Author Topic: whitburn cemetery, west lothian  (Read 15478 times)

Online Forfarian

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Re: whitburn cemetery, west lothian
« Reply #9 on: Thursday 21 August 14 17:31 BST (UK) »
Thank you so much for all the helpful information and I will contact Whitburn Council

There is no Whitburn Council. You need West Lothian Council.
Never trust anything you find online (especially submitted trees and transcriptions on Ancestry, MyHeritage, FindMyPast and other commercial web sites) unless it's an image of an original document - and even then be wary because errors can and do occur.

Offline libbyjones

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Re: whitburn cemetery, west lothian
« Reply #10 on: Friday 22 August 14 12:09 BST (UK) »
Hi, I contacted West Lothian Council and they were very helpful and told me who the occupants of the burial plot are, all three of them, but no mention of Sheila Dickinson, whose name is on the headstone.    I also found out a birth in 1925 and a death of a Sheila Dickinson in 1990 buried in city of dundee and whose details show the correct m.s. and place of birth.   I contacted Dundee Cemetery Records Office and again they were very helpful, but, they can't find details of her burial.    Her middle name was Campsie and that too was on both the birth and death record.    I am awaiting a further check from Dundee and hopefully I am coming close to finding out more.     regards Sheila

Offline Rockford

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Re: whitburn cemetery, west lothian
« Reply #11 on: Friday 22 August 14 22:05 BST (UK) »
...when I input details for a death registration it came up with a sheila dickinson but the date of death showed as 1990 city of dundee and Errol is outside Dundee and the strange thing was that her mother's maiden name was shown as Gilchrist and that is correct.

Hi Sheila,

If the Council don't have a record of her buried at Whitburn and you have a 1990 record in Dundee that matches, it would seem that Forfarian's suggestion that she is commemorated on a stone in Whitburn but not actually buried there is likely to be correct.  It's not uncommon and there are a number of stones in Whitburn that commemorate people in that way.

There are atually three cemeteries/churchyards in Whitburn.  The oldest is the parish churchyard, where there are some really old gravestones from the 1700s.  A number are from the early/mid 1800s (including a daughter of Robert Burns), although there are one or two later burials where there was obviously space left in the plot.  The second cemetery is in Manse Road, just around the corner from the church and burials there date from the late 1800s.  I think all the plots in Manse Road were allocated by the late 1970s/early 1980s (although later burials took place where space was still available) and the third cemetery, Blaeberry, in the East of the town opened in the early 1980s and is still in use today.

I'm from West Lothian and was out seeing family earlier, afterwards I took a walk round the Manse Road cemetery and the old churchyard, but I didn't see the gravestone with your Aunts name on it.  It is possible I missed it as, although I walked round most of the place, it was quite a quick tour as I was trying to avoid the rain!

Did the Council confirm that your family members are definitely buried in Manse Road? 
What are the dates of the burials that the council had information for?  As you would expect, the oldest burials are at the front gate and the oldest near the back, so if you give me the dates it narrows down the part of the cemetery that they might be in and I'd be happy to have another look over the next week as I'll be passing through Whitburn again.

Best wishes

Brian
BURNSIDE [Londonderry, Lothians and Pennsylvania]
THORBURN [Lanarkshire], VAIR [Melrose]
SWEENEY [Donegal/Lanarkshire]
GILCHRIST [Lanarkshire, Peebles, Lothians], SMITH [Dunbartonshire, Lanarkshire, Lothians]
GREGORY [Bucks, Wales], BENNETT [Somerset, Wales]
LETHERBY/HOWLETT/PHIPPS [Somerset]
HUNTER [New Monkland, Fife], GWYNNE [New Monkland, Stirling, Midlothian]
LOGIE/DUNLOP/THOMSON/YOUNG [West Lothian]

Offline libbyjones

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Re: whitburn cemetery, west lothian
« Reply #12 on: Saturday 23 August 14 07:57 BST (UK) »
Good Morning Brian, thank you for your very interesting reply to my query.    West Lothian Council did give me the number which is Lane Q and No. 84 and I found out that this burial plot houses three occupants, Thomas Wood 1968 Robert Wood 1991 and my cousin Andrew Wood, most recent 2008 and my sister attended his funeral with my late mother and that it when she read my name, Sheila Dickinson, on the headstone.    But, you are right Brian, I have been told it was not uncommon to place a memory on a headstone without an actual burial and my sister remembers this headstone as being an old one.     I found the birth details of Sheila Dickinson on scotland's people as 1925 which ties in with all the other siblings in the family and the place of birth is correct, viz., Errol, outside Dundee and the m.s. Gilchrist is correct too.     But, when I searched for death details of my Aunt, it showed the correct names, including maiden surname and seemed to suggest she was interred in a cemetery in the city of dundee but the strange thing is the date of death showed 1990.    Now, how can I have an aunt for all those years and not know about her nor was she mentioned by my dad or his other siblings.    Your help is most appreciated, regards Sheila


Offline carlineric

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Re: whitburn cemetery, west lothian
« Reply #13 on: Saturday 23 August 14 09:06 BST (UK) »
Hi Sheila

I have checked the CD for the grave you have given and it is in Manse Road Cemetery. To find it come into the cemetery from Manse Road and at what looks like a roundabout turn right and follow the road right round. You will come to a slight bend to left where the original cemetery meets the extension section Q is on the left next to the wall.

Regards
Eric

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Re: whitburn cemetery, west lothian
« Reply #14 on: Saturday 23 August 14 09:37 BST (UK) »
I tried to obtain a death certificate for Sheila Dickinson but to no avail.

What did you do that didn't succeed?

If you tried to download it from Scotland's People, you would fail because the death (whether it was 1990 or 1997 - there seems to be some confusion in this thread) is less than 50 years ago, and 50 years ago is the cut-off date for getting death certificates online.

You won't get any further with this without that death certificate, which will tell you the full names of both her parents, and hence whether she was or was not your aunt. You can order the certificate through the Scotland's People web site. There is a charge for this and it will come in the post. I forget what the charge is - £10 or £12. (Which is still a sight cheaper than many countries charge!)

Or you could hire a professional searcher to go to the Scotland's People Centre and transcribe it for you. This would be cheaper and might be quicker because you could get the information by e-mail.

Or you could appeal for some kind soul who is going to the SP Centre to look it up and transcribe it. That's the cheapest but possibly slowest method.

Why do you think she was buried in Dundee? Could she have been cremated?
Never trust anything you find online (especially submitted trees and transcriptions on Ancestry, MyHeritage, FindMyPast and other commercial web sites) unless it's an image of an original document - and even then be wary because errors can and do occur.

Offline libbyjones

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Re: whitburn cemetery, west lothian
« Reply #15 on: Saturday 23 August 14 11:16 BST (UK) »
Hello and thanks to all for your help with this query.    I now know that Q84 the burial plot is from the Manse Road end and have noted the directions to lead me there when I visit at the end of September.    The lady I spoke to from Dundee cemetery records asked for the last address my aunt lived at prior to her demise and the exact date and this is why I need the death certificate to obtain all the information including parents names etc. and she suggested I call at a Registrars Office and they will help with this for a fee which I am happy to pay.    I dont have to visit Dundee to do this.   I will call at the Registrars Office in Kirkintilloch.    I am inclined to think that the inscription to my aunt in whitburn cemetery could be a memory inscription but until I see the headstone and any other detail on it, I can't be sure.     I know that all six siblings were born in Errol, outside Dundee and they all moved away from Errol, 2 moved to Linlithgow, 1 along with grandad moved to Chryston, Lanarkshire 1 moved to Whitburn and my Dad moved to Kirkintilloch but where did Sheila move to?    or maybe she didn't move.     regards Sheila

Offline carlineric

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Re: whitburn cemetery, west lothian
« Reply #16 on: Saturday 23 August 14 12:34 BST (UK) »
Hi Libby

It should have been on the right next to the wall rather than the left. I was distracted by our puppy as I was posting ;D.

Regards Eric

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Re: whitburn cemetery, west lothian
« Reply #17 on: Saturday 23 August 14 14:20 BST (UK) »
Hi, thank you for the correction in the direction Eric, Sheila