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United States Iowa  Cemeteries  See United States Cemeteries for more detail.

Cemetery records often include birth, marriage, and death information and clues to military service, religion, membership in an organization, and more.

Online
The following have significant cemetery listings for Iowa State. Sites may be incomplete. They may not list all cemeteries in a county and may not include all burials in a cemetery.


 * Findagrave.com home page. Often has tombstone images.
 * Search for names across all Iowa cemeteries in Find A Grave.
 * NOTE:To find your ancestors name in Iowa cemeteries Statewide: go to Findagrave.com, then put in the first and last name. This brings up all your last names in each cemetery in each county.


 * Web:Iowa, Find A Grave Index, 1800-2012 (free) (If the link does not work, go to ancestry.com (Free), click Search, select Card Catalog, paste Title into search box, click Search)


 * Interment.net
 * Lists of cemeteries in the counties.
 * Typed lists of tombstone information.


 * Linkpendium scours the Internet for resources.
 * Links to cemetery databases on other sites.
 * Many cemeteries individually searchable.


 * USGenWEb Tombstone Transcriptions - Iowa
 * List of cemeteries by county.
 * Typed lists of tombstone information.
 * USGenWeb Tombstone Photo Project - Iowa


 * Access Genealogy - Iowa
 * Iowa Cemetery Records click on link or scroll down the page to other Cemetery Records


 * I Dream of Genealogy (Free)
 * Lists of cemeteries by county.
 * Typed lists of tombstone information.


 * Iowa Cemeteries at Daddezio.com
 * Lists of cemeteries or search by the name of the cemetery. Cannot narrow by county.
 * Typed lists of tombstone information.


 * BillionGraves.com
 * Search by going to "under filter by state" and put in Iowa and the surname.
 * Lists of cemeteries by county, with # of entries in Billion Graves site.


 * Deathindexes.com-Iowa by Joe Beine
 * Lists of cemeteries by county.


 * KindredTrails.com Iowa Cemeteries
 * Links to other sites, searches of sponsored sites.

See also Cyndi's List links to databases on other sites.

Published Transcriptions
Many tombstones have been damaged over time by weathering, excavation, vandalism, and so on. As a result, earlier transcriptions may be more accurate and more complete.

Fortunately, early transcriptions may be found in periodicals. Individuals and societies also published cemetery indexes in book form.


 * Find transcripts of cemetery records for in the FamilySearch Library Catalog. Most are filed at the county or state level.
 * For counties, simply add a comma to the search box and slide down to select the county.
 * Or do a Place Name search for "Washington, [county]."
 * For towns, select the county, add a comma, and select the town.


 * A valuable published collection of tombstone inscriptions covering parts of 12 counties is Cemetery Records of Washington, Six Volumes. (Salt Lake City, Utah: Genealogical Society, 1957-60.).
 * v. 1. Lewis and Benton counties -- v. 2. King, Klickitat, and Pierce counties -- v. 3. King, Klickitat, Pierce, Skamania, Snohomish and Thurston counties -- v. 4. King, Klickitat and Pierce counties -- v. 5. Island, Kitsap, Lewis and Pierce counties -- v. 6. Cowlitz, Pierce and Thurston counties.

See United States Cemeteries for further suggestions and information.

The Cemetery Records Gold Mine
Cemetery tombstones, or sexton's records, usually give death date, and age or birth date. Sometimes they give birth place. Spouse and children who died young are often buried nearby.

Use cemetery records to:


 * Identify children who died young or who were not recorded in birth or death records.
 * Establish family relationships and learn of family members.
 * Find clues that lead you to other records about the person. For example:
 * Tombstones may have symbols or insignias indicating military service and social or religious affiliations.
 * There are also abbreviations that give clues when deciphered.

The Association of Gravestone Studies (AGS) has recommendations on the treatment and care of tombstones when needing to make inscriptions more visible.