Cemetery
Web site a tool for research
A
Kutztown burial site that once listed graves on index cards makes them
more accessible and protected with an online searchable database.
By Erin
Negley, Reading Eagle
When Clark D. Frederic of Maxatawny Township was tracing his family roots, he hit an unexpected roadblock.
A fire had destroyed the records at a cemetery in Carlisle, Cumberland County, where his great-great-grandfather Adam Frederic was buried in 1882.
Frederic, who now supervises a Kutztown cemetery, recalled this personal stumbling block when someone suggested posting the Kutztown cemetery's records on a Web site.
On the Internet, a fire couldn't ruin the data chronicling the 3,565 people buried at Hope Cemetery near Saint John's United Church of Christ in the borough.
The records went online in November with a Web site featuring a searchable database.
Since then, www.webcemeteries.com has recorded thousands of hits, according to Eric A. Robuck of Virginville, the Web site owner and manager. So far, the majority of those hits have come from cemetery staff managing the data, he said.
Robuck pitched the computerized database to the Hope Cemetery board of directors in 2000. He was finishing his degree in Web engineering at Kutztown University and wanted something to add to his resume. He's now a software engineer for the Pennsylvania Army National Guard.
The database replaced thousands of scattered cards that past superintendents kept in the cemetery's mausoleum. The cemetery's oldest grave dates to 1825.
“Cemeteries like Hope keep their records on 3-by-5 cards,” Robuck said. “If there's a fire, it's gone. If there's a flood, it's gone. There's no backup. It's gone.”
The records database didn't leap to the Internet until Frederic became cemetery superintendent in September.
“I thought it was a very good idea,” he said. “I think it's an excellent management tool. You have everything at your fingertips.”
Only records for Hope Cemetery are on the site permanently, but Robuck hopes to add more local cemeteries to the online database.
St. Paul's Union Cemetery, a secular cemetery on Main Street, Richmond Township, added the burial data to the site while its board considers keeping the information there permanently.
Adding more cemeteries would expand the records to genealogy researchers worldwide.
Robuck charges Hope Cemetery a monthly fee of a penny per grave $35.65 for programming the Web site and managing the server. He also plans to publish a book listing the people buried in Hope Cemetery to raise money for the nonprofit cemetery.
As Robuck's database organized information from Hope Cemetery, he noticed some trends, including that the average age at death for those buried there increased from 25 years in 1830 to 81 years in 2002.
“It's pretty neat I think,” he said. “I hope I don't sound too ghoulish.”
The Web site also allows visitors to leave comments, memorials or other information about the deceased, Robuck said.
“If we get cemeteries doing this, cemeteries can be the new history books,” he said. “People can add information about their loved ones and everyone can read that.”
The Berks County Genealogical Society library in Laureldale has some cemetery records on computer databases, but society volunteer Annabelle A. Moyer was unaware of any other local cemeteries with their records on the Internet.
“I really think people like to come in and use the hands-on method,” she said, referring to the volumes of information at the library.
Contact reporter
Erin Negley at 610-371-5047 or enegley@readingeagle.com.
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