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. 23d
1794 Aged 32 years
also MARY
SHEPHEARD
His Mother
who died Sep. 4h
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 23d
1803 Aged 76 years
Richard Jr. was my 4th great-granduncle.
His parents, Richard Sr. and Mary were my 5th 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 2nd cousin, 4 times removed.
The inscription reads:
IN
LOVING MEMORY
OF
GEORGE HAYNES,
BORN JANUARY 27TH
1830,
DIED SEPTEMBER 13TH
1902.
ALSO IN LOVING
MEMORY OF
FRANK
THE BELOVED SON OF
GEORGE &
HARRIET HAYNES,
KILLED IN ACTION
IN FRANCE,
AUGUST 12TH
1917,
INTERRED IN FOSSE
10 COMMUNAL
CEMETERY,
EXTENSION, SAINS-EN-GOHELLE.
ALSO THE ABOVE
HARRIET HAYNES,
WHO DIED SEPTEMBER
8TH 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 (28th 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 4th
great-grandparents shows he was “for many years a carpenter” in Cornwood
parish.
And this one for another 4th
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?
