full stories of the people whose lived lives… whose “dashes”… are represented by the memorials to which so many of us contribute.

    Well done!

  10. I appreciate the addition; it will provide hopeful solutions to further research. I also appreciate the work the teams go into listening, analyzing the suggestions offered by members.
    Thank you.

  11. Now that you have the veteran status in there, you should consider adding in a further dropdown or button if they served in a specific war….so “American Revolution”, “World War II”, etc. might make it easier to find people if you know they are a WWII veteran.

  12. I think this is really a great tool! I wonder if you might send out an e-mail to all volunteers regarding the bio section requesting they stop (and hopefully remove) their additions to the bio section where some managers use the section as a ledger of who requested what edits and whether they approved or declined said edits. I can’t be the only volunteer who experienced this. It will complicate the bio search plus it’s not what the bio section should be used for.

  13. A fantastic addition! I have a project researching a particular order of religious sisters and was able to find one of them using the feature which of course, made me very happy.

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