Find A Grave

Find A Grave – this website was at the top of my “To Do” list for John Cullins and family this morning. Do you know this site?  It is a gem. According to my membership account I’ve been a member 2 years, 4 months, and 4 days. Despite its sad connection to death it is a living, growing, active website where people come to find relatives who’ve passed, or pay tribute by leaving virtual flowers,

or see who else is researching their Aunt Mabel. It stands alone or as a compliment to your ancestry.com tree, and Find A Grave information is available there.

It is a forum to share messages and photos. It is also a great place to volunteer. I use the site very often but do not invest the time many people do, as there are higher priorities at the moment.  In two years it tells me I’ve added one memorial; I manage 2 memorials (that previous owners have handed over to me); uploaded one photo; put in 4 photo requests: left 88 virtual flowers; and added 2 friends. I haven’t put up a bio.  I know, that is pretty pitiful and I must do better in the future.  I’ve volunteered to go out to the local cemeteries and take photos of grave sites requested but it is a popular thing to do here and any requests are snatched up before I get a chance to get out there.  Sigh. For the four requests I’ve made for the Robb family at Cadiz Union Cemetery in Harrison County, Ohio, no one seems to be volunteering.  Maybe some of these San Diegans can drop by sometime. The site tells me that it is only 2,057 miles from home.

Cadiz Union Cemetery
Cadiz, Harrison, Ohio

The Cullins' grave sites needed for our Ohio Pioneers project are in Muskingum County Ohio. Thank you to the volunteers who have trekked to the local cemeteries to record and upload the graves. 

I do my best to connect the Find A Grave to each person (international grave sites are being recorded, as well) where it is available.  I download the hint from ancestry.com and then visit the Find A Grave site – pick up the link and put it in the “Web Links” section (bottom right corner) of the page for that person.  I used to laboriously transfer photos from Find A Grave to ancestry.com but there isn’t any need now that the link is on the page – just a click and you’ll find them.

This morning I looked up the Find A Grave for John 1705-1780 and Jane Cullins. Name spellings change over time and for this name I needed to search Cullins, Cullin, Cullen, Cullens. In Virginia the name comes up Cullens and in Ohio it comes up Cullins for the same family of different generations. John and Jane are my 6^th great grandparents and are our immigrant couple coming from Ireland and settling in Spotsylvania County, Virginia. I found no listings for their grave sites – they may exist but are not on findagrave.com. Their son Edward Cullins and wife, Jane Jones, 5^th great grandparents, moved to Orange County, Virginia. No luck finding their resting place.

Ah, but their son John Cullins, 4^th great grandfather, is on Find A Grave – not with a grave site but a very nice memorial article.  He, along with his wife, Rebecca Jane Beatty, was our early Ohio pioneer, possibly around 1803. There is no memorial for Rebecca. They added to the early population of Ohio by having 10 children and they died in Washington, Muskingum, Ohio.

The 5^th child of John and Rebecca Cullins was John Jr. 1791-1857.

Gravestone of John Cullins, Jr. 1791-1857

He married Dorcas Meredith. Dorcas came from a family of Ohio pioneers in Coshocton County and she died in Fayette County, Iowa. Her tombstone is pictured on Iowa Gravestone Photos Project online. John Jr is featured on Find a Grave in Muskingum County,Ohio. These were my 3^rd great grandparents.

The 2^nd great grandparents, William C Cullins and Amanda Cordray were born in Muskingum County, Ohio but moved on to be Iowa pioneers. It is likely that William’s mother, Dorcas moved west with this couple after the death of her husband.

It has been fun finding information on Find A Grave this morning. Complaints about the site?  I don’t think their search engine works as well as it could.  If you put in information for a specific person often they don’t come up although they are there somewhere.  I’ve found that searching by location and cemetery is sometimes necessary. Search by last name only is helpful. If you are persistent you can often be rewarded.

[Note added 20 Feb 2018 - Since writing this article Find A Grave was purchased by ancestry.com. Subsequently, they have revamped and up-graded the site. It is a great addition to ancestry.com and it is easy to connect your ancestor in Find A Grave to your tree in ancestry.com!]

Photo of John Cullin's gravestone Added by: Kaci Cullins
11/22/2006 on findagrave.com