My first Gravehunt!!!

[kat2004]

Yippee! Just come back from my first grave hunt and boy did I get some strange looks! I was looking in a graveyard in Coniston for my Rigg family and I found one and took a picture. It occured to me that maybe I should have left some flowers or something, does anyone else do this?

Also we found the ancestral row of houses but they all seem to have been renumbered which was a shame but they were lovely houses and I took some pictures anyway.

Its ironic to be happy looking at graves, nevermind, its all in a good cause!

[Welsh Jen]

Lovely stuff! Glad you thoroughly enjoyed! So you haven't got to the stage of falling into graves etc yet then!

I recently revamped my Great Grandfathers grave simply as no one knew his grave was so close to where my family lives. All the family that knew of the grave have long gone (since the 1960's) so I felt obliged to tidy it up.

I haven't done this will all graves I visit though!  But I am on 1st name terms with most of the Cemetery Supervisors in my locality! 

[jinks]

My Father visited is Uncles Grave in the Naval
Cemetery at Portsmouth.

He could never understand why he was buried so far
away from home (Lancashire).

But after he had visited he said it was the best place
so neat and cared for.

In Generations most Graves will become unkempt,
as relations die, but being buried here seems to
preserve some element of dignity.

 
 

[Willow 4873]

I tried to find my Great Grandparents in Heath Town Churchyard but it is so overgrown I had no chance. Now found out from my uncle the general area they are buried in so the project for the summer is to find them and tidy it up

So many people have complained that they say they are going to cut back some of the undergrowth and yes I will take flowers when I find them. After searching through records to find them I wouldn't say I know them well but they are still my family and I don't think they should be forgotten.

My next aim to to find the details on my Great Uncle Samuel who was killed in WW1 and make sure he is mentioned on one of Wolverhamptons war memorials even if I have to pay for it myself!

Willow x

[genjunction]

What else is there to do on a nice sunny day than wander around a church or kirkyard armed with a camera and pad.

I had a little mishap in Woodkirk Churchyard, nr Wakefield about 18 months ago.  I'd gone with a friend who was looking for her great aunt, so I went along for the ride and took piccies for my website.

Yes, the one you want is always in the middle of a bramble patch - so in I trod, gingerley I might add, gently bent down to get the headstone in view and then in veeerrryyy sloooowww mooottiioooon  fell backwards.

I hope no one from across the road was watching as it was not very dignified to be heaved up from my position to the vertical.

At least I got the piccy, but my friend never found her great aunt.  We'd been looking for a headstone, as told by another aunt, only to be told about a few weeks ago that there was no headstone and we had been within inches of the final resting place.

Carol Sklinar
www.wakefieldfhs.org.uk
Wakefield Family History Sharing

[DEV9]

did you fnd out about your gt. uncle Samuels memorial in Ypres completed

[RedMystic]

I've always loved graveyards, but my first experience actually searching for family was when we went to Scotland this past summer. I found stones for my 3x great grandparents & a few others.

My husband proved himself invaluable in spying stones for other possible relatives which I was able to substantiate on my return to Canada. It was wonderfully satisfying.

I find myself worrying though. Both of the oldest monuments I found are in well kept cemeteries, but the stones themselves could use some  tender loving care. How does one arrange for that & how much should one expect to pay?

Is there a protocol regarding who has right to restore a gravestone? I'm not sure if there is family left in the UK that would be interested, but one never knows. (I know in one case that all the children emigrated so no one is left to look after it. In the other case, it appears that most (maybe all) of the children moved away to England - other than the one that came to Canada.)

[Suzy W]

When grave hunting, always have the car loaded with cleaning cloth, something to cut away grass and some flowers.  I always give a good tidy, and the neighbours next door   Like to think that someone would do the same for my long lost relations which I can not get to from afar.

Suzy W

[Nick29]

I did a bit of grave hunting for my mother's ancestors, but I had little success (mainly because most of them were too poor to buy headstones), so it was another few years before I did any more.

I'm glad I did though, but it wasn't all plain sailing.  I didn't find much wandering around the church yard, but later I was able to make contact with the church archivist, who was able to tell me where the graves of my ancestors were located, but more importantly who else shared the plot.  This helped me immensely - it helped trace the marriage of a daughter, and also helped to confirm other relationships in the family.