Date of death on gravestone appears to be wrong - is this usual?

[stonechat]

Also don't assume the people on the gravestone are the only ones buried there

There are 4 people buried in one grave

My gt grandmother
Her son in law
her grandson

Now when the parish records became available, my grt granmother's burial is missing

Also we know that 20-30 years later my great aunt was buried there, but she never got added to the inscription

[LizzieW]

I assume my 4 x g.grandfather is probably in the grave too.  According to the records he was buried in the same graveyard years later, but his name doesn't show up on any stone.

As well as people not on the stone being in the grave, in this instance there is my 3 x g.grandmother whose name is on the stone but who could be in the same grave, or in another grave with my 3 x g.grandfather as she has her name and date of death etc. carved on two stones!

Lizzie

[Deb D]

Seems to be an ongoing problem; - when my brother died, aged 35, in 1997 ... they put a birthdate that was 20 years out, on his stone.  Anyone who didn't know would have thought he died at 15 years of age 

Took all sorts of hassle to get it fixed, too!

[angelfish58]

I was looking at some MIs this morning for St. Martin, Seamer and came across the following

"Erected in memory of William son of John & Ann Halton who departed this life 16 Jan 1788/1789/1799 (corrections by stonemason)"

According to the NBI William was buried 18 Jan 1789, without seeing the stone I can only assume that the dates were carved in the order that they were transcribed and at some point after 1799.....

[coombs]

Like in original documents gravestones can have errors on them. I found a gravestone of an ancestor whose death was 1 day out to the actual death certificate.