Technology & Genealogy: Catholic Cemeteries of Brooklyn's "Locate A Loved One"

Just discovered this today!

Oh, I could go on and on about all the advantages of doing family history research in the information technology age, but here's an example: while looking into my Enright ancestors, I discovered that Catholic Cemeteries of the Diocese of Brooklyn have a "Locate a Loved One" search engine. Now, this one won't tell you what cemetery your ancestor is buried in - BUT, let's say you know when and where your great-grandmother died, and that she's buried in Holy Cross Cemetery in Brooklyn, you could put her in and find the location of her grave. Maybe you don't know when your great-grandfather died, but you assume he is not only buried in the same cemetery but in the same plot as your great-grandmother, so you put in his name, and cross reference plot locations - voila! Hopefully you can find out when HE died, and then order his death certificate (this is what I just did, and plan to do...sooo excited!)

Another perk of this search engine that maybe isn't at the forefront of people's mind but is just such another important service, is that this simplifies finding the location of your family member's grave or your family's plot in a cemetery, making visiting it so much easier. I have had a lot of luck visiting cemeteries and encountering helpful employees who look up my family's information and hand me a map with the grave location circled. But sometimes I show up and the office is closed - either it's lunchtime, or after hours, or the weekend. And sometimes they've been busy and I've had to wait a bit (which I don't mind, but my young children do!) Now, you can get that information ahead of time - this website has a map of the cemetery on it, with all the sections labeled. And it looks like they have an app that you can download to help locate your ancestors on the go...

For me, this kind of technology is invaluable. I think it's going to open new doors for research but even just for visiting our family members who have passed, which is part of this genealogy journey that I really enjoy. So if you don't have ancestors buried in Brooklyn, see if your local cemetery/diocese has a website like this, and let me know if you found it helpful!