What IS the difference between these two “finding grave memorials” websites? 

Both Billion Graves and Find-A-Grave do have similarities. Both websites have cemetery data.The biggest and main difference is that Billion Graves included the GPS coordinates which, they say, follows the Genealogical Proof Standard.

Billiongraves.com was begun in 2010 with the stated mission to provide accurate gravestone data with both images and GPS coordinates. To date, the website has millions of headstone images and they’re closing in on nearly two million records.

Find A Grave started in 1995 with the stated mission to post memorials, remembrances and virtual flowers first for celebrities and then for every-day people. They now exceed two million records. 

As I see it today, the best thing for you to do to understand the differences is to click to both sites and click around, seeing what they offer and how the data offered. Pick a little cemetery that you know of and see if there are transcribed memorials for that cemetery. 

Additionally, you can take your own grave marker photos and upload them to both sites, and you can assist with the indexing of the tombstone information. 

Today’s Laugh: Many in the Northwest are elk hunters; I hope they and you get a laugh from this postcard. It reads “The morning after the last day of elk season. Idaho.” These delightful cards are the creation of Paul Stanton and produced by Clay Salzman. He offers a bunch of similar cards; click to www.duckboy.com.  (He did give me permission to use this image.) The caption reads: “The morning AFTER the last day of elk season, Idaho.”