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Unmarked Graves

• Message 1.Β 

  Posted by TwoBitTwoBit (U1573417) on Wednesday, 19th October 2005

  Now I have a fairly large family tree worked out my attention has turned to attempting to discover where my direct descendents are buried.
  
  I am from working class origins - linen weavers, coal miners etc.
  
  As a rule would this kind of person have a headstone? I would imagine that such an item would be quite expensive for such families. I know for example that my Great Grandfather who died in 1943 had no headstone as we only recently added one 62 years later.
  
  A visit to several local cemetaries has revealed very little as most of the graves were of local worthies or artisan/business owner type people, rather than workers.

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• Message 2

  , in reply to message 1.

  Posted by dmatt74 (U1690430) on Wednesday, 19th October 2005

  The first thing you need to do is to look for burial or cremation records and for that you need to know where they died and what religion they were. There is a National Burial Index but it is not complete.
  
  The fact that certain people were buried in a certain place does not always help as there may be no gravestone or it has been moved. Some families have burial plots in a different parish or in some cases buried inside a church. Wills may sometimes mention where they were buried.

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• Message 3

  , in reply to message 1.

  Posted by Linda1111 (U1103093) on Wednesday, 19th October 2005

  Many working class people did have a headstone but the majority would have been buried in unmarked graves and some would have been buried in paupers graves along with everyone else who had died that year/decade. Also bear in mind that especially in urban areas, graveyards and cemeteries were 'cleansed' every now and then, with the bones being removed to charnel houses, in order that the graves could be used again. In other cases they didn't bother moving the bones and just reused the plot again.
  
  If you know the areas they lived and died then you can consult the burial registers for particular cemeteries and churchyards etc by using the local archives. If this is not possible see if the local FHS has details or MI details available to buy. Be warned though, most are on fiche.
  
  Many headstones have not survived, however where the MI's have been transcribed by FHS's then a record of what was written remains.

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• Message 4

  , in reply to message 1.

  Posted by loftyowl (U1774904) on Thursday, 20th October 2005

  Don't forget that if you are looking for a pre-1837 burial, then the parish records should be available for viewing at your local county or archives library. These are microfiche records sorted by parish.
  So, as an example, you might know the parish in which an ancestor died. If you know their demonination, then that will cut down the number of records which you have to view. The County/archives library will then have a listing of all parishes in that district, and either through guesswork or luck, you then need to pick a parish and search the records. A district might have a number of parishes which can make the task time consuming. The death certificate might have a parish in which they lived at the time of death and this might cut down the number which you have to view.
  This might help you locate the church in which your ancestors were buried. Depending on the date which you are looking for, be aware that some tombstones were made from the local stone and may not have stood the test of time to survive to todays date. Don't let that put you off. I've had many a great conversation which many strangers as I stomp around unknown graveyards. In our local churchyard, most tombstones prior to around 1850/60 are no longer legible. We also have one grave marked by a wooden cross and no-one knows how old it is let alone who it commemorates.
  Good luck

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• Message 5

  , in reply to message 1.

  Posted by proserpine (U2063353) on Saturday, 22nd October 2005

  With the details from his death certificate I was able to discover where my great grandfather was buried by searching through the microfiche burial registers kept by the local authority where he lived. I started with the registers of cemeteries/churchyards closest to his home.
  I phoned the cemetery office with the information from the burial register and they sent me a copy of the cemetery register with the grave number and a plan of the cemetery with the grave marked.
  I was told he was not buried in a private grave but in a "common grave" with four other people. There is no headstone with names etc, just a small stone with the grave number marking the spot.
  They told me that this was quite usual for most working class people at that time,1909,though this surprised me as I have many other working class ancestors who do have private graves.
  Good luck with your search.
  P.

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• Message 6

  , in reply to message 5.

  Posted by Adam Girdwood (U1688149) on Sunday, 23rd October 2005

  Also bear in mind that if the gravestone deteriorates then it will be removed by the Cemetery authority. So you could find your ancestor has a grave, but it is now unmarked because the stone deteriorated and it was removed by the cemetery authority.

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