Presented in cooperation with Maryland Public Television (MPT), this beginner-to-intermediate genealogy webinar series is designed to help you use the many types of death-related records to learn not only about an ancestor but also about their families. 

The two-hour sessions are scheduled for 7:00pm ET on September 9, September 23, October 7, and October 21. Since all the sessions will be recorded, you can combine attending live with watching sessions after the fact.

The cost is $100. Registrants will also receive a one-year introductory MGS membership (not applicable to current members) and a one-year MPT Passport membership or membership extension. 

Session 3: Buried, Mourned, and Remembered: Cemetery, Funeral, and Church Records

Wednesday, October 7, 7-9pm ET

This session turns to the records of burial, mourning, and memorialization. Cemetery records, gravestones, burial permits, funeral home records, church burial registers, sexton’s books, lot records, perpetual-care files, monument inscriptions, and memorial cards can place an ancestor in a family, congregation, ethnic community, neighborhood, or migration chain.

Participants will learn how to evaluate cemetery evidence, distinguish burial place from place of death, interpret cemetery lot ownership, connect burials to church membership, and use funeral and burial records to identify relatives and associates. The session also discusses modern cemetery databases and memorial websites, including how to verify user-contributed information against original records.

Our Speaker

The workshop series will be led by nationally known speaker Annette Burke Lyttle, who has been the presenter for several previous MGS/MPT workshop series. She holds the Certified Genealogist^® credential and owns Heritage Detective, LLC, providing professional genealogical services in research, education, and writing. Annette is a course coordinator for the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy and the British Institute. She is a published writer whose research interests include Quaker ancestors and ancestral migrations in the US. She is past president of the Association of Professional Genealogists and editor of The Florida Genealogist.

Historic image in graphic: Mourning Picture, American, ca. 1810. Metropolitan Museum of Art.