Cremation option instead of burial place?

LegacyUser

Sydney said: I see a lot of the red exclamation marks for missing burial places for people that are cremated - just thought it might be helpful to have a checkbox or something to indicate they were cremated so it's documented but so the missing burial isn't continuously flagged. Thanks!

LegacyUser

MaryAnne Ashton said: THAT is a great idea! I certainly support it.

LegacyUser

Gordon Collett said: Red exclamation marks are only used for data that is not standardize, not for missing data. So there must be something in the burial field that should not be there or is not entered correctly.

Can you post the ID of a person that shows such a mark?

Cremation is a standard event in the Other Information and all the details can be added there.

LegacyUser

Juli said: Missing burial places aren't flagged. It's not a required field. In fact, there aren't any required fields on FS FT. (No, not even a name.) If you leave everything blank, then you'll get "missing vital event"-type suggestions, but those aren't flags.

I think what you're seeing is flags on non-machine-interpretable inputs on the date and/or place of burial. Perhaps you wrote "cremated" in the burial location? That'll get you a red exclamation mark, because it cannot be associated with a location in the places database.

There is a place to record cremation: it's under Other Information - Events.

LegacyUser

David Newton said: It is, in fact, perfectly possible for someone to be dead and not to be buried. Therefore it is not a data error of any type for burial to be missing.

For example someone can die, be cremated, and their ashes can sit in an urn on the mantlepiece of a relative for many years. More permanently say someone dies by being near the centre of a very large explosion, it's perfectly possible for them to actually be vapourised by the explosion. Unusual to be sure, but again dead without being buried.

LegacyUser

Tom Huber said: Cremation, as an event, is a standard "Other Information" event. The disposal of the remains may not have been buried, but either kept by someone, or scattered at a favorite location for the person, or something similar.

LegacyUser

Nolan Bateman said: In addition to having "cremation" I also see a lot of "Unknown" on Find a Grave.

I would like to see both.

For the Unknown place it can always be changed when the location is found. Which I have done several times with my camera.

As for Cremation that is more permanent. I do know that I have seen obits, or death certificates that show this, and also see they buried the ashes in a cemetery and placed a headstone. In this case a burial place can be changed also.

Nolan

LegacyUser

Tom Huber said: Although FamilySearch and Find-a-Grave are separate entities, FS does import and modify the index from the Find a Grave site. The code used with that site is not under the control of FS and any problems need to be addressed to the owners of Find a Grave (Ancestry).

Unknown is not a burial location and should not be used for either Find a Grave (that is their problem) or Family Search. If the burial location is not known, leave that entry empty. If a user "must" make an entry (not a FS requirement), then put it in a note or record it as a story.

When a cremation is involved, there are several possible conclusions--

a) the ashes are buried in a cemetery -- and therefore, there will be a burial location that can be recorded.

b) the ashes are retained by a relative, in which case, this information should be retained as a note or as a memory.

c) the ashes have been disposed, possibly scattered with nothing left behind.

d) a cenotaph has been created and placed in a mausoleum or other cemetery-like facility. Cenotaphs are not burials, only recognition of the person who has died. Cenotaphs are common for those who have died in the line of duty (and the body not recovered).

In the case of my relative who was killed in a horrific car crash, leaving nothing behind that could be identified, both c and d apply. The cremation has been noted in "Other" and in a separate entry as a custom fact in Other, the disposition of the ashes noted as "Scattered by his/her children" (both husband and wife were killed at the same time).