I’ve long been a fan of Ancestry and several other websites for genealogy which I’ve mentioned here but oddly one that I use regularly has not been mentioned here that I can recall.

That site is http://www.findagrave.com/ or Find A Grave. Frequently when I know the names of husband and wife and where they live, I can easily find date of death and often additional information and frequently an actual picture of the grave. Of course I check to see if the information there is consistent with everything else I know.

Or sometimes I know less than that and Find A Grave gives me the first hint on things to check out. It is a wonderful site and is run by volunteer genealogists. Now Find A Grave has been purchased by Ancestry.com. Apparently the site will remain free but have the support of Ancestry behind it so we can expect further improvements

What will change at Find A Grave?
•The short answer is: nothing. The site will remain free and continue to operate as it has for the last eighteen years. I (Jim Tipton, Find A Grave’s founder) will continue to run the website but will have the support of a full, dedicated Find A Grave team at Ancestry.com – so the pace of updates / improvements / new features should accelerate. The familiar administrators that many of you have come to know over the years will remain and continue in the same capacity.

This is from the announcement and FAQ on Find A Grave. Read it if you’d like to know more about it.