Graveyard Rabbits Carnival: Funeral Cards

Funeral Cards and Memorial Cards are often confused. Both are valuable genealogical finds as they contain information about a deceased person. Funeral cards were originally intended as an announcement type card - to be given out to friends and family when a loved one died. It had the time and place of the funeral so that mourners could attend.

Memorial cards were printed in remembrance of a loved one who had died. Often they were not printed until some time after the death. They were given out to friends and family members.

Some funeral cards like the one on the left, have photos, so if you are lucky enough to find one for an ancestor you may see an actual picture of the deceased.

AncestorsAtRest.com has a very nice collection of Funeral Cards online. A look at the index for surnames starting with "A" shows funeral cards for

Able, Fletcher, died 1912 unknown location
Abel, Nicholas, died 1893 Henry Illinois USA
FuneralCard Adams, Catherine, died 1888 unknown location
Adams, Willie, E., died 1889 unknown location
Adams, Elizabeth, E., died 1911 England, Minnesota USA
Anderson, James, died 1942 unknown location
Anderson, Johanna, M., died 1902 unknown location
Ashton, Ann unknown location
Ashton,Joseph, Alfred, unknown location
Atkinson, Florence, L., died 1885 unknown location
Anderson, Gertrude, Bogart, Broadwood, died 1951 Ontario Canada

The Funeral card for Abraham Neilson was found in an antique photo album that I purchased as part of my Lost Faces collection.

Genealogy Today also has many unique funeral cards and genealogy databases.