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Help and FAQs File
1. Where can I find out about Tennessee's Cemetery laws?
2. I know the name of the cemetery I am looking for, but I don't know what county it is located in?
First, try the Tombstone Project Search Engine. If the cemetery has been transcribed and available online with the Tombstone Project, the search engine will find it and display a link to the listing. Plug in the name of the cemetery and the word "cemetery" without the quotes in the Search box. The Tombstone pages contain links to external sites with cemetery listings. The search engine will not search those listings.
Second, try the TNGenWeb search engine. Many cemeteries have been submitted to the TNGenWeb County sites. I try to maintain links to these listings, but often times, I find out that I am behind.
If you don't find what you are looking for there, try either Topozone or the USGS Mapping Service.
Topozone - In the "Place Name" Search Box, type in the name of the cemetery. If you select "TN" from the State drop down list, the search engine will restrict it's search to the state of Tennessee. Selecting "Any" will search the entire United States. The search will return with the name of the cemetery, the county and state in which it is located, and the latitude and longitude coordinates of its location. Clicking on the name of the cemetery will bring up a map of its locations. Please note, that Topozone may NOT list all cemeteries in the county.
USGS Mapping Service - In the "Feature Name" Box, type in the name of the cemetery. If you select "TN" from the State drop down list, the search engine will restrict it's search to the state of Tennessee. Selecting "Any" will search the entire United States. The search returns the same information as the Topozone Server. Again, the USGS Mapping Service may NOT list all cemeteries in the county.
Try posting a query to the TN Cemeteries mailing list. Perhaps someone there will recognize the cemetery.
3. I know the name of the city in which my cemetery is located, but I don't know what county that city is located.
To find the name of the county where a particular city is located, try the following websites.
4. How can I get a list of cemeteries that are in a county?
Using the USGS Mapping Service you can get a list of cemeteries located in the county. Please note that not all cemeteries are listed.
State or Territory: <select Tennessee>
Feature Type: <select cemetery>
County Name: <type in your favorite county>5. How can I find out if a cemetery book has been published for a particular county?
You can check the TNGenWeb Site Counties. Many counties have a Published Resources list that will list current publications for the county. If the county your are looking for does not, you can use the Tennessee State Library and Archives Online Catalog. Try using the following key words:
<county name> cemeteries
<county name> cemetery
<county name> tombstone(s)In 1938, the Works Progress Administration gathered information about many Tennessee cemeteries and published their findings in books arranged by county. The Family History Centers have many of these publications on microfilm. For a listing of what is available, go to
6. Some states have Digital Photo Tombstone Projects. Why does Tennessee not have one?
We will be adding photo transcriptions very shortly. If you have photographs of TN cemeteries, please contact me before submitting so I can give instructions on how to send photos and the data needed to create the photo transcription.
7. I live out of state. How can I find someone who will take a photograph of a tombstone for me?
There are several sites that have volunteers for such a purpose. Try one of the following:
Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness
If you are fortunate enough to find someone to take a photo for you, please consider donating that photo to us.
8. I don't live in Tennessee. How can I help out the Tennessee Tombstone Transcription Project?
You can help out the Tennessee Tombstone Project by volunteering to transcribe a cemetery in your area and submit it to your state's Tombstone Project. The more volunteers we have in each state, the faster cemeteries will go online. If you volunteer in your state, someone will follow your lead and volunteer in Tennessee.
9. Why does the Tennessee Tombstone Project not have more volunteers to lookup tombstones in one of the many published books on Cemeteries by County?
The USGenWeb Project policy on doing lookups from published material is that written permission must be obtained from author of the book before lookups can be done. As a member of the USGenWeb Project, the Tennessee Tombstone Project adheres to this policy.
10. I have a cemetery book from County XXXX, I would like to become a lookup volunteer for that book. What do I need to do?
You will need to contact the author of the book and request written permission to do lookups from his/her book. The required permission statement is online with the USGenWeb Project. Once you have obtained a signed statement, you will need to send me a copy.
11. Can I submit my cemetery listing to both the Tennessee Tombstone Project and the TNGenWeb County sites?
Please do!!! Contact your TNGenWeb County Host and ask him/her if he/she would like a copy of the listing for the county pages. Some hosts like to have copies of cemetery listings to be available at the county site while others prefer simply to link to existing listings. All you have to do is ask.
12. I need to contact a submitter, but my email is returned. What do I do?
Unfortunately, there is not much that can be done. Most people who submit listings are very good about keeping their email addresses up to date. Others forget that they have submitted listings. Unless I am contacted when a person's email is changed, I have no way to get in contact with that person.
13. What do I do if I find a broken link?
Let me know. If the file is a part of the Tombstone Project, I will try to track it down. However, if the link is external, it may be difficult or impossible to track it down.
14. I really need to have a specific cemetery transcribed. If I send you the name of the cemetery and the county in which it is located, will you send someone there to transcribe it for me?
This is an all volunteer project and we depend upon contributions from individuals who choose the cemetery they wish to transcribe. There is no way of "hiring" volunteers to transcribe cemeteries. But ask anyway just in case we have a great volunteer in that County who is willing to do this for us.
15. How can I obtain a Tennessee Death Certificate?
The Tennessee State Library and Archives (TSLA) can provide copies of death certificates for the years 1908-1912 and 1914 - 1952 for a fee. After 1952, you will have to contact the Office of Vital Records. Unfortunately, death certificates for the
The TSLA does have online a complete index to Death Records for the year 1908-1912 and a partial index to the records 1914-1912. There are NO death records for the year 1913. Unfortunately, death certificates for the years 1908-1912 will NOT list the cemetery where the person is buried. From 1914 on, the cemetery will be listed on the record.
16. How can I obtain an obituary?
The TSLA has online Newspaper Obituary Indexes in Public Libraries. If you are looking for an obituary that might be available at one of these locations, you might try the
Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness
to see if someone can do a lookup for you.
Try searching some of the online obituary sites.
17. Can you give me directions to a specific cemetery?
No, I am sorry but I do not have a master list that describes the location of all cemeteries. If I know the city/location of a cemetery, it will be listed on the transcription page and you can use yellow pages or other resources to try to locate it. Hopefully, contributors will give basic directions, locations of cemeteries to make this easier for everyone.
You might try posting a query to the specific county's mailing list. There are people on the list that live in the county and may be familiar with the location of a specific cemetery. You can also try posting a query to the TN-Cemeteries mailing list.
18. Can I send you a copy of a cemetery via snail mail?
It is best if you can provide me with an electronic copy. If it has to be typed into Excel, it will take much longer to get it online. Please contact me so we can talk about the best way for you to create an electronic file, I have several templates in various programs and am willing to help you.
19. Additional Help Items:
 Let's work together in this endeavor!
This Project is about remembering our dead and preserving our history!!! PLEASE NOTE If you would like to transcribe data for this Project, or you have already done cemetery surveys and would like to share that work, please donate your transcription. "We Cannot
Accept Copyrighted Material" All Cemetery surveys, gravestone inscriptions and other files related to cemeteries are posted in the TNGenWeb Archives. It is not necessary to send these files to both the Archives and the Tombstone Transcription Project. Tennessee Tombstone Project Manager Please use "Cemetery Registration" as the subject line of your message. |
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Thanks for stopping by!
This page was last updated April 24, 2005
Copyright © USGenWeb Tombstone Project, 1997-2005