Burial puzzle

[nort]

This has been puzzling me for a while.My great grandfather died in 1904 and was buried in a local churchyard.His widow remarried six years later but then she died in 1918.She was buried in the same grave as her first husband and is on the gravestone under her first married surname.Was this unusual or not?

Steve

[Galium]

It might have been done this way at the request of the widow herself. 

I have a will of a lady who died in the 1820s, in which she asks to be buried under the surname of her first husband, and not that of her second.  I am inclined to think that this is because her second marriage was not a happy one (I have other reasons to think that this was the case).

Obviously I can't say whether your Ggrandfather's widow was in a similar situation. but it is one possible reason.

[millymcb]

Was her secondhusband still alive? If not it may have been children of the first marriage who arranged the burial and thought it the best thing to do..


Milly

[nort]

hi thanks for the replies,that is a possible reason although i don't know if it was unhappy or not.I thought she may have asked to be buried with the first husband because the grave had been purchased for them both and it saved money buying another.
Yes the second husband was still alive,and the children of the first marriage were only teenagers.I wonder what the second husband thought of this situation,his wife being buried under her previous name.As you say it was probably the best thing to do at the time.

Steve

[Plummiegirl]

When my ex husbands father died there was a great hooha about where he should be buried.

The children from his first marriage said he should be buried with their mother (his 1st wife) while the children from his 2nd marriage insisted he was buried in a new plot so that when their mother died she could be buried with him.

In the end he was buried in a new plot & when my mother in law died she was buried with him.

So there is another reason for your burial puzzle.

[Jillianstella]

I am in Australia - My mother was married twice and when she died she wanted to be buried with her mother - my brother and I from the first marriage had a headstone erected and had her christian name with our surname inscribed on the headstone, no mention of her second surname at all.  Although the records at the cemetery have her internment under her second marriage surname I have the rights to the grave and can put whatever I like on it. - it doesn't have to be written as per her death cert.

[Marmalady]

I have a family grave where the wife is "Mary, beloved wife of the above John" with no mention of her second husband at all. It wasn't untill i found the newspaper announcement of her second marriage that i realised why i could find not a death registration for her!

Her son however, buried his first wife in the family plot -- but then his second wife had him buried in the municipal cemetery several miles away

And Mary & John's daughter is in the same grave as both her husbands in the family plot

Every family & situation will be different

[GR2]

I have an uncle buried in 1847 in the same grave as his three (consecutive) wives!

[Jillianstella]

Good Lord GR2 - wonder if your uncle went to heaven or hell!!!!