Reading tombstones and recording burials have been popular among genealogists and societies for a number of years. Over time many publications have been produced noting the locations of cemeteries and the residents buried in them. There is something important about recording where our ancestors, as well as the ancestors of others, came to their final resting place.

The effort that produced this book was designed to make it easier for researchers everywhere to utilize the works that have been produced about these cemeteries and their residents. It is organized by county and includes an index. It is intended to “point” to cataloged publications, including periodicals and microfilm, that have been produced containing information about the cemeteries. It provides what is known about the locations of cemeteries. The section, township and range, latitude and longitude, elevation, and guidelines for finding each cemetery are provided when that information was found. When the cemeteries are shown on the US Geodetic Survey (TOPO) maps that information is noted, as well, referencing the specific Topo map.

Cemeteries have taken on different names over the years. Many burial places have lost their names, becoming “unknown graves” or just “rural cemeteries”. Others exist in name only as locations are lost. This publication attempts to provide “also known as” (aka) names, again to help the researcher locate the cemetery he seeks.

Perhaps it would help the researcher to know what this book is not about. There is a great deal of work that has been done by individuals that has not been published or cataloged. Many libraries, large and small, have local history sections that hold manuscripts, card files or maps that have been left with them to make their contents available to the public, but which have never been cataloged, except perhaps locally by that library. These sources of cemetery and burial information are very powerful and should not be overlooked when searching for your ancestors. Kay R. Merrill, author of the Colorado Cemetery Directory has distributed the back-up documentation that was collected, when the Directory was compiled, to libraries around the state.

This book started by using the Colorado Cemetery Directory (CCD) that was compiled in 1985 by Kay Merrill and published by Colorado Council of Genealogical Societies. That book was a major undertaking and has been popular with libraries everywhere in Colorado for many years. Thanks to her efforts, a comprehensive list of cemeteries and much information about them was included in one book. Some parts of the CCD become outdated. It is hoped that others will undertake to update sexton or caretakers, in particular. Since the CCD was produced, many lost burial sites are being found. This book now lists approximately 400 additional burial sites that were not previously listed. A well deserved “thank you” goes to Kay Merrill and those that have produced the many publications that are referenced herein.

A thank you goes to several reference librarians in Colorado, but especially to James K. Jeffrey, Genealogical Specialist, Genealogical Section, Denver Public Library, for his support and encouragement and to Johanna Harden, Archivist, at Douglas County Historical Research Center that has on file all of the USGS 7.5 Topographic Maps used for this publication. The USGS Topographic Maps on CD-ROM from National Geographic Holdings, Inc also proved to be very useful.