52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 21: At the cemetery

TOMBSTONE TOURIST OR TAPHOPHILE?

My fascination for a cemetery and the beauty of it's monuments.

I think my interest in cemeteries started after visiting The Jewish Cemetery in Prague in the late 1970's. The first burials were from the 15th cemetery and burials continued for approx 3 centuries. Space was limited, resulting in burials being placed on top of burials in layers. It is said there are approx 12,000 tombstones within the cemetery. Whilst the Jewish Cemetery started my interest in memorials, traditions of various religions and philosophies related to death, I perhaps have a deeper rememberance and empathy for the beautiful country of Czechoslovakia and it's people, increasingly discontent with Soviet rule.

 

Years later I began photographing local churchyards and cemeteries, transcribed and sent the images to www.gravestonephotos.com. much like www.findagrave.com. This was in the very early days of the project, but I caught the bug and over time I had photographed thousands of gravestones and transcribed tens of thousands of names. Sadly health problems have became worse and I am no longer able to contribute to this project by taking photographs. I do miss it.

Some people would shiver at the thought of spending time in such places, but for me they are so peaceful and calm. Over time I became able to identify some individual stonemasons work, sometimes if you look at the back of the stone there is an identifying mark or name but in others it is the carving itself that can identify them. I think the oldest readable outdoor stone I have found was around 1680. In this coastal area the stones that have endured the best are generally made from slate, the most badly eroded appear to be those made of sandstone. 

Churchyards and cemeteries are a fascinating snapshots of social history and. Gravestones or Memorial stones can be so helpful in genealogy. Whole families can be buried together in a particular area. The information carved into them can list infant deaths that may have been unavailable elsewhere and confirm other family relationships. Sometimes a 'servant' or 'worker' will be remembered by a grateful master or benefactor. Living in a coastal area, there are stones paid for by a local community for some poor unknown soul who has been washed up on a beach having drowned. They were someone's, father, mother, daughter or son, or for the genealogist, one of those ancestors who just disappears off the face of the earth. On a personal level, finding an addition to my 3x Great Grandfathers gravestone, identified that my 2 x Great Grandfather had died in Buenos Aires in 1835. If that had not been etched in stone, I would not have known what had happened to him.

I began this blog talking about the first time I realised how interesting a cemetery can be and I thought I would discuss a few more that I have been fortunate enough to visit over the years in more far flung places.

Perhaps one of the most poignant I have visited is the Kanchanaburi War Cemetery in Thailand. The museum is heartbreaking.

                              authors own photograph

When thinking of the Far East, it reminds me of the brightly decorated pagoda memorials where the ashes of the dead can be interred in Wat Pho, Bangkok. I have seen similar examples in other countries in the Far East.

                                           authors own photograph

In turn this reminds me of being in Taiwan on Tomb Sweeping Day, Qingming, a national holiday and day for tidying up the tomb/grave and remembering their ancestors, visiting the temple and offering flowers and foods in rememberance.

                                                 authors own photograph

Perhaps the most famous tombs are those in Egypt, the Pyramids of Giza (Cairo) and the Valley of the Kings, Queens and Artisans at Luxor (Thebes). Sadly the romance of the Pyramids is somewhat destroyed as although you have the Pyramids and Desert in front of you, turn 180 degrees and there is KFC and McDonalds. Luxor is an amazing experience, but the tombs are empty of 'treasure', with artifacts displayed in Cairo, however the tombs of Ramses VI and Seti I are particularly memorable .

 royalty free image Pyramids of Giza

But I think that the Recoleta Cemetery in Buenos Aires is my personal standout cemetery experience. Reminiscent of a small town of vaults, statues, tombs and Mausoleums, the Great and the Good of Buenos Aires being buried there. The most famous internment of course being Eva Peron, although it took some years and miles for her finally to be laid to rest there.

  

 

authors own photographs

Finally, I wanted to mention a memorial stone I came across whilst out walking the dog. In a field just off the coastal path, I noticed a stone in a field. It marked a drowning of a woman and child. Sadly, at present I am unable to revisit that marker to photograph it for myself but I have been able to follow the story online.

Point 4:"........The tamarisk hedge on the estuary side is coppiced to thicken it out and improve its habitat value. A memorial stone to Lady Hilda MacNeill lies to the east of the gate and can be seen from the permissive path. She died while trying to save a drowning child, in 1904 and both perished."

                                         gaia-home-farm-marsh.pdf (gaiatrust.org.uk)

 

original and replacement stone www.findagrave.com

Both stones read:- This stone was erected by Charles McNeill in loving memory of his wife Lady Hilda McNeill to mark the place where she lost her life August 13th 1904 in a gallant attempt to rescue Glyn Pritchard aged 11 from drowning. Both were swept away by the tide.

A newspaper report from the Northampton Mercury, August 19th 1904 describes the circumstances of the tragedy.