Glasnevin Memorial Plaque - Discrepancy in Dates - Advice please!

[lochgarman]

Hi, I have a family unmarked grave in Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin
and I am thinking of putting up a small marker or plaque to remedy the situation.

My problem is that I have both the official death records (from GRO) for the people in the grave and the records of death & burial date from Glasnevin website/burial book.

And surprise surprise there is a discrepancy between ages when they died!

So for example the death cert states 80 years when died but the glasnevin record states 84 years when died for one person!

At the moment I am leaning towards the glasnevin records being more realistic/accurate as the date of death and burial happened within 3 days of each other so; the burial register would have been filled in at the same time; where as the dates in the GRO were registered the following month or few weeks afterwards. so hence maybe when officially registering the people were not necessarily family or the details were getting hazy because it was "after the event" and life had moved on.

So I am just trying to be accurate myself if a genealogist visits the grave in 50 years time...... and reads my handywork.....

Any guidance thoughts appreciated before I order the plaque! THanks Gerard

[aghadowey]

Not sure I can see the logic in your reasoning here. The death certificate should list the name of the informant (who could easily be the same person who gave the cemetery details) as well as the date the event was registered. It's equally possible that one or neither of the ages in the 2 records are correct since people really weren't concerned about birthdays, exact ages, etc.

[conahy calling]

Have you tried to get the deceased persons birth cert or was it before 1864?   Or a church Baptism record?   Baptisms were usually carried out very soon after the birth (but not always)   This would enable you to calculate the correct age.

[lochgarman]

Thanks. Yes you are both correct. I have 4 people buried in the grave; all born pre 1864. I have 2 from the baptism records (so I can verify their age); the other 2 -  I don't. One died in 1893 aged either 80 or 84 depending on the burial record or registered death. There is no baptism record for him. Maybe it is better for the 2 people whose age I cannot verify is just to record their date of death and leave it at that.

[dathai]

First of all i would like to ask have you proof of ownership as your dates seem way back in time,i recently found one of my father in laws sisters had been buried in a grave in Glasnevin in 1903 and lay undisturbed for 100 yrs but when i found the grave in 2010 there was a new headstone on it, it had been sold to a different family and we have no right now to place any marker on it.
Similarly my great great grandfather is buried in Glasnevin 1881 and his son died 1859 was down as owner upon further investigation i discovered there were 5 members of his family buried in this plot up till 1940.
I could not understand why this grave appears as ''standard'' meaning that i had to buy each search individually,upon further investigation i found that prior to 1859 there were 9 people buried in this same plot  during the famine years 4 and 5 on the same days, as the last person in the family died in 1940s i dont know who held the grave papers so at present time i dont know what the situation would be if i were to want to place a marker on it,just some food for thought before you do anything.
Regards Dathai.

[Oliverd]

Possible solution would be to put something along lines of
John Smith
Died 1880 aged 80-84

Maybe that someone in 50 years can tie in down tighter but at least you will have given them a steering as to ages of people inside.

[lochgarman]

Thanks Oliverd and Daithi - interesting point.
I did not know that the grave could be resold like that??

I was thinking of putting a small marker on it only nothing permanent e.g maybe a small cross with a plaque  or attaching a small plaque to the kerbing surrounding the grave (nothing like a big headstone or anything). For me it is just a token to avoid the grave being unmarked. The grave is in the old part of glasnevin and is a single grave with 4 people. When I went searching for it; we could not find it and the resident historian helped us by taking us downstairs into the storage area of the visitor centre where the original large graveyard books are. We looked them up there and it all seemed okay. We then found the grave with his help. 
What is interesting for me is that I got the will of the last occupant in 1908 in the last few weeks; and they expressed the wish that £25 be spent to put up a headstone for their memory and their parents and brother in the grave. Of course the executor of the will never completed that request. It was a shame really as the first occupant went into the grave in 1864; so the family should have done something then. But cest la vie. (And they were well off as well in the Victorian times so easily could have afforded a headstone) regards gerard

[dathai]

I see you mention in the will about the request so it is definitely owned by your family so therefore cannot be resold, i should have mentioned that way back in time families had a five year option to buy the grave if not it reverted back to property of Glasnevin.
That is why as so many people here on Rootschat have found when purchasing readouts for their ancestors graves that they are buried among strangers.

[dathai]

Just one other point if you do decide to put some kind of marker on the grave to make sure you put the grave number on the back of it.
I have been to Glasnevin several times over the past few years and they are doing a great job landscaping the place,and where necessary are removing old rusted railings and shattered kerbstones to facilitate this so just in case the marker was moved temporarily to landscape the area make sure the number is on it.
Regards Dathai.