On Memorial Day, I tweeted a link to a virtual cemetery I created on Find-a-Grave to honor my military family members. Twitter friend Melanie McComb of The Shamrock Genealogist asked how I did this and I answered over the course of a few tweets. Then I realized that this would make a really good blog post. After all, others may want to create virtual cemeteries as well!
A virtual cemetery is simply a collection of Find-a-Grave memorials that you put together. It can be any theme you want (not just genealogy) and can include any memorials that are anywhere on Find-a-Grave. Some of my virtual cemeteries include: Direct Ancestors, Descendants of George & Emma Pleau, and Military Family.
All you need to create a virtual cemetery is a Find-a-Grave login. If you don’t have one, click here and follow the instructions on the screen.
Once you are signed in, click on your name in the upper right corner of the screen. This will bring you to a screen like this (the Contributor Tools tab):
Screenshot, findagrave.com
To start a new virtual cemetery, look at the “Customize” list in the lower left and click the “Edit” button after “My Virtual Cemeteries”. This will bring you to your personal Virtual Cemeteries page. (Once you’ve created a cemetery, you can get here from any Virtual Cemeteries link on the Contributor Tools and Profile tabs.)
Screenshot, findagrave.com
Click on the “Add New” link in the upper left of the screen. Give your cemetery a name and, if you want, a description. You can also choose to make this public or not (the default is public). Then click on the “Add This Virtual Cemetery” button on the bottom.
Screenshot, findagrave.com
Now the fun begins – adding the memorials! Go to a memorial you want to add to your cemetery. On the lower left side of the memorial, you’ll see a link that says “Edit Virtual Cemetery info”.
Screenshot, findagrave.com
Click on that, and you’ll see a page similar to this:
Screenshot, findagrave.com
Put a checkmark in the box of the virtual cemetery you want, click the “Save Changes” button, and you’re ready to add another memorial!
To log out of Find-a-Grave, just click on the “Log Out” link at the bottom of the actions column on the left.
Here is a link to the cemetery we’ve created today. I hope you enjoy creating your own virtual cemeteries!
Beautiful Water Genealogy 
Hello,nice share.
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I lost a daughter-in-law that was like a daughter to me. She was cremated. Her ashes dispersed where she desired. There is no obituary online (written by her brother) or any reference to her death. Would this be appropriate (virtual) to honor her? Maybe it would be going beyond what her children and other family members would desire. Thanks for doing these pages.
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My condolences for your loss. Setting up a FindaGrave memorial is indeed a very personal decision, and it sounds like it would probably be a good idea to discuss it with other family members. The nice thing about FindaGrave is that it does allow memorials for those who are cremated (I made one for my dad), which can be a virtual place to go & remember the person & even to leave virtual flowers & notes.
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Pingback: How to Create a Find-a-Grave Virtual Cemetery – Mj's Genealogy
We have a relative who was cremated. Can we add him to a virtual cemetery even though there is no physical burial site?
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You can, but they must have a FindaGrave memorial first. If they don’t have one, you can still create one, even with a cremation. I think that, instead of selecting a cemetery you’d select that they were cremated. (It might be a drop-down. I’ve only done it once & that was before they changed the website.)
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