After climbing a steep embankment in Virginia, Nancy Calhoun was reminded of the genealogical value of old cemeteries.

“I went to Virginia looking for my great-grandparents,” she said. “She had died in Oklahoma and they took her back to Virginia to be buried. Not only did I find she and her husband, I found the husband’s parents, grandparents, and several of the siblings. That went back before 1800. So, that was a real find for me.”

Calhoun, head of the Genealogy and Local History department at Muskogee Public Library, told the story to illustrate the value of a new statewide cemetery index.

Members of the Oklahoma Home and Community Education organization have spent years painstakingly mapping all of the cemeteries in the state. Their efforts have been combined into a set of 77 books, one for each county in the state. There are 4,236 cemeteries on the master list.

Thanks to many months of mapping, tracking and locating, individuals looking for the hundreds of small, out-of-the-way cemeteries in Oklahoma now have a resource for help.

Even locations of cemeteries that people know existed but have been destroyed by land developers or farmed over are included in the books.

OHCE members across the state located the cemeteries in their counties. Methods of locating the cemeteries varied from working with genealogical societies, county clerk’s office and funeral homes to grave diggers, retired sheriffs, libraries and the Internet.

Information found in the books includes an alphabetical listing of the cemeteries, a picture of the cemetery gate, current driving directions and, if possible, a brief history. Cemetery indexes are also available in CD or DVD format.

Calhoun said cemeteries are in the top five of useful tools for people researching family history. Especially when information carved into a stone grave marker is the only record from an earlier era. Having an index will save much legwork.

“There are a lot of small cemeteries in Oklahoma; family-owned cemeteries and cemeteries in the middle of pastures,” she said. “I’ve heard that the CD version of this includes maps. We’ll probably also order some of the books for nearby counties.”

Karen Wagner has been researching her family history for some time. She said she’s excited to hear about the new index.

“Whenever I drive by an old cemetery, I always want to stop and get out and look,” she said. “I want to see how old it is and how early those people were in this area.”

Wagner agrees with Calhoun that old headstones are often the only old record of a person that survives after generations.

“I think this is a super thing,” she said. “I’m certain I’ll be one of the first in line when this becomes available.”