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General => The Common Room => Topic started by: pipkim on Tuesday 30 December 08 11:46 GMT (UK)
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Hi All,
I'm considering a visit to a cemetery where hopefully some of my ancestors are buried. I don't have any information as to where I may find them and looking at the cemetery on google maps/satellite, it may take me some time.
Is it just a matter of being systematic or is there something else I should do?
I'm taking a camera and note book and a list of names, burials and dates etc. All I need now is to be able to escape the family for a few hours. Don't think they would see a trip to a cemetery interesting in the slightest!!!
Pipkim ;)
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If it's a municipal one it would be best to contact the authorities (try the local council for information) first as they should have a plan of all the burials.
Carole
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From previous experience I know that it's easy to get distracted and leave handbag, camera, etc. down while copying a gravestone inscription and then wander off to the next stone so now. I always carry a bag with a long strap which I hand on my soulder.
If it's a large cemetery run by a council there might be a map (even a general map with 'roads' and paths showing can help you get your bearings or to explain where a plot is located.
Happy hunting!
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Thanks for the advice. Shoulder bag at the ready.
I've had another look on google satellite and the cemetery looks older in one area and seems to progress to more modern grave stones. The oldest part, has many rows of gravestones in lying in the grass.
I will try the council, as suggested, to see if they have a map/layout.
Many thanks
Pipkim :)
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Pipkim - as Carole says it can be worth seeing if there are any plans available - I suspect you're looking at a churchyard - some plans are available online or via a local history group - well worth searching around; also some MIs have been transcribed & are online or in booklets at local history libraries or records offices - anything that gives an indication on layout in a large area helps.
Layout can be systematic in neat rows, but some churchyards when they get near "full" then fill in around edges etc then they may extend into another nearby area. Council cemeteries often had separate areas for different faiths or even denominations.
Also there may not be a headstone or a zealous authority may have removed it or toppled it for safety reasons so you can't read it.....
I'd suggest sturdy boots or wellies and gardening gloves in case "your" graves are the ones smothered by brambles or ivy! Also as it appears you'll be on your own, I don't want to be alarmist, but take your phone & make sure someone knows where you are - some churchyards are lonely places with very uneven ground & accidents do happen.
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I found many of the older stones were hard to read but laying a large sheet of paper over them and rubbing lightly with a crayon or chalk showed up the inscription better.
I think some cemetaries have burial indexes, listing names/dates/plot refs. but the couple I have gone to I have just systematically walked the rows looking for surnames (and been lucky), although these were fairly small cemetaries.
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As has been said already, a map would help enormously so do check first. Failing that, another person to help is an asset - perhaps one member of the family might be persuaded to help? On a recent search in a Scottish cemetery for some of my lot, my OH and I mentally divided the area into sections using trees, large memorials etc. and worked our way systematically up and down the rows. It was my OH that eventually found the grave I was looking for so I was very glad I had taken him along.
It is easy to get diverted and concentration is easily lost, particularly if it is a cold day, also difficult to write notes when fingers are cold, therefore best to pick a milder, but dry day. When taking photos, watch the lighting then the inscription is not flattened out.
Best of luck :)
Maggie
PS - good tip re. rubbing paper with crayon, Kia - will definitely try that :)
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Rubbing wild rhubard leaves over a hard to read inscription often helps make the writing clearer. If wild rhubarb not available, try using a little bit of water dabbed on with a sponge. Do not scrap or scratch the stones to clear mosses, etc.
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Hi
I have been to many gravesites and cemeteries for my ancestors and have found lots of interesting things. To visit Highgate Cemetery you will have to pay about £3 to get in but I think there may be a Friends Of Highgate Cemetery Trust.
Ben
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I wish you luck, and I hope you have success, but I followed the same path when I first got interested in my family history, and I thought it would be so easy, because all my ancestors on my maternal grandmother's side came from the same small village in Suffolk. So, off I went, camera and notebook in hand, expecting to see the generations laid out before me, and I found ONE person with my grandmother's family name, and even she wasn't quite who I thought she was. Of course, the reason I didn't find anyone was because most of my ancestors were too poor to buy gravestones. In the end I photographed most of the gravestones in the cemetary (it didn't take too long, because my wife took her camera too, and we shared the task), and many of them turned out to be connected with the family, even thugh I didn't know it at the time.
What I would suggest is to take photos at maximum resolution (if it's a digital camera) and from different angles if the text looks hard to read, because you stand a much better chance of decyphering it :)
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Basically, you could be lucky but don't hope for too much.
Years ago I visited Hampstead Cemetery hoping to find the grave of the artist Frank Dicksee - if I'd have had a computer then and had looked at a satellite photo I would have realised how huge it was and how little chance I had of finding it and wouldn't have gone. As it was I arrived, wandered around for 10 minutes and found it.
Carole
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Hi
I have relatives in Suffolk and have often found gravestones and other times in other cemeteries I havent found gravestones. Some are illegible, some are readable. It can be luck of the draw.
My paternal grandfathers dad was from a small village in mid Suffolk. His dad committed suicide in 1894 and hasnt got a headstone either due to the suicide burial or lack of money yet his parents before him were still alive in 1894 and were quite well off.
Ben
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Wow, thanks All for you for your advice.
I can see I'll be making a few visits in the future.
I have sat at home over the last couple of years and thought I must visit and never got around to it. I don't mind if I don't find anything at first, as Odiham is only 20 miles away from where I live and have visited it a few times in the past - without knowing my ancestors had been resident there, one of those coincidences of family research.
There are also places I want to take photographs of for my records, so any trip will be useful.
Now I have just got to make the effort.
Thanks again
Pipkim
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If you are looking for graves in Odiham, don't just look in All Saints Churchyard, be sure to look in the Municipal Cemetery in Kings Street, I have found plenty of my ancestors in both.
Jebber
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Hi
Visiting cemeteries can really bring your ancestors to life. It did for me. 4 of my London ancestors who died in the 1880s are buried in public graves in the same cemetery namely the St Pnacras & Islington Cemetery and it all came to life.
Ben
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I wish you the best of luck Pipkim, but please do manage your expectations. I came home from Australia last August and visited grave yards in Pudsey, Idle and Calverley, it took me days of looking around and I found nothing at all. I was so sad to see such neglect, goats in the grave yard trying to keep the grass down to knee height, fences around the older part of the grave yard because the head stones were crumbling and dangerous.
I have a very kind Rootschatter friend who lives across the road from one of the cemeteries that my ancestors would be most likely buried in and so far she has only located positions for 2 of them after about 4 months. Many people were buried without headstones for a variety of reasons, mine were just too poor.
Jill
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Even with a plan of the churchyard its still sometimes hard to find one grave. (local graveyard)
Been looking for 3 years for one, only nettles and brambles 6feet high stopping me.
In contrast found my grandfathers grave in 10 minutes. (150 mile round trip)
Brian
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I went to Huyton graveyard a couple of years ago to visit a relatives grave and was unable to find it although I knew exactly where it should have been.
The graveyard had been renovated and a dividing wall had been removed except for a few top stones which gave an indication on the line of separation.
Fortunately the pathway was still in place so I could virtually identify which area my relatives were buried in.
Some headstones still standing faced one way whilst the next line those still standing faced the opposite way, confirmed I had found the right part of the graveyard.
I was able to identify that the grave was one of three mounds from the number of visits I had made prior to leaving Liverpool in 1964. I took a long shot photo from the side so have all three mounds in view.
A letter from Knowsley Council confirmed why there was no stones left. It appeared that as the wall collapsed a lot of the graves next to the wall had their stones completely destroyed. There were a few graves that had bits of stone that still had identifying names left with them. Unfortunately not mine.
Jean
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For me visiting Odiham will be a strange experience. Just to walk around the roads my ancestors lived in and conducted their lives. I still remember my surprise when reading a census page that Odiham was the place of birth of some of my ancestors.
The only one I hope to find is George Hooker (5xGreat Grandfather). He is the only one I have found who left a will, so he may of been able to afford a stone, assuming his family bought one and its not disappeared. If I find other names that slot into the family tree that would be fab, but George would be the icing on the cake, though his birth place still eludes me.
Many years ago I was drawn to Odiham Castle (just a ruin now) and based a college project on it. I still don't know why I chose it. I was Warwickshire born and always assumed my ancestors were too, as that was where my grandparents and wider family lived.
Just need to wait for a slightly warmer day than today!
Pipkim
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Hi
Visiting cemeteries can really bring your ancestors to life. It did for me.
Oooer. Tell us more! :o
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Hi
Visiting cemeteries can really bring your ancestors to life. It did for me.
Oooer. Tell us more! :o
My 4x gt grandparents John and Elizabeth Alford's gravestone ends with the lines
And when the last trumpet shall call
Christ will them raise who liv'd and died for all
I couldn't help wondering who'd be the more surprised - me if it did actually happen, or them to find out who I was. ;) ;D
Carole
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For anyone with ancestors in Odiham, a worthwhile purchase would be a booklet entitled,
The Parish of Odiham,An Historical Guide by Sheila Millard. ISBN 0 9513201 1 4
Also a treasure trove for anyone who had people living in the High Street,
Odiham High Street, An Itinerary ISBN 0 9513201 2 2. This has illustrations of all the properties in the High Street, along with the names of many of the occupants and their occupations back over the centuries.
Jebber
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Hi Jebber,
Thanks for the book title, sounds very interesting.
I hope to visit when the Pest House is open and may be buy the book, the post office also sells the book. Sheila Millard helped me by arranging for a gedcom file with lots of the Hooker family line to be sent to me, in return I sent a donation.
Perhaps the first thing to do on my visit is to buy the book. She also has a new book about the public houses in Odiham.
Pipkim
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Hi Pipkim,
Sheila Millard MBE is a mine of information, she was also very helpful to me and provided me with masses of information on my lines, unfortunately I found many errors in it, but it certainly helped to point me in the right direction.
My family were tanners, butcher, bakers and shopkeepers in the High Street, so it is highly likely our families pathes crossed at some time or other.
I have another book on Odiham, now out of print I think, by the late Anne Pitcher MBE, unfortunately there is no index of names, but I will try and skim through it this evening to see if the name HOOKER occurs.
Jebber
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Hi Pipkim,I've enjoyed reading this thread as Ive enjoyed many a happy hour hunting out headstones many of them in Ireland ,where the cemetery is in the middle of no where, maybe in the middle of a field with no road to it(ah the fun of just trying to get to the cemetery!!)There is no joy been in a cemetery on a cold damp day,so my tip to you would be perchase the books Jebber recommended stay in read up on the place keep warm & cozy,then on a mild day camera,notebook in hand of you go headstone hunting take photo's of as many old headstones as you can,they may mean nothing to you at the moment but could do at a future date(also they maybe of interest to some one else doing family research in that area)It is surprising how much info you can get from a headstone,once you get home you can play with them on the PC,I find reading them so much easier on the PC,I like Justkia's idea sheet of paper & rub lightly with a crayon/chalk brilliant!+Aghadowey simply rub with wide rhubarb or water,what ever you do Pipkim enjoy your headstone hunting ,Good luck ,regards Nipy
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Hi Jebber,
Thanks for the offer of looking in you book, this is a bit of info on George.
George Hooker was a Corn Chandler and died in 1807 and owned land at his death but at sometime before this was a pauper. George's wife Sarah (d.1815), lived at sometime in The Bury as a lot of folk did, which address I don't know.
His sons worked in Odiham as wheelwrights, not sure if they were employees or employers.
There were quite a few people with the Hooker name in Odiham, so I am hoping George and his ancestors were from there, although it will be the first time my family have stayed put for a few decades.
Thanks everyone for your kind wishes and I loved hearing about peoples hit and miss affair with searching graveyards. I will have my camera on me, thank goodness for digital cameras, as it means I can take lots of pictures, as Nipy says, they might be of interest to someone else.
Pipkim
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I was given a tip by someone which really helped decipher a gravestone which was over 80 years old. When I found it, after checking with the local council for the position, the sun was shining and I couldn't read any of it. I went back at a different time of day and the sun was at a different angle, but it still didn't make sense.
My miraculous success was from lightly sprinkling the stone from above with talcum powder, so the face of the stone caught the powder but it didn't go into the carvings. It was quite an amazing thing to read it so clearly after that. No damage to the stone, no scraping, and it would all blow or wash away without trace after.
I could have been the first person in 80 years to have visited the grave and was very moved reading the words and name of my ancestor.
:)
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Hi Pipkim,
Have gone through the book I mentioned, luckily there were only 53 pages, there is no mention of the name HOOKER unfortunately. :'( It was worth taking a look because so many inhabitants were mentioned from 1860 onwards.
Good luck with your graveyard and cemetery search.
Jebber
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Hi Folk's,
I would just like to say that I have spent ther summer travelling up and down Scotland tracing my families roots. I have spent many fascinating hours with my husband and a couple of my freinds in cemetries. I have been blessed, in that all of the people I have looked for have had a headstone. I have been moved by the wording on these. It makes the relatives real to me and I have loads of pictures taken on my wee mobile phone. I have had loads of help from Angus Council, who send a map via email and respond within half an hour of calling them for information.
I havae also visited some of the homes that ancesters have lived in and places that they got married. I am already drawing up a list for the summer coming. My freinds are fasinated by my hobby and happy to share it with me.
You have to take care though and mind your feet and be aware of who may be around you. Apart from this I love it.
Take care all of you gravehunters,
Happy New Year,
Lynda
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Hi
Many of my ancestors in Sussex were pillars of the community. Wheelwrights, beer sellers, farmers etc. One was even a small time landowner. My great great gran Mary Ann Kate Roberts was bought up in London and her mums family from Sussex were very successful, and her dads family were the slaves as they were all servants to well off people.
Many of her Sussex ancestors had gravestones which are still there and I have photographs of.
Ben
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Hi All,
Well, I managed to drag the family for a quick look at All Saints church and graveyard in Odiham. Lovely sunny day but very cold at -2 degrees.
No success on this visit and we looked at most stones, although some were covered in ivy. I would say almost half the stones are now blank. The sandstone has not stood the test of time.
George was buried in 1807, so if he did have a stone it would probably be blank by now (unless it is in a shady corner). The pest house was open and was worth popping in. I have contacted someone about a burial plan and hopefully that might shed a light on the Hooker family and where they were laid to rest.
I also picked up some of the books recommended, so I am looking forward to reading those.
Even though I didn't find anything, I really enjoyed the trip and will be back for another search around.
Thanks for the advice and stories.
Pipkim
We took a photo of picture of the incumbents of All Saints Church from 1309 to 1996. It was taken at an angle but is just readable. If anyone wants it.
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Hi all
I have just come across this post and have read it with great interest. I'm not sure if anyone has come across the Gravestone Photographic Resources. It relies on volunteers to photograph as many gravestones as possible, prefferably of people born before 1900 but it will take all gravestone photo's. It offers its photo's free of charge all it asks is that you click on some of the google ads. You can find them at http://www.gravestonephotos.com/index.php .
Just as footnote I volunteer for them photographing gravestones in Gateshead and Durham.
Gary
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Well Pipkim ,even thoe no luck finding your family headstone bet you felt a buzz about knowing you must be standing some where near where they were laid to rest & when a live may all so have visited!! Thank you Preshous I will check that web site ,sounds good ,Cheers folks Nipy
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Hi ,
Pipkim is it worth phoning the church ?
When I went back home for a holiday ( I'm in Australia) and visited a few cemeteries around my hometown back in Wales I telephoned the churches first and explained what I was looking for . Nearly all the churches I phoned the vicar put time aside for us and allowed us to browse the church's burial records ( one church records were even recorded with the plot numbers so it was easy to find the graves, whilst others they were not and the vicar could only give us his good guess what part of the cemetery that we needed to search).
You mention they may be buried in there (?) If you're not 100% sure that they are buried there , your local archives should hold burial records for most of the local churches in the area if they have been deposited.
Hope that is of some help
Kind Regards :)
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hi as already stated be carefull in cemetery/church yard i recently paid visit to church yard stepped back to take photo and ground gave way the lenth of one leg went down hole i was ok but it could have been bad so as suggested take mobile phone the one i was at was desserted but luck i had sumone with me. good luck on your search
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Sorry to hear that you had no luck this time. Next time you visit, take some strong gardening cloves, to clear that Ivy ! Ivy will erode a gravestone faster than anything else, so no-one will scold you for doing it, as long as you dispose of the cleared Ivy thoughtfully.
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You may find this item of interest, it refers to Odiham Cemetery, not the Church graveyard,
http://www.odiham.org.uk/home.asp
Jebber
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The Church graveyard was tidy too. Not too much over grown, just the odd stone. I didn't make it to the King street cemetery as the kids had had enough, as it was very cold, although it appears that one was opened in 1850 as All Saints Cemetery was full.
I have contacted the parish council and the church, about plot numbers etc. I had read that the council had made an effort to cut down the over growth.
Harrywrag, sorry to here you had an accident on your visit to a cemetery. I can see how it happens, We saw lots of voids under the horizontal grave stones and wouldn't be surprised if there were others.
Best wishes
Pipkim
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Hi
Some of my London ancestors who lived right in the centre of London ended up in the most tranquil areas of the St Pancras & Islington Cemetery once they died. They were buried in public graves, but in a clearing under huge trees that are so tall, they all meet at the top and form a huge tree made dome above the burial areas, tucked away behind the main paths of the huge cemetery.
Ben
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Hi,
yes, it's very important to be careful when visiting the cemetery. My husband wont let me go alone. He always comes with me, even though family history isn't his thing. We take my 10 yr old son too. I give them the name and/or ref number and off they go. We make a game of it. If you have any wee ones it may be worth taking them. they can cover alot of ground ;D ;D
Red :D
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Hi,
yes, it's very important to be careful when visiting the cemetery. My husband wont let me go alone. He always comes with me, even though family history isn't his thing. We take my 10 yr old son too. I give them the name and/or ref number and off they go. We make a game of it. If you have any wee ones it may be worth taking them. they can cover alot of ground ;D ;D
Red :D
When I was little I spent quite a lot of time wandering around the cemetery where my grandparents are buried while my parents attended to the grave - I used to read the gravestones and loved looking at the angels and other monuments. I'm sure that's what started my interest in family history ;D
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Hi All,
Well, I contacted the Church and the Clerk cannot find George Hooker. There appears to be no stone and now have found out he was a staunch nonconformist.
Where that leaves me I don't know, yet. The only nonconformist records I can find are for London/Middlesex.
I need to find out more about being nonconformist in Odiham, Hampshire. I have also contacted the church in Upton Grey, where he married in 1760, may be they have more information on him and his bride.
I feel my very first trip to the Hampshire archives on the horizon.
Any suggestion where I may look next?
Pipkim :-\
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Pipkim - sorry you've had no luck. You're probably right the next move is the local archives. I've had a look at
http://www.bmdregisters.co.uk
which has many non-conformist registers but there doesn't seem a likely burial. It's also worth checking the GENUKI pages for the area(s) in case they list potential burial grounds & the location of the records. Uou might be lucky on a Google etc search, but I expect the archives is the best chance. Good luck!
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Hi
You get the feel of your ancestors when you visit their graves. I get it all the time, as if I actually knew them despite the fact that they were dead a long time ago.
Ben
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You get the feel of your ancestors when you visit their graves. I get it all the time, as if I actually knew them despite the fact that they were dead a long time ago.
Ben
I must admit, I felt very much at home walking around the church yard, down Odiham high street and in the back streets where George lived. I wouldn't mind living there myself, it's alovely place.
I was drawn to Odiham and its castle years ago, well before I found out my Birmingham family had ancestors in Odiham. :o
Pipkim
If my ancestors are pulling me to Odiham, why are they playing hard to get find!!!
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Hi
I think you automatically have the fell if you visist a cemetery whenre your ancestors are buried.
Ben