Grave Stones

[tamborine]

Bruce Forsythe on Who do you think you are. His g'grandfather's grave had no headstone so Bruce is getting him one.

Are they important ?

[craft1948]

Well it obviously is to him so I suppose that's all that matters.

I recently found out where my great-grandmother was buried, but the vicar told me that she had no headstone, which seemed a bit sad.

[sandyRoe]

I think in this case it would be a waste of money. The dead mans relatives live in Europe and Georgia. No one will ever visit the grave.
I think headstones are important for the immediate family of the deceased.

[tamborine]

Would you want one ? I would like a Cyber memorial, rather than taking up space in the earth.

[dothawkes31]

Yes they are very important in my opinion, my parents headstone is a piece of stone that was imported from Tibet, no idea why but it is,. but anyway, purely from a family historians point of view they provide a unique source of relationship information that is just not available anywhere else, my great grandfathers grave in St Thomas's gravetard Stockton Heath lists 8 occupants, their relationship and their dates of birth and death, no where else does that kind of generational audit occur,
The erection of a stone or memorial began when people were buried within the church rather than outside, and their names were carved on the paving stones that the congregation walked on, merely to inform and not duplicate burials. The further away from the alter a burial was the less important a person was in their village. When the ground beneath the church filled, bodies were dug up and burnt (hence bonefire/bonfire) and space freed up. Then people started being buried outside but the local pigs could dig them up so they started burying the bodies 6ft deep and then buily a wall round the churchyard to keep the pigs out.

[dothawkes31]

As for tonights episode with Brucie, it was fascinating, everything that the experts found and discussed was genuinely beleivable and especially the crossing and re-crossing from Liverpool to New York, infact the ship they named, the Eutria (sp) was the ship my Dad's great aunt sailed on in about 1905 when she went to join her mother in New Jersey.

[dundurn]

I think it was the Etruria, Dot - she held the Blue Riband at one point - relatively fast crosser and therefore a bit pricey.

I agree it was enjoyable to watch - as I expected I preferred it to the American version.

[craft1948]

Yes I found it quite interesting...........and unlike the american ones believable.

[TheOtherHalf]

I dont like Brucie as a person but I found this fascinating. Although it was a shame he only really concentrated on one person. I think a headstone is important. Its so sad to find your family were buried in pauper graves, especially when they originally were quite well off.
We have an ancestor that seems to have just disappeared and wife was quoted as widow, but no trace of death anywhere, although there is someone, same name and age in Canada from England and am now wondering if it is the same person but havent got the money to find out

[craft1948]

Could you not find him in any passenger lists TOH?

[TheOtherHalf]

Hi Craft

No I couldnt. He was a captain of a ship called 'Autumn' which was sailing to Amsterdam in 1857 and had an accident near Grimsby, so docked for repair. We cannot find anything about him after that date but we have a partial log record telling us of this so he must have survived for this to be passed on but we often wonder if he may have died at sea and perhaps these were not recorded.

[craft1948]

If you want to post details I'll have a look.............

[TheOtherHalf]

Hi Craft
Thats very good of you. I will find out the details and put them on a separate thread for you. I warn you there are a lot of people with the same name and similar birth years so it gets very confusing, but I think Ive exhausted every avenue I can, but maybe you will do better. It would be lovely if you could turn anything up. Thanks again