IS TOMBSTONE INFORMATION PUBLIC OR PRIVATE
INFORMATION?
Brenda Kellow
Genealogist David Shannon and Old Union Christian Church
Cemetery on Russell Cave Road in Kentucky having a debate over who owns the
information on the church cemetery tombstones. David began the project with his
relatives’ stones and documentation but soon he decided to document, index and
post the information on the 475 burials he collected. He included a photograph
of each visible stone.
David’s endeavor is nice and worthwhile, although the
church board does not see it that way. The board sent him a note “to cease
publishing pictures of stones ... not part of your family because it is sharing
family information without their consent.” They go on to say he “is invading the
privacy of those buried there.” It seems the board wanted David to ask for
permission before publishing the information. Mary Davis, Stites & Harbison,
professor of law at the University Of Kentucky College Of Law says the birth and
death information is public and is available at Kentucky’s vital statistics
office. She goes on to say, “if a fact is in the public domain, it’s not private
and it can be published.” Ms. Davis stated that the information on the
tombstones is also public and it too can be published. To find out more about
this controversy go to www.kentucky.com/181/story/727210.html. You might also
check out David Shannon’s personal site to decide if you agree with the church
or with David.
See his site at
www.oldunioncemetery.com/OldUnionS-U.htm.
FREE e-BOOK ON PHOTOGRAPHY: If you are
fascinated with your old family photographs, you may download the 42-page
e-Book, Best of the photo Detective,
you can go to the Family Tree Magazine site,
http://www.familytreemagazine.com/enews and download it.
This valuable resource includes an excerpt from Uncovering Your Ancestry
through Family Photographs by Family Tree Magazine's
Photo Detective, photo historian Maureen A. Taylor. You receive the free
code for downloading it immediately after you type in your name and a password.
This guide will help you discover the clues in your old family photographs that
might decode when, where, and maybe even determine the year the pictures were
taken.
TALK ON NON-POPULATION CENSUS: The purpose of the Special
Census lecture is to introduce the genealogy researcher to the various means of
using different types of census in order to benefit from their assets. There is
more to the census than just counting people. The best-known and most used
census is the population census. Have you ever gone beyond the it? Did you know
there are other census schedules? Do you know what is included in the special
census?
The non-population census schedules include agriculture, manufacturing and
business, social, mortality, slave, federal territorial census, and veteran’s
census. Nevertheless, we cannot forget the sheriff’s census, state census and
military census—although these censuses count the population, these are most
important to your research. Each has an extraordinary amount of information.
Finding using and analyzing these schedules put people in a particular place
during a particular period.
The speaker, Brenda Kellow, defines and explains the non-population census to
help you broaden your research knowledge. It is free at the Haggard Genealogy
Library on April 2, 2009, 10:30-noon.
______________________________
Brenda Kellow has a
bachelor's degree in history, teaches, and lectures on genealogy. Before
retiring to publish her family’s histories in 2007, Brenda held certification as
a Certified Genealogist and as a Certified Genealogical Instructor. Send
reunions announcements, books to review, and genealogy queries to:
TraceRts@verizon.net.
