"in memory"on gravestone

[elcas]

Hi there,

what could

"in memory of my mother, my sister, my brother, my friend
                   1855 M.H. "
on a gravestone mean?

Below that "also Maria Hide ( the above mentioned M.H.)  who died July 9th 1866 ".

Any suggestion or lead?

thanks,

elcas

[groom]

My guess would be that perhaps Maria Hide bought the burial plot in 1855 and had the head stone erected in memory of those people. Then when she died in 1866 her name was added and she was buried there. In that case it probably means that the first people are not buried in that grave.

[elcas]

I had something like that in my mind too. It was a self-supporting lady, single and left a will.

But she had a father, two sisters and two brothers. And what about the friend?

And why in that specific year. ?

Someone suggested that "my mother, my sister, my brother, my friend" could be a lyric.

Anyhow thanks.

[groom]

Did all the others predecease her?

[elcas]

I have no idea about the mother, nor her sister

Her father was buried earlier in the same cemetery.

[Rosinish]

Hi there,

what could

"in memory of my mother, my sister, my brother, my friend
                   1855 M.H. "
on a gravestone mean?

elcas

When did her father die?

Could the rest, mother, sister, brother & friend have all died at the same time in strange circumstances in 1855 & she couldn't afford the lettering for each i.e. just a compact memorial?

Just a thought?

Annie

[Geoff-E]

The grave plot may have been bought as soon as the cemetery opened. Many municipal cemeteries opened in the mid 1850s following changes in the burial laws.

[elcas]

To all!

Many thanks for your suggestions/ideas.

I`ll bear them in mind in my research.

elcas

[Chapuys]

I was talking to a graveyard worker earlier in the year. He was talking to me about how in the past family were buried in plot, but also friends of the family or neighbours sometimes shared the plots of other friends or neighbours. I think we were lamenting on the failing of the community and talking to our neighbours at the time. That could be a possibility.