Wednesday, January 25, 2012

How to Ask for a Memorial Transfer on Find A Grave

Last week I wrote about the correct procedure to ask for corrections and additions to be made to a Find A Grave memorial that you do not manage.  But what if you would like the volunteer to transfer ownership of a memorial they created?  What are the correct steps to follow in this situation?

1.  First, determine if you really need the memorial transferred to you for management.  Remember that additions and corrections can be made through Suggest a Correction.  Simply having someone in your family tree is not grounds to ask for a management transfer request.

2.  The guidelines for a transfer request is for direct relatives within four generations. This would be your siblings, parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.  Requests for these types of transfers will be granted.  If the memorial manager refuses just send an email to edit at Find A Grave and they will make the transfer for you.

3.  Transfers outside of four generations are at the discretion of the memorial manager.  When asking for this type of transfer be sure to be polite and always explain your relationship to the deceased.  Keep in mind that the original contributor may also be related to the memorial.

4.  Finally, please note that it is not appropriate to request a transfer, then after receiving it, delete the original memorial and substitute with a new one you have created.  This practice is against Find A Grave rules and will get you a "time out" or banned from the site.

What do I do if I request a transfer out of the four generation guideline and it is denied?  This is when I either create a virtual cemetery or add the memorial to one I have already created.

What is a Virtual Cemetery?  I'll cover that feature and its uses next week.

11 comments:

  1. Lisa...I am really enjoying your Find a Grave postings. I recently became a volunteer myself after creating a memorial for my dad - see my blog post:

    http://onkat.wordpress.com/2012/01/10/eternally-grateful-to-find-a-grave-com/

    Thanks for these informative and helpful posts!

    Kathi O'Neill

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    1. What a touching post. Your family must be so proud of your father!

      I love the photo with all the wreaths....just beautiful.

      I left a token of appreciation on his memorial.

      Lisa

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  2. How many times can a memorial be transferred? One was created by a stranger and then transferred to me. Now I would like to transfer it to a younger family member. Can I do that?

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  3. Hi Nicki, I'm not aware of any restrictions on the number of times a memorial can be transferred.

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  4. How do I get a transfer from someone that is dead

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  5. The question remains unanswered? How (where ) does one request a transfer. In my case my maternal (straight line) great, great father was originally managed/posted by a power poster who has since died. Findagrave now manages the memorial and the profile does not accept messages and no email is listed.

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  6. This article says who and why, but not how...............................

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  7. I am in the middle of this same issue for my third great-grandparents. I was very polite, thorough with sources, and patient with a manager who had made duplicate profiles (with blurry pictures) of their headstone. I was met with with a non-sensical and threatening reply. She locked down my original profiles (2008) that were linked to the whole immediate family by initiating a "merge review." She merged her 2012 blurry mirror profiles and overtook control of the management. When I noticed what had happened a few months later, she wrote me 2 irate messages, calling me "holier than thou," of all things. She manages tens of thousands of memorials and says on her profile that she "doesn't play by the F/G rules," and so on and so on.

    She calls herself "Peaceful Wanderer."

    I wrote this afternoon to edit@findagrave, complete with screenshots of her communications that violate Find a Grave policies. I hope this action brings good results. I will share how to resolve this issue if I have good results.

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  8. I have 5 memorials that were created my non-family members as a hobby (photos taken at cemeteries). I have asked 3 times to have these transfer to me and haven't got no response from find-a-grave. How do I proceed?

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  9. I'm newer to the site, and I'm finding some really odd behavior from some of the "hoarder" types as well. It is strange to me that someone would manage 10s of thousands of graves and not transfer to a family member upon request. No one can manage that many graves properly, and it is best managed by family rather than a complete stranger who cannot possibly research thousands of people. The family knows things and it's more to them than than a stone in a cemetery they photographed. Let alone manage 10s of thousands.

    Imagine someone taking a picture of your deceased relative and then thinking they get to make all funeral decisions, what will be said at the service about that person, etc. It is essentially what a few of them are doing with people they don't know. Like, my great grandfather died young, and for some reason he wasn't mentioned in his father's obituary. He was mentioned in his mother's. I showed that, she still won't add his father. She controls him too. She just refused a second request, and goes into this whole tirade about how she's overwhelmed only logs on monthly, and works a lot of hours. OK, well then hand over to people who are willing to take the time. Family is the most likely. I mean, she has taken control of pretty much a whole county. My cousin and I noticed this too.

    At first, I was under the impression that everyone on here were just people being kind. Which, most are. I don't want to sour people, but I would also warn new people to beware of these types, and it's most definitely the minority but the hoarders exist too. Again, I don't want to sour, because I've had some of mine have obituaries and things I just don't have, and it was quite touching that people would take their personal time for a complete stranger, and I was able to find out things about my family I never knew. There's many more of them than the hoarder types who are rare, and the majority of my interactions have been very pleasant, and I'm finding the site very enjoyable, and generally full of kind people. When I get done with my family, I'd like to reciprocate this kindness, and I can't even dream of not giving a family member a grave to manage if they request.

    I only have about 30, and they're all family. A very kind contributor that transferred helped me find a good genealogy site so I could make sure my information was accurate, and I'm still familiarizing myself with the software. The thing is, I've been able to engage other family members (I have a large family)
    and this is making things unpleasant (the same couple seem to have whole cemeteries). A lot of people don't even know this site exists, nor the strange behaviors from a few. I couldn't wrap my head around it at first. Like I didn't recognize that people would actually do this? I hope this post helps people understand a few of the dynamics here.

    I have my hands full with my few family members at this point. This is something that should really be treated with respect. If you like taking pictures it's wonderful service to family who may be out of state, etc. I've so appreciated the contributions. Most are pretty wonderful people who are being kind.

    Like anything else, I guess there are weirdo control freaks that like to have power. This is such a strange phenomenon.

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