Sexton is made by one person

Why this exists

Small cemeteries are kept by people who did not ask for the job. Somebody's father did it for thirty years, and then he did not, and the binders came to you in a cardboard box. The plat map is taped to a wall and has three generations of pencil on it. The one person who knew which corner of Section C was already spoken for is the reason you are reading this page.

There is good software for cemeteries. Most of it is built for operations that bury several hundred people a year, have staff, and can absorb a five-figure setup bill. Almost all of it now lives in the cloud and is rented by the month. For a board that meets four times a year and pays by check, that is a poor fit in every direction — the price, the complexity, and the part where your records live on somebody else's computer.

Sexton is the other thing. It runs on the machine in the office. It costs one price. You draw your own map, because a surveyor costs more than the software ever will, and because you already know where the rows are.

Why it works the way it does

Two decisions in Sexton are unusual, and both were arguments I had with myself before they were features.

Everything stays on your computer. No server, no account, no password to lose. I know the counter-argument — a hard drive can fail — and it is a real one, which is why Sexton makes its own backups and why exporting the whole register to plain spreadsheets is always one click away. But a hard drive failing is a problem you can prepare for with a twelve-dollar flash drive. A company being sold, or shutting down, or deciding your plan now costs three times more, is a problem you cannot prepare for at all. I would rather hand you something you hold.

You lay out your own map. Sexton has no GIS and no aerial photography, and it never asks you to hire anyone. You drag sections into place, row by row, until the screen looks like the ground. It takes an afternoon. Elsewhere that same map is a line item quoted by the acre.

Neither decision makes Sexton the most powerful cemetery software available. They make it the one a volunteer treasurer can afford, run, and hand to whoever comes next.

What support means here

It means me. There is no ticket queue and no support tier, because there is one person and the number on this site is his. Call or text 217-288-3351, or write to [email protected]. I answer most messages the same day, and always within one business day.

If your office has no internet, that is fine and it is planned for — Sexton does not need a connection to run, and we can activate your copy over the phone. If your records are on paper and you are not sure where to start, call and we will work out the order to do it in. That conversation is free, and it is not a sales call.

If Sexton is the wrong tool for your cemetery, I will tell you so and point you at what is not. I would rather lose a sale than spend a year supporting a bad fit.

The honest limits

A one-person shop is a real thing to weigh, so here is my side of it plainly. Sexton is newer than the software it competes with. It does not publish a public search page for families, and it does not take card payments. And I am one person, which means fast answers and no bureaucracy, but also that I am not a company with a support floor.

What I can promise against that: the records are in a file on your machine, in a format that opens without me. Export works whether your license is current or lapsed. If I were hit by a bus tomorrow, your register would still be sitting on your computer, still readable, still yours. That is not an accident of the design — it is the point of it.