Ideas for tracing a burial site

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mardler
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Joined: October 4th, 2009, 6:28 pm

Ideas for tracing a burial site

Post by mardler »

I had a question from a new member about how to trace his grandfather's burial site and gave the reply below. Although it's specific to Norwich, I imagine the process doesn't vary that much by place. What do you think?

As for his burial, there are a couple of things you might like to try:
1. Obtain a copy of his death certificate. In case you don’t know how to do this, there’s an explanation on the Bulletin Board here: viewtopic.php?f=8&t=8
If you do this, at least you will know where to start looking. Most people are buried close by where they died.
2. Look in the local newspapers at around the time of his death for the announcement. Usually, the first one will say where the funeral is. In the case of Norwich, you’d be looking for the Eastern Evening News or Eastern Daily Press. Copies of the newspapers are available on microfiche at the Millennium Library 6 days a week. If you’re from outside the local area, you might contact the staff directly.
3. Ask an older relative or friend who might have been at the funeral if they can remember where it was.
4. If your grandfather was a member of a particular religion, you might just try contacting the local church/chapel/synagogue/etc near where he died.
5. A much longer shot would be to guess that he was buried in one of the Norwich Corporation (or other local authority) graveyards and then ask them for help or go look at the records in the library. But that has a very high risk of no result and I wouldn’t try it unless the other options didn’t work.

Are there other things the person might try?
Regards
Paul
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