Finding Graves at Parish Churches

[cathyaus]

Hi Royd
Good idea - but I didn't want to seem too anxious - I guess waiting 2 months is a long enough wait !
Cathy

[charlotteCH]

Whether there are headstones or not must have largely depended on the financial situation of the family whose memeber was buried there.

charlotte

[Oggie]

Absolutely right Charlotte,then as now funerals,monuments and death duties are costly.
My family were all Agricultural Labourers.I imagine a simple wooden cross served for many years,however I may be wide of the mark.
  There may be another reason I'm not finding them but I'll post it as a seperate thread.
Mark.

[Guy Etchells]

With many churches the burial plan was often only held by the verger in his head. As with most oral traditions the old verger would pass the information on to his "apprentice" as they walked round.
In later years rudimentary plans were drawn up in many churches but these often contain omissions.

To pay for the cost of burials individuals often took out insurance, it is not a new concept.
In the past however it was not called insurance.

There would be cow clubs pig clubs etc.. These were local owners who grouped together, paid a small weekly sum which was held and distributed to those whose livestock died or needed attention.

In the same way there were burial clubs where a small sum was paid weekly to pay for the inevitable funeral expenses.
Cheers
Guy

[nort]

Just to give you an example of my experience of finding the grave of my ggg grandmother.I found out that she was buried in a local churchyard and contacted the vicar by email,he put me in touch with someone who had a list of the interments and he went to look but there was no gravestone.He could pinpoint where the burial took place in a certain row and I did go and take some photos.So I did get to find her burial and was grateful for the help I received.

Steve

[Oggie]

Hi Steve,
           That is just the help I'm hoping for..No reply from the Vicar yet..but it is Sunday! 

[charlotteCH]

and Monday might well be his day off... so patience seems to be required..

Let us know when you hear something please.

charlotte

[Sandymc47]

Hi
I had a good and bad experience looking for my Grandparents grave. It was not in a Church so I contacted Leeds City Council and their department for graves in the city.  I luckily knew which graveyard they were in but not whereabouts as my family were poor so had a coffin but no headstone.
A nice man sent me a map of where the unmarked grave was but also then phoned me to tell me the news.
Seemingly, when they searched the records, they found my Grandad in a grave with 2 other people, unknown to me.  They then found my Grandma in another grave next to that one by herself. They were supposed to be together.
My Gran died in 1924 aged 39 but on the record it stated she was 89. My Mother was only 9years old at the time so quite obviously there had been a
mistake about the age and maybe thats why the records were wrong and my Grandad who died in 1952 was buried in the wrong grave.
So the moral of the story is dont expect everything to be easy to find, or in my case done in the correct way.
RIP Grandparents, and hope you find yours
regards Sandymc   

[coombs]

Hi

Many people have gravestones for way before 1837 and the death dates are given. And often birth dates. It is highly possible to find a date of birth or death for an ancestor before 1837. Some parish baptisms gave the date of birth.

Some very thankfully officious and pedantic ministers even noted a cause of death before 1837.

After 1813 when PRs became standardised in printed format burials of married women in certain parishes list the name of the husband. My 4xgreat grandmother was buried in 1825 aged 35 in Wimbish and the register said "Wife of Allen Taylor".

Anyway, back to graves, yes I have found many gravestones for my ancestors and a date of birth and death is listed.

Ben