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Research in Other Countries => Australia => Topic started by: clancam37 on Monday 21 September 20 06:44 BST (UK)

Title: Graves -- No Date shown
Post by: clancam37 on Monday 21 September 20 06:44 BST (UK)
Can sks tell me why some Graves do not show any date of death or burial service?
Could it have been a charity death, as the family were always in need of care.

The grave of interest is in Northern Tasmania and probably dates from around 1939.
Kind regards
clancam37
Title: Re: Graves -- No Date shown
Post by: majm on Monday 21 September 20 06:52 BST (UK)
Hi,

Can you please expand ... where have you noticed there's no date ... is it some database online, or in a printed book listing graves in a cemetery, or a transcription of headstones ... or perhaps a photo of the grave without a headstone ...

JM
Title: Re: Graves -- No Date shown
Post by: Jamjar on Monday 21 September 20 06:52 BST (UK)
Would you care to share the details of whom and where?

Jamjar
Title: Re: Graves -- No Date shown
Post by: majm on Monday 21 September 20 08:16 BST (UK)
This may be the then current Tasmanian Law re registering Births and Deaths. It is the 1895 Act.
http://classic.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/sinodisp/au/legis/tas/num_act/trobada189559vn9408/trobada189559vn9408.html?stem=0&synonyms=0&query=burial

There are some mentions of the duty of the 'caretaker of the cemetery' but I cannot find a particular requirement for the caretaker to establish and maintain a 'burial register'.  :'( and I seem to recall that the Tasmanian death certs are sparse on their details.

JM
Title: Re: Graves -- No Date shown
Post by: clancam37 on Tuesday 22 September 20 02:00 BST (UK)
Hullo and thank you to all who've replied.
The attached is from the Wesley Vale Cemetery, Devonport, Tasmania.  Inquiries to the Cemetery have failed to produce any further information re the Deceased.  The death may have occurred about 1939.  There are other graves. of other unrelated families in this Cemetery with omission of dates of death/service and wondered if these interments were financed by Charities or other organisations.  The local Council and some local History groups have been unable to help.
Hope sks can help .
Kind regards
clancam37
Hi,

Can you please expand ... where have you noticed there's no date ... is it some database online, or in a printed book listing graves in a cemetery, or a transcription of headstones ... or perhaps a photo of the grave without a headstone ...

JM
Title: Re: Graves -- No Date shown
Post by: majm on Tuesday 22 September 20 02:24 BST (UK)
Can they provide you with details of who and when for Plot 2 or 4 of Row O,,  DA2?  If so, what original document did they use to check ....  :)

JM
Title: Re: Graves -- No Date shown
Post by: majm on Tuesday 22 September 20 02:39 BST (UK)
I read online that Wesley Vale uniting OLD cemetery was in the churchyard, and had Become 'so overgrown that, in the early 1990's, a rotary hoe was  used .... Many graves that did not have any structure around them fell victim to th e rotary hoe ..

On e reader, cannot do live links, but Find  A Grave should be starting place.

Jm
Title: Re: Graves -- No Date shown
Post by: wivenhoe on Tuesday 22 September 20 05:11 BST (UK)

You are interested in -

HARRIS William   Location DA2   Row 2  Plot 3

and not interested in the other two names?


".. Inquiries to the Cemetery have failed to produce any further information re the Deceased."

Which deceased are you interested in..............William HARRIS?


"......The death may have occurred about 1939. "

Whose death......William HARRIS?

It is a very ordinary name.
Title: Re: Graves -- No Date shown
Post by: matthewj64 on Tuesday 22 September 20 05:22 BST (UK)
Had a quick look in 'The General Cemetery, Devonport, Tasmania. Tasmanian Family History Society, Devonport Branch, 2001' and found these nearby. Quick scan through book, so may have missed something. The epitaph for the Wills doesn't mention William Harris

DA2 is an Anglican section

DA2 O 1 - Roberts, John and Ann 1955, 1957
DA2 O 2 - Wills, Jessie, 1968
DA2 O 3 - Wills, George Charles John, 1955 (also in DA2 O 3 - Harris, William, no date)
DA2 O 4 - Smith, William ,no date
DA2 O 5 - Pearce, Brian Joseph, 1955
DA2 O 6 - Stephenson, Thomas Alfred, 1955

M
Title: Re: Graves -- No Date shown
Post by: majm on Tuesday 22 September 20 06:35 BST (UK)
Hullo and thank you to all who've replied.
The attached is from the Wesley Vale Cemetery, Devonport, Tasmania.  Inquiries to the Cemetery have failed to produce any further information re the Deceased.  The death may have occurred about 1939.  There are other graves. of other unrelated families in this Cemetery with omission of dates of death/service and wondered if these interments were financed by Charities or other organisations.  The local Council and some local History groups have been unable to help.
Hope sks can help .
Kind regards
clancam37
Hi,

Can you please expand ... where have you noticed there's no date ... is it some database online, or in a printed book listing graves in a cemetery, or a transcription of headstones ... or perhaps a photo of the grave without a headstone ...

JM

 ;D

I may be a tad pedantic, but if DA2 is Anglican section at Mersey Vale Cemetery,  where does Wesley Vale fit in - as per above post...  ;D

JM
Title: Re: Graves -- No Date shown
Post by: sparrett on Tuesday 22 September 20 08:06 BST (UK)


George Charles John WILLS was at Nabageena. This is  a news mention of him.

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/66574617

Likely the woman, Jessie WILLS interred with him is his wife.
 This may be the death notice of Jessie's mother whose name was Mrs SMITH and who was the widow of William SMITH.

(The transcriber for this item seems to have added some interpretive oddments!)

One William SMITH occupies DA2 O 4 

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/68336723

Sue
Title: Re: Graves -- No Date shown
Post by: sparrett on Tuesday 22 September 20 09:11 BST (UK)

A search here reveals the will of George Charles John WILLS and confirms his wife as Jessie
https://www.libraries.tas.gov.au/archive-heritage/guides-records/Pages/wills.aspx

Sue
Title: Re: Graves -- No Date shown
Post by: majm on Wednesday 23 September 20 02:09 BST (UK)
The tenth Prime Minister of Australia died 7 April 1939.   There is NO date (of burial)  recorded at the online database.  Location L5, Row A, plot 0.  Joseph LYONS.  Mersey Vale   :)

State Funeral.


JM
Title: Re: Graves -- No Date shown
Post by: majm on Wednesday 23 September 20 02:14 BST (UK)
Joe Lyons did not die on Tasmania.  Perhaps William HARRIS did not die in Tasmania.

JM
Title: Re: Graves -- No Date shown
Post by: seeking0 on Wednesday 23 September 20 10:59 BST (UK)
Since they have a location for his grave, he was most likely listed in a burial register. Most likely a handwritten register that has been transcribed and entered into a database. Depending on how long the burial register is they might be able to locate the original entry. From that they will be able to get the dates of the previous and subsequent dated entries. This will at least give you a date range. It is also possible, if not necessarily likely, that the register contains other info that doesn't go into one of their database fields and could be useful for identification purposes.
Give them a date range to search if you have any idea at all, because they will make it easier for them to find the entry in the register.
Also, ask them who else is buried at the same location (if anyone) and try to establish whether or not they are related.
As to why they have no date recorded - anyone's guess. But it happens more often than you might think.
Title: Re: Graves -- No Date shown
Post by: matthewj64 on Friday 25 September 20 01:41 BST (UK)
Checked TAHO NS5909/1/1 Register of Burials - Anglican Parish of Devonport and North Down from 1890 to 1958, with particular check circa 1939.

No William Harris entered, he may have had a service from another parish, or be within the restricted time period, or??

M
Title: Re: Graves -- No Date shown
Post by: majm on Friday 25 September 20 04:47 BST (UK)
Had a quick look in 'The General Cemetery, Devonport, Tasmania. Tasmanian Family History Society, Devonport Branch, 2001' and found these nearby. Quick scan through book, so may have missed something. The epitaph for the Wills doesn't mention William Harris

DA2 is an Anglican section

DA2 O 1 - Roberts, John and Ann 1955, 1957
DA2 O 2 - Wills, Jessie, 1968
DA2 O 3 - Wills, George Charles John, 1955 (also in DA2 O 3 - Harris, William, no date)
DA2 O 4 - Smith, William ,no date
DA2 O 5 - Pearce, Brian Joseph, 1955
DA2 O 6 - Stephenson, Thomas Alfred, 1955

M

 :) :) :)
Ancestry has an index and has images of a database that is referred to in part as TAMIOT 2nd ed. 1999,

Likely the scanned printed publication was originally in strict alpha by surname, alas .. it's not quite so at present.  My ancient rellies advise me that they deciphered the details for
Jessie WILLS : (part of image 1187 of 1226)
Died 19 Nov 1968 aged 83 years and her spouse George Charles John WILLS , Devonport Cemetery, Anglican, DV01/0152  ... and they point out that TAMIOT lists it with that DV01/0152 reference, so it seems to have been assigned different database reference numbers over time.  Perhaps so too for the grave of William HARRIS.  However, my rellies have not yet found anyone at Ancestry's search facilities for surname HARRIS despite knowing there ought to be several.  Image 77 of 190 last entry is HANCOCK, and image 78 of 190, first entry is HARRISON.

But ... Image 76 does have HARRIS, but none as William at Devonport.  They hope Matthew will have a better understanding than me.

JM
Title: Re: Graves -- No Date shown
Post by: matthewj64 on Friday 25 September 20 07:17 BST (UK)
The index book, 'The General Cemetery, Devonport, Tasmania. Tasmanian Family History Society, Devonport Branch, 2001', lists its sources as being

1 - Headstone transcriptions
2 - Devonport City Council burial records
3 - Funeral director records plus newspaper notices

William Harris' entry shows (2) Devonport City Council burial records; I'm not 100% sure, but I don't believe it will show up on the TAMIOT (Tombstone and Memorial Inscriptions of Tasmania) index. The Wills' entries list a (1) Headstone transcriptions for their source.

Could clancam37 kindly provide some details for William Harris' family?

M