Cemetery Indexes

What is a Cemetery Index?

North Stonington Cemeteries Front Page Hale Inscriptions, Ancestry.com

For information about the Charles R. Hale Cemetery Index, I turned to the Connecticut State Library for information about the collection. 

I knew that the collection consisted of more than just lists of transcriptions but the only pages I had seen were shared with me by the kind assistant town clerk in the town of Groton, CT when I sent for certified birth and marriage records of some of my family members and mentioned that I was research cemeteries in the area.

She sent me the listing of the Groton, CT cemeteries and I sent her a check for the photocopy fee. It was well worth it. I got to study the pages and compare what the indexer wrote to what I photographed. This particular cemetery has many old stones PLUS the extra added bonus of poison ivy. (It since has been cleaned up)

Every bit of information helps when trying to figure out family relationships in the cemetery. (link to my photos from the mentioned cemetery) [Old Packer Burrows Cemetery]

Hale Collection of Newspaper Marriage and Death Notices

I have been told that the only way to use this index was to go to the location of the books as they are bound in volumes by town or to send for the microfilm. But, now, Ancestry.com is offering the whole collection.