Genealogy by Era
Cemetery Records by Historical Era
Every era of American history has its own burial record types, challenges, and research strategies. Find your ancestors by the period they lived in.
Colonial Era
1600s–1775 · 800K+ records
The earliest European burial records in North America — Puritan churchyards, colonial parish registers, and early settlement graveyards.
Revolutionary War
1775–1783 · 200K+ records
Patriots, Loyalists, and the families who lived through the birth of the United States. Military burial records and patriot graveyards.
Civil War
1861–1865 · 2M+ records
America's deadliest conflict. Union and Confederate burial records, military cemetery records, and the families they left behind.
Westward Expansion
1840s–1890s · 1.5M+ records
Gold Rush pioneers, homesteaders, railroad workers, and the communities they built across the American frontier.
World War I
1914–1918 · 400K+ records
Doughboys, Gold Star families, and the pandemic of 1918 — one of the most documented military eras in American genealogy.
World War II
1939–1945 · 1.2M+ records
The Greatest Generation. Military burial records, civilian wartime deaths, and the families who served the home front.
Why Search by Era?
Different historical periods have different record types, survival rates, and research challenges. Colonial-era records may be in church Latin; Civil War records may split between Union and Confederate archives; WWI records were partially destroyed in the 1973 National Archives fire. Understanding what records exist — and where — is the key to finding your ancestors.