Might have to buy a lottery ticket this week

[steadyrollingman]

So at the weekend I paid my first visit to the graveyard where I knew my 4x G-Granda was buried. But as he was an ag lab most of his life and died in 1841, I wasn't holding my breath in the hope of finding a gravestone. As it turns out, I literally could've done so, because it was the second one I looked at. And as a bonus, next to him was the daughter I'd lost track of as soon as she married and became a Smith.

I was stunned - this has never happened to me before and am pretty sure it must be a record of some sort. Even better, his headstone was about 5in thick, so now I'm coming round to thinking that he, his widow, or his children were a little more comfortably off than I have long believed... 

[andrewalston]

Definitely worth the visit!

Most of my lot were not well off enough to spend cash on headstones, so a visit to the churchyard where one of my ggg gfs was buried did not hold out much hope,

However, he had been a stonemason, as were two of his sons. They knew a good piece of stone when they saw it, and his stone was as crisp as the day it was carved. Best in the churchyard!

[steadyrollingman]

Oh cool - I found a gravestone of one of my mason forebears years ago but it never occurred to me that he might have carved it himself (his first wife died years earlier) so I might go and inspect his handiwork (and see if the 'handwriting' changes when he's mentioned...)

EDIT: Just checked my info on the 4xGGF mentioned in OP and on two of his children's marriage records from after his death, he was referred to as a quarryman. I wonder if he made the most of the opportunity like yours did...