Understanding Gravestone Symbols

Published by Cathy Wallace on

Room A-11 • 9am & 10am

Do you remember when you learned to read? As a child, it was fun to look at pictures in books as someone older read the words. But, oh, that magical moment when you realized you could read the words yourself! It opened a whole new world! On many gravestones, there are pictures and symbols that tell stories about your ancestors. If you can’t read “gravestone-language” you are missing part of the story. This class on Understanding Gravestone Symbols will help you learn to “read” a cemetery.

My slides can be found here


Cathy Wallace

Cathy Wallace is the Special Projects Coordinator for BillionGraves, the world’s largest GPS-linked cemetery database. She writes BillionGraves’ blog with 350,000 followers. She manages projects and helps to plan cemetery events around the world. Cathy has given presentations for RootsTech (SLC), MyHeritage, Legacy FamilyTree Webinars, many genealogical societies, JustServe, and the Allen County Library (the largest public genealogy library in the world). Some of the topics have included 'Understanding Gravestone Symbols', 'Cemetery Traditions', and 'Finding Gravestones with the BillionGraves App'.  Cathy is an avid genealogist and loves connecting with others who are passionate about preserving family history.