The weather could not have been better for today’s Marsh Cookout On The Circle.  This was the 17th year that the grocery chain has underwritten and sponsored one of the local Boy Scout council’s important fund raisers.  The money goes towards providing a trip to summer camp for kids who would not otherwise be able to go.

The scouts and their leaders take over Monument Circle here in Indianapolis for most of the day, serving chicken, bratwurst, cookies and soda.  Mayor Greg Ballard was on hand to declare today Marsh Cookout On The Circle Day.  A lot more dignitaries were milling around the circle on a perfect day.

One of the great things about Indy is the large number of people who give their time and money.  And, it’s pleasing to see the folks at Marsh carry on the great tradition supported for so many years by Don Marsh and his family.

I’ve written before about my passion for genealogy and the wonder of the Internet for linking researchers together to let them share information. The primary site and, in my opinion, best site is Ancestry.com.

Another great site is findagrave.com. It sounds a bit macabre but folks spend hours documenting and, sometimes, photographing tombstones in cemeteries around the world. There are 23 million records on the site. It’s got complete search functions, by name, by location, by cemetery. I’ve found a lot of missing relatives this way and filled in a lot of missing information on my genealogical records.

If you know a relative is buried in a certain cemetery, you can send a request for a photo of their grave site, courtesy of volunteers who live in the area. I’ve taken advantage of several. And, to return the favor, I’ve signed up as a photo volunteer in this area.

Which brings me to the point of my blog, albeit by the long route. A few weeks ago, I received a request for a photo from the Carmel Cemetery on Range Line Road. There was no information as to location of the grave. At the cemetery, with no directory, I was reduced to walking through, looking at every stone. No luck. There’s another section of the Carmel cemetery, farther south towards town.

I wasn’t up for another search, then had a brainstorm. An Internet search. An Internet search that brought up a web site of a complete documentation of the cemetery done as, of all things, an Eagle Scout project by Kevin C. Bailey of Troop 120 in Carmel. It was very well done. Kevin had documented more than 1,800 names and provided links to more than 2,000 tombstone photographs.

I’ve been involved with Scouting for years and have sat on boards to review the projects required as part of becoming an Eagle Scout. The projects have to provide a public service and involve skills of organization and leadership. I’ve seen a lot of good ones from building exercise trails around a lake in San Diego to landscaping parks and planting trees. This one was unique. And it was perfect in meeting the intentions of the requirement.

Since then, I’ve discovered this is going on around the nation. Future Eagle Scouts are organizing their fellow Scouts and documenting history. It’s a great service, in the tradition of a great program – Boy Scouts- and greatly appreciated by this genealogist.