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Scotland (Counties as in 1851-1901) => Scotland => Lanarkshire => Topic started by: Hanan on Friday 14 March 14 12:37 GMT (UK)
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Hi All,
I have a certificate for Sighthill cemetery, my gg grandparents have purchased compartment two, class x, number 157, back in 1919. Any ideas how I can find out who is buried there? I know it isn't them.
Thank you!
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You could try emailing the Glasgow Cemeteries Department ... although they have a reputation as being not overly genealogy friendly they were excellent when I was able to provide similar information regarding another cemetery in their care.
https://www.glasgow.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=5157 (contact details at the bottom of the page)
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On the bottom of your Sighthill Certificate is usually a space that says "Ent.d" and to the right of this is generally a hand written entry like "A163" - this is the 'Scrip.' number.
The "Scrip.' number is a reference to the 'Lair Owners Register' where you can look up the details of who purchased the lair (mainly just name, address & occupation). The 'Scrip.' should also list the names & dates-of-death of the individuals buried in the lair (although not always).
Do you have an image of the Certificate? Is there an exact date in 1919 when the lair was purchased?
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Sighthill Cemetery Lair 2-X-157 is owned by David McIntyre originally of "3 Ashvale Row, East" and later of "25 Harbour Place, Ardrossan". The Script. number is M785.
There are a total of six burials in 2-X-157, starting with his wife, Helen McIntyre on 10-Jun-1914.
The other burial dates included in the Script Book are: 4-May-1915, 15-Dec-1916, 29-May-1918, 2-Jul-1918 and 4-Jan-1919. Unfortunately when i tried looking up burials on these dates, i couldn't find any relevant (don't know why).
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Helen McIntyre burial register image
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Script book image
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Thank you so much. One big mystery (almost) solved. I will need to investigate those other dates and see if I can figure out who they are. I know it isn't David the husband as I know he is buried in Ardrossan, Ayrshire.
I appreciate your help.
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I checked on & around the 5 other dates but couldn't find any burials in 2-X-157 which seemed odd.
It's also a bit strange that his name is partly struck out & replaced by Mr John McIntyre - his son perhaps? And who was "Duller" ?? (if that's what it says? Perhaps just an error when filling in the book)
It's as expected that he bought the Lair for his wife if she died before him. Perhaps moving from Glasgow to Ardrossan might suggest he remarried & some other relatives or even subsequent children are buried in this Lair.
The burial registers are available online, but they are not indexed, so you need to have a date of death & a name to be able to find a burial record.
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John was David and Helen's son.
David, his son John and John's wife are all buried in Ardrossan. I am unaware of David and Helen having any other children other than John. I can account for all John's children and know where they are all buried, so it's none of them. David never remarried.
I've no idea who "Duller" or how the name is connected.
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Okay - i've had a closer look and now realised i may have given you some incorrect information (sorry about that) - see below.
Looking at other Lairs in the Script Book, its apparent that (as well as being something of a 'dogs-dinner') other burial entries are indicated as "adult" or "child" along with the date of burial. The dates shown in David McIntyres Script Book entry for Lair 2-X-157 don't indicate adult or child burials (apart from his wife Helen).
Also, if you look carefully at the Script Book entry, you can see that the cost of David McIntyres Lair was "£3.3s.0d" or "1 @ 63/-" (three pounds & three shillings is the same as 63 shillings). You can just see the lair below belonging to Mrs Margaret Pollock was also £3.3s.0d. In fact, at this time, they were all £3.3s.0d for this type of Lair.
The first column is a 'debit' account. The second column is a 'credit' account. So, in other words, David McIntyre did not settle the bill for the Lair in full until 4-Jan-1919 with your Certificate being issued on 16-Jan-1919. He paid in instalments of £1.11s.6d + 10s + 10s + 5s + 5s + 1s.6d = £3.3s.0d on the dates indicated (of course, nowadays, he'd be charged interest for taking 5years to pay the bill!)
So it looks like nobody else is buried in Lair 2-X-157, just his wife Helen at a depth of 8 feet (so still plenty of room for subsequent occupants).
Apologies for misleading you initially.
I've checked on FindAGrave.com - there was no entry for Helen, so I have created one for her - see https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/234900080/helen-mcintyre
If you ping me on FindAGrave (user smithbill17) I can pass the record ownership to you.
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I have a burial in Sighthill Cemetery - scrip number 2865. (Lair No 62, Class 10)
How do I view the information for that scrip number?
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Unfortunately the Script Book for scripts below 3983 are missing, so you won't be able to look up the entry for Script 2865.
However, if you have a date of death & a name or address, then you can look up the Daily Interment book for the burial details of your ancestor.
If you only know the month of death, then you can easily page through the Daily Interment book searching through several pages for the right death. If you're the type to persevere, you could even page through 2 or 3 months worth of burials. But if you only know the year of death, then you'll probably have to read through 50+ pages of deaths to stand any chance of finding who you are looking for.
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To view the Sighthill Daily Interment books (or Script Books after 3983), you need to:
1. go to familysearch.org and sign up for a free account
2. login to familysearch.org and select to 'Search Catalog' (you want Catalog, not Search Records)
3. Enter "Glasgow" in the search box and choose "Scotland, Lanark, Glasgow" and press the "Search" button
4. In the resulting list, expand the entry for "cemeteries"
5. Select "Sighthill Cemetery" from the list
6. You will now see links for the available microfilms - choose the film you want to view & click the small camera icon. You can then begin paging through the film one page at a time or you can jump back/forwards by entering a page number.
The films are NOT indexed, so you cannot search them except by plodding through the film pages.
I recommend you do the above on a PC as the film viewer doesn't work properly on some mobile devices.
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Obviously, without a Script Book entry, you will not be able to tell who else is buried in the Lair. You will need dates of death & name or address for each burial so you can look them up individually in the Daily Interment book.
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Unfortunately the Script Book for scripts below 3983 are missing, so you won't be able to look up the entry for Script 2865.
Thank you.
The process you describe is exactly how I got the script no in the first place, and the reason I wanted to know how to look up the script no is so that I can find out who else is in the lair, and if so who they are and when they died.
And I wouldn't dream of doing anything on a phobile that could be done on a PC :)
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Ah, unfortunately you're scuppered then as the Script Book I think was lost or destroyed (not sure).
However, I recommend you look at the year & particularly the depth of the Burial you already have. Most burials of the first person in the Lair, are at around 7-8ft (although a few at 10ft). If the Burial you already have is at say 4ft, then you can be pretty certain there's at least one other burial beneath them, and potentially 2 other burials (allow 1.5ft to 2ft per burial).
Also, the year of death for the Burial you already have - if it's quite recent, say 1910, then because the Script number is a low one & therefore an old Lair, then it was obviously bought a long time before say 1910 & therefore probably has someone else in the Lair. If there is a lot of years between your Script number (Script 2865 = 1845-50) and the Burial you already have, then it's likely that the Lair was bought to bury a parent or even a grandparent & the subsequent burial you already have was a son/daughter going into the 'family lair'.
Did that make any sense?
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And if you can make a guess that an earlier burial was a parent or grandparent, then once you know when they died, you can look up the Sighthill Daily Interment book for their date of death & see if they went into the Lair prior to the Burial you already have.
Most burial Lairs were family plots - so it's likely that immediate family of the Burial you already have, are the ones buried in the Lair.
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Thank you.
The burial I have was in 1856, at a depth of 7 feet, and I am mainly interested in earlier burials, if any, as later deaths can easily be traced through the statutory death records.
I am quite familiar with how burial records are kept in general though I have not come across the term 'Script No" before.
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Okay, sounds like you're not really in need of my help then. Although I would say that an 1856 burial at 7ft in a Script 2865, may well indicate a burial (possibly a child) prior to 1856 at a depth 9-7ft. You'll have to turn to Scotlandspeople to progress that. Good luck.
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You have provided exactly the help I was seeking by telling me that Script No 2865 is missing, for which thank you.
Scotland's People doesn't have any records of deaths of this family before 1855.
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I notice that lair 2865 had a burial on 17th June 1847 of a Helen Aitkenhead daughter of John Aitkenhead a Virtualler of 137 Trongate, Glasgow. She was 6 months old.
Hope that helps if you haven’t already found it.
Looks like the lair would have been bought around 1847 too.
On 12th May 1848 the son of Robert Hunter, Flesher of 232 Gallowgate was interred in lair 2865 owned by John Aitkenhead. Aged 1 year, 8 months
On 26th October 1848 32 year old Agnes Aitkenhead of 2 McNeil street, Calton was buried due to decline. Lair owned by John
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Thank you! Those are three of the missing pieces of my Aitkenhead puzzle. Helen was John's daughter, Agnes was his sister and Robert Hunter senior was his brother-in-law.