52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Cemetery

This post is part of Amy Johnson Crow's 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks for 2018. The prompt for the week of April 23, 2018, is Cemetery.

I love going to cemeteries. I visit our family plots in Sunset Hill Cemetery off and on here in Valdosta, Georgia. I went to the cemetery quite often when I first moved back to Valdosta five years ago. I like to sit by my dad’s and my paternal grandparents' graves for a while and commune with nature and with the dead. Then I visit my ancestors' graves. It’s just been way too hot the last two summers, so I haven't visited as much as I once did.

After I moved back to Valdosta, my son told me about a compilation of cemeteries and burials in Lowndes County (Valdosta is the county seat). I couldn’t wait to get my hands on this book, so I thought I'd write about this handy resource.

Church and Family Cemeteries in Lowndes County, Georgia 1825-2005 was compiled by Geraldine McLeod Clifton and Dorothy Peterson Neisen (Reprinted 2007, Genealogy Unlimited Society, Inc. Printed and bound by Wayne and Judy Dasher, Nashville, Georgia). Information is included from Survey of Lowndes County Cemeteries 1825-1987, originally published by Genealogy Unlimited Society Inc. in 1987.  

Church and Family Cemeteries in Lowndes County is in two volumes. Burials in each cemetery are alphabetized by surname. Section numbers, birth date, and death date are referenced with each burial. There are also directions to the cemeteries, and some cemetery plats are included. There’s an index where the cemeteries are listed by area of the county. For example: Clyattville Area, Dasher Area, etc. There's also an index with an alphabetical list of surnames for the burials and one for the cemeteries. Some black and white photographs of graves are included. An alphabetized list of deaths after March 31, 2005 through July 2005 is also included.

These volumes don’t have Sunset Hill Cemetery (owned by the City of Valdosta) or Riverview Memorial Gardens (owned by McLane Funeral Home), but the authors note that books for these cemeteries will be printed at a later date. Information on burials at Sunset Hill can be accessed online by an interactive map. You can also visit the offices of both cemeteries for information. Most of the burials at Riverview Memorial have been posted on findagrave.

How about you? Do you like visiting cemeteries? I guess I mainly like to visit the ones where I have relatives and ancestors. 


Catherine