St Peters Cemetery - general burials query

[ED2005]

Is it normal for burial plots be re-used/sold to different groups of people? if so, is this because no one has paid for the upkeep of the plot and it's re-sold to someone else? I have a copy of a certificate of a lair 'purchase' in St Peters in the early 1900s... and as you would expect there are several members of the family listed in the burial archives after that date, whose names I recognise. However, before that date there are several seemingly unrelated people, including a group of children of (presumably) the original purchaser back in the 1850s. I know that the father of these children subsequently died abroad and the mother and remaining children moved away from Aberdeen in 1854. Also, having visited the plot, there is a stone with some names I recognise as being on the burial archives, but also other family members whose names aren't listed at all.

[GR2]

It is not unusual for people whose names appear on a gravestone not to be buried in that lair, but elsewhere in the kirkyard or even in a totally different cemetery. If there is room on the gravestone, their names are added, rather than erecting a second stone elsewhere.

[rosie17]

Might be better to contact the Aberdeen Council and see if they can help ..I don't think it would have been resold and it sounds as if it's maybe a double lair ..I have family members also in St Peter's some of our gravestones date back to 1860

[DonM]

Lairs can be resold but there are rules and it has to be blessed by Council in order for the transfer to be legal.  Do all council's have this ruling I can not say, or when was this introduced.

Don

[ED2005]

Yes, thank you, perhaps the council archives dept might be able to advise... there's a few new options that have been suggested to consider. I had always thought the 'deeds' (if that's what they are called!) of a lair would be passed or signed over to another family member... but if the upkeep is allowed to lapse - what happens then? I'll need to look into it more to see if some of those 'unconnected' people are actually connected too.

[rosie17]

I have title deeds for my family lair they were first purchased in 1870 my Grandfather was the first burial 1910 then my parents ..My sister got the deeds transferred over to her when my Mother was buried it cost her £50 and each member of the family had to sign a document agreeing with this ..

Rosie