Billion Graves
As some of you know, for the past six months or so I have been doing family history work whenever I have a spare minute. There is always something to be done and I have found it to be such a worthwhile and addicting hobby. A few weeks ago at church they announced there would be a family history course being taught during Sunday School for a brief time. I was so excited and had to laugh when Burke and I got in there and we were the only couple under 60. Come on young guns get with the program! Haven't you heard family history is COOL? Well, it is and here is just another reason why.
In class this last week Brother Christensen told us about a website called billiongraves.com that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has linked up with on their fantastic website familysearch.org (just FYI - you don't have to be a member of the church to search the billions of records on Family Search for your ancestors and besides it's ALL free!). Here's a little video explaining the purpose of the Billion Graves website.
Isn't that neat-o?! I explored the site and found out that our local Mesquite Cemetery was not yet on the site and the wheels started turning. So last night for our combined Young Men and Young Women Wednesday night activity we had the youth bring as many smart phones as possible (most just borrowed their parents) with the free Billion Graves Ap already downloaded. We then divided and conquered! In just an hour and a half we took pictures of every headstone in the cemetery and still had time to take all the kids for ice cream afterwards! From my phone alone I uploaded 142 pictures and we had 9 other phones, so I think we must have done well over 1,000 headstones.
If you are involved with youth or scouting (they say this is a terrific Eagle Scout project) or just want a meaningful activity to do at a family reunion, I highly suggest getting involved in a project like this. I was amazed that we were able to do the entire cemetery so quickly and it was just another example of the cliche, "many hands make light work". Today my goal is to transcribe each of the photos I took so they can become available to anyone searching for ancestors buried in Mesquite. Check out the site if you have a minute - it's amazing what we can do with all the advanced technology at our fingertips!
In class this last week Brother Christensen told us about a website called billiongraves.com that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has linked up with on their fantastic website familysearch.org (just FYI - you don't have to be a member of the church to search the billions of records on Family Search for your ancestors and besides it's ALL free!). Here's a little video explaining the purpose of the Billion Graves website.
Isn't that neat-o?! I explored the site and found out that our local Mesquite Cemetery was not yet on the site and the wheels started turning. So last night for our combined Young Men and Young Women Wednesday night activity we had the youth bring as many smart phones as possible (most just borrowed their parents) with the free Billion Graves Ap already downloaded. We then divided and conquered! In just an hour and a half we took pictures of every headstone in the cemetery and still had time to take all the kids for ice cream afterwards! From my phone alone I uploaded 142 pictures and we had 9 other phones, so I think we must have done well over 1,000 headstones.
If you are involved with youth or scouting (they say this is a terrific Eagle Scout project) or just want a meaningful activity to do at a family reunion, I highly suggest getting involved in a project like this. I was amazed that we were able to do the entire cemetery so quickly and it was just another example of the cliche, "many hands make light work". Today my goal is to transcribe each of the photos I took so they can become available to anyone searching for ancestors buried in Mesquite. Check out the site if you have a minute - it's amazing what we can do with all the advanced technology at our fingertips!
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