For more than a decade, genealogist and computer professional John Sterling
worked with about forty volunteers to create the Rhode Island Cemetery Database.
The result is a wonderful tool for finding the burial places of Rhode Island
ancestors who died in the state prior to 1900. Sterling's involvement in the
project stemmed from a simple personal quest: "My earliest ancestors were in
Little Compton in 1742. They appeared in the church records, but not in any of
the town records. What I was looking for was gravestone records to see if I
could locate information on my earliest ancestors. I'd been looking for the
parents of Joseph Starling for thirty years."
What he found was far more compelling. "As I began looking, I started finding
cemetery transcripts in every library and historical society, over one hundred
in all. My original concept was to computerize the transcripts into a huge
database and the job would be done." Sounds like a simple project to someone
with computer experience, but Sterling soon discovered that not all of the
cemeteries in the state had transcriptions. Only about 2,000 transcriptions
existed out of what is estimated to be 3,200 cemeteries. Additionally, those
transcriptions usually only listed a vague location such as a town name or an
out of date description. To a detail-oriented person, it made sense to update
both the descriptions and locators so that the cemeteries could be easily found.
After checking the transcripts against the gravestone inscriptions, it was
discovered that the transcripts were only about ninety percent accurate. The
most accurate collections, such as James Arnold's Vital Records of Rhode
Island, were nearly one hundred percent accurate while others had only a
fifty percent accuracy rate. One of the primary goals of the project was to
improve these percentages. Starling's team decided to break down their plan into
two phases: The first phase involved entering all of the early transcript data
into the computer, while the second phase entailed going to the cemetery,
checking gravestones, and correcting any errors found. They also measured the
height and width of the stones and noted the material, condition, shape, status
(up, down, or broken), carving, and legibility. When all of the cemeteries of a
town were recorded and checked, a new book was published. Eight books have been
published so far and are available through the NEHGS online bookstore. To date,
data on over 3000 cemeteries has been entered into the database and over 2000
cemeteries have been physically checked.
Sterling developed a computer program for his Rhode Island project in 1990.
In 1995, he refined it for regional variations using suggestions from readers of
his regular column, "Gravestones and Computers" in the Association of
Gravestone Studies (AGS) Quarterly. The software now sold by them is
known as the AGS Computer Database, and is the AGS standard. He is aware of at
least 400 groups busily cataloging gravestones in the United States and in
several foreign countries. The fact that they all use the same program with
standardized formats enables the seamless merging of these databases into a
nationwide repository of cemetery information. See the AGS website for more
information.
Sterling and his group of volunteers decided to concentrate only on
pre-twentieth century cemeteries for two reasons: After 1900, death certificates
were issued for nearly everyone in the United States, and secondly, while modern
gravestones are made of durable granite that should be readable forever, the
older marble gravestones are fragile and susceptible to the elements. At the
present time, two to four percent of the older stones in Rhode Island are
unreadable. They set out to save the older information before it is lost
forever. Prior to civil registration of vital records in 1853, a cemetery
inscription may be the only data you can find on that person.
In addition to creating a valuable genealogical research tool, Sterling's
research has given insight into the probability of an ancestor's grave getting a
gravestone. The earliest records for the North Burial Ground in Providence are
dated 1848 to1850 and document one thousand interments. Twenty-five percent of
these have gravestones. Of the total count of internments, one third were
adults, of which fifty percent are marked; another third are children, of which
twenty-five percent are marked; and the last third are unmarked burials in the
Free Ground. If your ancestor died prior to the American Revolution, the
probability of their having a gravestone drops to a mere five percent.
Librarian, genealogist, and author Deby Jecoy Nunes has worked on the Rhode
Island cemetery project from the beginning. She has been instrumental in placing
copies of the database in libraries throughout the state. Currently, the Rhode Island Historical Society (121
Hope St., Providence, RI, 02906) has the most up-to-date version of the
database, which features a flashing red "P" to indicate stones with poor
legibility. Nunes's Rhode Island Cemetery Database websitecontains a " Tips for Using
the Cemetery Database " page which everyone should consult prior to
conducting a search. After looking in the online index
(containing 414,000 names, on RootsWeb) you can contact one of the libraries
listed below for a printout of the record. Please contact the library in advance
of your request to find out their policy for requesting the full citation. Bear
in mind, there may be a fee for this service. The website also lists complete
descriptions of how to find each of the cemeteries.
It will take some time before the cemetery database becomes available on CD,
as there is still work to be done to improve the accuracy of the data. However,
published volumes of eight towns are accurate and currently available through
the NEHGS bookstore . The cemetery database websiteis
also the best place to find out what towns are included in the books.
While John Sterling is ending his eleven-year involvement with the project,
Deby Jecoy Nunes will continue. Sterling estimates that over ninety-five percent
of the pre-twentieth century gravestones in Rhode Island are in the database.
When he began the project in 1990 there were 1,862 registered historical
cemeteries in the state. In eleven years, forty volunteers have found and
registered an additional 1,171 cemeteries (over one hundred per year), bringing
the total to 3,033. They have recorded 414,000 inscriptions and entered them
into the database.
When I asked Sterling about the future of the project, he told me about using
a global positioning system (GPS) to find the coordinates to locate the
cemeteries. This will take a while since only one hundred cemeteries have been
found so far using this method. What this means is that you can use the
coordinates to navigate to within ten meters of a cemetery located
three-quarters of a mile from the nearest road, using a GPS instrument, or in
the future, a cell phone. You'll even know how many feet you have to walk to
reach it. After an incredible amount of time and effort spent over the last
decade, Sterling's team of dedicated volunteers have almost completed a
monumental task. Researchers no longer have to search in vain for cemetery
information. The volunteers have even located many of the small family plots
that were overgrown and in many cases lost. There is no question that John
Sterling and his team of volunteers made a valuable contribution to Rhode Island
genealogy. Keep up the good work!
If you are interested in volunteering for the Rhode Island Cemetery project,
contact Deby Jecoy Nunes .
Useful Addresses
American French Genealogical
Society
78 Earle Street
Woonsocket, RI 02861
Mailing Address:
P.O. Box 2113
Pawtucket, RI 02861-0113
Rhode Island
Historical Society Library
121 Hope Street
Providence, RI
02906
(401) 331-8575
Family History Center
1000 Narragansett Parkway
Warwick, RI 02888
(401) 463-9350
Hours: Wed, Fri 10am-2pm, 7-9pm; Th 7-9pm; Sat 10am-4pm
(Lacks Swan Point Cemetery and the name index.)
East Greenwich
Free Library
82 Peirce Street
East Greenwich, RI 02818
(401)
884-9510
Warwick Public Library
600 Sandy Lane
Warwick, RI 02886
(401) 739-5440
West Warwick Public
Library
1043 Main Street
West Warwick, RI 02893
(401)
828-3750