Angus Council is currently developing a project to digitise the county's burial records, which will enable people tracing their family tree to find out where their ancestors are buried.

"At the moment, tracking down information about graves can be a time consuming process," explained Stewart Wilkie, lead officer for this joint venture project between the economic development and community services divisions of Angus Council.

In Angus, burial records mainly cover the 1850s onwards although there are records from 1630 at Guthrie, 1709 at Fern and 1733 at Forfar (the latter from a gravedigger's book). Since some of these unique records are very old and very fragile, this was a further compelling reason for Angus Council deciding that, where possible, all of the burial records should be digitised and made available on-line.

In addition, digitising the burial records will complement the information provided by the registrars through the statutory death records which, since 1860, have not recorded burial information.

"As well as making it easier for people to access the vital information contained in the burial records, by digitising these records, it will be possible to preserve the original records for future generations," said Fiona Scharlau, senior archivist.

Angus has a quarter of a million burial lairs across 71 cemeteries - with each lair the final resting place for up to six people - so this is a considerable digitisation task but one which is well underway.

"We're hopeful these records will be available on-line in time for the 2009 Angus & Dundee Roots Festival during Scotland's Year of Homecoming," said Stewart Wilkie, who added that, during this year's Angus & Dundee Roots Festival, Angus Council's experts will be on-hand to help people check the original death and burial records.

Once the information in the records is available on-line, it should be even simpler for people in Angus and beyond to trace relatives from days gone by. "Finding the site where a relative was buried, even if there's no stone, and finding out who is buried alongside them, can often lead to the discovery of other relatives, " said Fiona Scharlau.

"And, thanks to the information contained in the death records, people researching their family history should also be able find out about a relative's spouse or children or visit the place where past generations of their family lived.

"The Angus burial records are a treasure trove of information for family historians and, when they are available on-line, will be of immense benefit to anyone with Angus roots who is tracing their family tree."