Headstones Are Public Information – Otherwise There Would be a REALLY HIGH FENCE

Old Union Church CemeteryAlerted by blogs already posted this morning (Eastman, Robbins-Midkiff), I looked at the controversy over the photographing of headstones by genealogist David Shannon at the Old Union Christian Church Cemetery in Lexington, Kentucky. Not only did Mr. Shannon takes pictures of the headstones, he had the audacity to post them on a FREE website, http://www.oldunioncemetery.com/. All I can say is, “Thank you, David. You’re providing a much needed service.”

Shannon has posted the data from 475 “documented burials,” along with a photograph of each stone. The church board at Old Union took offense at the idea that the headstone data and pictures were online – allowing anyone to view the information. The following excerpt is directly from a relatively long article by Beverly Fortune, published in the March 16, 2009 edition of the Lexington Herald-Leader. I urge my readers to go read the full article. It’s good.

In February, the church’s governing board sent Shannon a letter telling him “to cease publishing pictures of stones … not part of your family because it is sharing family information without their consent.”

Old Union’s minister, the Rev. Scott Winkler, said the church’s position is that Shannon’s actions are an invasion of privacy. “If you’re going to publish other people’s private information you need to get their permission,” he said. “Any cemetery has to protect rights of people buried there.”

Winkler said he did not think the church board will pursue the issue with legal action, but still felt the need to state its opinion.

The church sells a $10 book with all the tombstone information in it, but no pictures, compiled for an Eagle Scout project several years ago with the help of church historian Leslie Nash Huber, Winkler said.

Read the full article.

Okay – here’s my opinion…

The headstones are in public view. No one has made any attempt over the years to keep them out-of-view. In other words, there’s no high board fence. Since they are in public view, the data written on the stones (as well as pictures of the stones themselves) is public record. Example – Google can post pictures of your house, driveway, and the trash in your yard – because its in public view.

Until recently, it was firmly established in law that dead folks had no privacy rights. If you wished to have those rights, you just had to keep on living… A difficult task, you might say. I agree. Of late, we’ve begun to see new laws come into effect that seem to skirt some of the old case law establishing the lack of privacy rights by the dead. These laws have come about in attempts to shield those with diseases such as AIDS (thus the blacking out of the cause of death on some death certificates), HIPA laws, and the attempt to stop what has become a torrent of identity theft. Genealogists have fought back, on the assumption that many of the documents being restricted were public documents and shouldn’t be closed to the public. We have had moderate success, usually coming to some kind of compromise that we feel we all can live with. We’re not for invasion of privacy, health insurance problems, or identity theft either.

The church board at Old Union is most likely just sore at David for having produced an online free website that competes directly with their $10 book – and they probably think he should have asked and received their permission prior to taking the pictures and posting them. That’s the long and the short of it. My advice to the board is to make a public apology to Mr. Shannon, thank him for his service to their community, invite him and his family over this summer for a potluck in the cemetery, celebrate their ancestors, and get over it…

Update: Chris, at The Genealogue, had some fun with this one…

3 Replies to “Headstones Are Public Information – Otherwise There Would be a REALLY HIGH FENCE”

  1. Cemeteries along with the headstones contained within are public
    with the exception being private family cemeteries or private sections within a public city or county cemetery. That being said,
    private is private and not for public access. I am not against pictures of cemeteries including headstones being made public on the internet as long as if I were to visit the cemetery in person the same info would be available to me to view. If not, then it should not be made publicly available online. Some people cannot visit loved ones memorials because of distance, and a picture is all they have. BUT it should stop there, just a picture of the headstone nothing more. I have a problem with people writing a whole family biography next to a deceased persons headstone that includes pictures and information of living family members. There are people believe it or not that have a life, a living life
    that doesn’t revolve totally around deceased family members AND it is an invasion of their privacy to post information and pictures of them, I don’t care who you are, without their consent. Not to mention how offending it is to see information(usually incorrect)made public on one’s family by another member of that family group. Genealogy is a pedigree of an individuals ancestry that is it.

  2. I know this is an old blog, but I am facing the same issue in California. While photographing headstones as a volunteer (no dollars here!), I was told by cemetery staff that I could not take pictures in the cemetery. It wasn’t allowed. I told them I have family there. I told them the deceased don’t have ‘privacy rights.’ I asked to see where their policy was written or posted. I called my attorney on the spot and he couldn’t find a single law stating that photographs can’t be taken in cemeteries. I finally started clicking away again, and the staff member informed me he was going to the office to call the police to have me removed or arrested. Can you believe such a thing? This is one of the many cemeteries owned/operated by Dignity. I can tell you there was nothing dignified about the conduct of their staff! I am still trying to find California laws that state I can’t take pictures in a cemetery or that cemeteries can prohibit the photographing of headstones. If anyone has something solid to offer, I’d love to hear it!

  3. Interesting. I photograph Mountain View Cemetery in Altadena, California on a weekly basis. Mountain View is family owned. Major movies and TV shows are shot there on a regular basis. Further, facilities can be rented out for events, such as the Mausoleum has a Halloween Art Sale going on in the Library and lights and sound system have been set up for a Halloween night party in the Main Hall. Looks like Mountain View has revenue sources that the family pours back into this beautiful property so well maintained. Good for them.

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