The journey we have taken with my husband’s Norwegian family has been such an interesting one. As time has gone on and more indexed records have become available through Family Search, we have been able to piece together lives of family members that we have never met and yet we feel such a kinship to through the records and photos left behind. Still, there is so much more to be discovered!
I was always under the impression that if you could find a grave record for a specific cemetery, that naturally a photo of the headstone would appear. Not so! We were so disappointed to discover that there were no images of the headstones for my husband’s two great-uncles. At first, we just lived with the disappointment. But as we continue to revisit this family, we get promptings to act. Here I will remind all of us how important it is to pray each time you approach the task of family history work. I know that it brings about the miracles we seek!
One morning I was looking again at this family and had the prompting to actually call the cemetery in Philadelphia where they are buried and just ask if headstones existed. I was greeted on the other end by a very friendly voice who passed me on to someone in the office who could help. I expressed to her our desire to know if there were headstones and then, if so, would she be willing to photograph them for us and send pictures? First thing, she did confirm that there were headstones. I was thrilled…another piece of family history! She explained that next time someone was out in the cemetery and available, she would have them take pictures for us and send it. To my delight, the very next morning in my email inbox were the pictures that we had requested!
From this experience, I have learned again the importance of just asking for help when we need it. This can apply to so many aspects of doing this work. There are many people who can help us move this wondrous work along. It can be a consultant, the Family History Guide, the help button on FamilySearch, a family member or a friend to fill in family histories with their knowledge and memories, and even an employee at Mount Peace Cemetery. All we have to do is… Ask!
–Janet Helland- Patron Services/training, Granite Family History Center