Cemetery Preservation Commission

Next Meeting

The next meeting of the Cemetery Preservation Commission will be on Saturday, April 1, 2023 at the public meeting room of the Dog River Library.  The meeting will start at 10:30 a.m. 

Members

Richard Jones, Chairman

John McFall, Historian

Facebook Page

CemeteryCommission.Com

Overview

The Douglas County Cemetery Preservation Commission is charged with identifying, surveying, and mapping gravesites, cemeteries and burial grounds in Douglas County for the purpose of preservation of hallowed ground and our history.

Genealogy, as a hobby, has become one of America’s favorite past times.

Show me your cemeteries, and I will tell you what kind of people you have. Benjamin Franklin (1706 to 1790)

Tombstone Information

One of the best ways to validate deceased family members is by recording the birth and death data on their tombstones. In addition to birth and death dates, other information can sometimes be found on tombstones such as place of birth, date of marriage, woman’s maiden name and how many husbands she may have had, name of children, age at time of death, person’s occupation, even a picture of the deceased has been put on tombstones in the last 50 years. Where the person is buried was usually their community of residence, and the church cemetery is usually where they went to church.

Home Plots

In the early years of our State, there were many families who preferred to bury their deceased in family plots near the home place. There may not have been a church cemetery near, or the family may not have been associated with a church. The family may have just wanted to keep the deceased near home so they could keep the graves cleaned up. Unfortunately, those old family plots were many times left behind when the family moved on, and today many are in deplorable condition and stand to be lost forever to some bulldozer.

Classification

A cemetery is classified as Active or Inactive depending on whether burials are still going on there. If the cemetery is Active, we do a current survey; if the cemetery is Inactive, we may use data from a previous survey if that data exists.

Find a Grave

All Douglas County burial records can now be found on Find a Grave. This website also contains genealogical links, photographs, and additional information. Find a Grave’s mission is to find, record and present final disposition information from around the world as a virtual cemetery experience.

Georgia Law protects graves, but only if the grave is located and on an official database!

Additional Information

If you know of a burial plot that is overgrown or hard to locate because of dense growth, please call us.