Graveyards: Aren’t they great?

Genealogists are lucky to have graveyards! Strange but true.

Cemeteries have been the focus of many field explorations by family historians and have yielded substantial information about our ancestors. Memorial information often gives researchers valuable data concerning people: name (particularly spelling); birth dates (sometimes); death dates (naturally); spouses; children; places of residence; occupations; religion (occasionally); etc. Some of the verses and poems engraved on headstones are also interesting and may offer a personal glimpse into how the deceased was viewed in life.

Almost every family history society have organized committees to record burial data, including photos of headstones. The local society in Calgary has published 15 volumes of cemetery records (available in electronic form) and allows visitors to their website to search thousands of entries of basic data of those interred, for free.

The oldest stone recording the lives of members of my family dates from the 1790s. Shown on the memorial is:

Here Lieth

the Body of

RICHARD SHEPHEARD Junior

who Died Nov. 23^d 1794 Aged 32 years

also MARY SHEPHEARD

His Mother

who died Sep. 4^h 1797 Aged 62 years

Now here we lie as you may see;

As you are now so once were we;

As we are now so Must you be;

God give you Grace to follow we.

also RICHARD SHEPHEARD Senior

who Died May 23^d 1803 Aged 76 years

Richard Jr. was my 4^th great-granduncle. His parents, Richard Sr. and Mary were my 5^th great-grandparents. All were born in Cornwood, Devon, England. Richard Jr. did marry a lady named Catherine Watts, in Cornwood. They had two children together who also went on to marry in Cornwood and have children there. After Richard’s death Catherine remarried a man named John Northmore. They moved to a nearby parish where they had seven more children. That explains why she is not on the memorial.

The above example is a little different as it starts with a child and then adds the parents’ names, although the death dates are in chronological order. The one below has the father first, the son second and the mother third. The death dates are again in order. Harriet (nee Shepheard) was my 2^nd cousin, 4 times removed.

The inscription reads:

IN

LOVING MEMORY

OF

GEORGE HAYNES,

BORN JANUARY 27^TH 1830,

DIED SEPTEMBER 13^TH 1902.

ALSO IN LOVING MEMORY OF

FRANK

THE BELOVED SON OF

GEORGE & HARRIET HAYNES,

KILLED IN ACTION IN FRANCE,

AUGUST 12^TH 1917,

INTERRED IN FOSSE 10 COMMUNAL

CEMETERY, EXTENSION, SAINS-EN-GOHELLE.

ALSO THE ABOVE

HARRIET HAYNES,

WHO DIED SEPTEMBER 8^TH 1930,

AGED 82 YEARS

The memorial indicates the son was killed in France during the Great War. He was buried there, not in Cornwood, as the information on the stone says, but he is remembered on this grave marker. Interestingly, he joined the Canadian Expeditionary Force (28^th Canadian Battalion, Saskatchewan Regiment), not the British Army. We are not sure why but his attestation form showed a birth date two years later than his actual birthday – another curious fact. The memorial is correct in that it indicates his birth took place in 1885. Looks like another family story to chase down. There is quite a lot of information on this marker.

The headstone for the grave of my 4^th great-grandparents shows he was “for many years a carpenter” in Cornwood parish.

And this one for another 4^th great-granduncle, Arthur Shepheard, says he lived at Middle Rook in Cornwood parish.

Cemetery memorials and headstones have proved to be important sources of information about ancestors. Wouldn’t it be great if they went back further?