Interment.net is a United States–based website containing a free
online database
In computing, a database is an organized collection of Data (computing), data or a type of data store based on the use of a database management system (DBMS), the software that interacts with end users, Application software, applications, and ...
of
transcriptions from
headstone
A gravestone or tombstone is a marker, usually stone, that is placed over a grave. A marker set at the head of the grave may be called a headstone. An especially old or elaborate stone slab may be called a funeral stele, stela, or slab. The u ...
s, intended to be a research tool for use by genealogists and historians.
, the site was one of the top 15 free
genealogy
Genealogy () is the study of families, family history, and the tracing of their lineages. Genealogists use oral interviews, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kin ...
websites on the Internet.
Its cemetery database to date includes more than 6 million cemetery records from around the world.
The database is limited to information transcribed from grave markers at cemeteries and/or obtained from burial records from cemetery offices. The data includes surname, given name, birthdate, birthplace, death date, death place, age, inscription (including symbols), notes, and sometimes the location of the grave marker.
The coverage of data addresses the problem for scholars and genealogists who cite the way cemetery records tend to be incomplete while some transcripts are inaccurate.
Many of the cemeteries transcribed on the site no longer exist, making the site one of the few sources for those inscriptions.
Online cemetery databases with similar features include
Findagrave.com and Billiongraves.com.
History
The site started in March 1997 as a personal web page called ''Cemetery Interment Lists on the Internet'' and was simply a list of links to websites with cemetery records. In 1998, the site started accepting cemetery transcriptions directly; to stop the personal website from being overwhelmed, the page author registered the domain name "interment.net" in December 1998 and moved to a separate web hosting service.
By June 1999, the focus of the site had changed to hosting cemetery transcriptions, and the title was changed to ''Cemetery Records on the Internet'', then later, ''Cemetery Records Online''.
The site has had at least seven-page layouts since 1997. It has been supported by advertising revenue since July 1999, and in 2005, the personal site owner incorporated Clear Digital Media, Inc. to control the site.
The company has since expanded, starting several other websites and
weblog
A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries also known as posts. Posts are typically displayed in Reverse chronology, reverse chronologic ...
s.
Interment.net is a
volunteer website and is staffed by contributors and volunteers who go to cemeteries to take photographs for its digital repository and for transcription. Volunteers for these websites describe their labor as a "genealogical kindness," of particular service to those researching their
ancestry
An ancestor, also known as a forefather, fore-elder, or a forebear, is a parent or ( recursively) the parent of an antecedent (i.e., a grandparent, great-grandparent, great-great-grandparent and so forth). ''Ancestor'' is "any person from ...
.
See also
*
Canadian Headstones
*
Find a Grave – an online database of cemetery records
*
National Cemetery Administration's Nationwide Gravesite Locator
*
Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness – volunteers photograph graves on request
*
Tombstone tourist
References
External links
Interment.net website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Interment.Net
American genealogy websites
Internet properties established in 1997
Online person databases
Genealogy databases