cemetery - dates and names

Richard D Thorpe

Question: is a cemetery gravestone a primary source?

Queston: are cemeteries required to meet government standards for accuracy?

Question: how reliable is the information on a gravestone for an person who died mid 1700?

N Tychonievich

@Richard D Thorpe The FamilySearch wiki article about Primary sources could be helpful to you:

https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Primary_sources

Based on it, no, a grave marker is not a primary source -- it is created after the fact, usually based on information provided by a family member. It is most likely to have the death date correct, since death would have usually occurred close to the time the grave marker was made. But, of course, some grave markers are made or replaced by later generations, which decreases the reliability of the information.

I can't imagine that the government has any oversight as far as what is put on a grave marker. Family members would, of course, be inclined to provide information that is as accurate as they know.

If you do a google search for "how accurate are dates on headstones", you'll find all sorts of information. there seems to be agreement that the dates are not necessarily accurate--especially the birth date. As with all research, the more sources you can find, the better. Finding the same date on multiple sources increases confidence that it is accurate.

All that said, you can probably get better help on the topic from some of the research groups here in community. You can find them for most countries and some smaller jurisdictions.