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General => The Common Room => Topic started by: Lidfam on Saturday 15 June 24 09:06 BST (UK)

Title: "Also At" on a gravestone
Post by: Lidfam on Saturday 15 June 24 09:06 BST (UK)
Many years ago I found the gravestone of my g grandfather's sister, the same grave as her husband who had died 17 years previously in 1934. Emma's inscription in 1951 began with the words "Also At" and I have always presumed she was buried with him. Now I have found a newspaper obituary for her stating that she was cremated at a crematorium in the nearest city to where they lived, some 12 miles away. So, does anyone know whether the fact she is inscribed on the grave means that her ashes were scattered in, or on the grave, or was the wording just a memorial to her ? Do the words "also at" have any relevance?
              Thankyou.    Dale Lidbury
Title: Re: "Also At" on a gravestone
Post by: oldfashionedgirl on Saturday 15 June 24 09:32 BST (UK)
Does it not mean that some of her ashes were scattered there and presumably some elsewhere?
These day you have to go through official channels to inter ashes but then I imagine it was just done.
Title: Re: "Also At" on a gravestone
Post by: Milliepede on Saturday 15 June 24 09:32 BST (UK)
I haven’t come across an “also at” before. 

Can I ask what comes after those words which may put it in context?
Title: Re: "Also At" on a gravestone
Post by: Lidfam on Saturday 15 June 24 12:37 BST (UK)
Hi thankyou for your reply. Following the inscription for her husband it reads.
                      Also At
                       Emma
                   Wife of the above

and then the death details.
My querie is really did they scatter the ashes on the husbands grave, then inscribe the wording as if she was buried there.
                Dale
Title: Re: "Also At" on a gravestone
Post by: Milliepede on Saturday 15 June 24 13:36 BST (UK)
It doesn’t make sense does it  :-\. Also at Emma wife of the above. Is it a clear inscription? 

Sometimes it will say “also in memory of” to indicate the person was not buried there but was remembered.

Hopefully someone can add more insight. 

Title: Re: "Also At" on a gravestone
Post by: arthurk on Saturday 15 June 24 13:46 BST (UK)
How sure are you about the exact wording of the inscription? A very common form of wording on a stone would be "In loving memory of...." for the first name, then "Also of" followed by another name, and in this case that would be a logical arrangement.

"of" and "at" might be confused on a quick reading, or if the lettering was in an unusual font. Erosion can play a part too, though it might be less of a factor with a stone of that age.

Can you tell us where the stone is, and whose names are on it? Someone might have access to an alternative transcription, or even a photo (unless you have one that you could post).
Title: Re: "Also At" on a gravestone
Post by: Kiltpin on Saturday 15 June 24 15:39 BST (UK)
I would also vote for "Also of". 

Regards 

Chas
Title: Re: "Also At" on a gravestone
Post by: Wexflyer on Sunday 16 June 24 03:35 BST (UK)
And if it really is "Also At", I would vote for a stonemason's error.
Far from unknown.
Title: Re: "Also At" on a gravestone
Post by: Lidfam on Sunday 16 June 24 09:14 BST (UK)
Thankyou for all the replies. I will go and see again in the week to check, but I am pretty sure it said Also At.
                 Dale
Title: Re: "Also At" on a gravestone
Post by: Gan Yam on Sunday 16 June 24 10:00 BST (UK)

My querie is really did they scatter the ashes on the husbands grave, then inscribe the wording as if she was buried there.
                Dale

It maybe that the ashes were scattered at the grave, but the ashes may have actually been  interred, rather than scattered, in the grave.  If the ashes are interred (and possibly if scattered), permission would probably be needed and there may be a record of that. 

My paternal grandmother's ashes were interred in the grave of my grandfather and there was a small ceremony for the interment, but the gravestone says "also of the above"  On the other hand my maternal grandmother's grave implies that my grandfather is buried in the same grave as her, when in fact he is buried 100's of miles away.