Genealogy Chat

I think it is great that decendants put headstones up for our ancectors,why should they be forgotten. My family come from Derry Northern ireland and the family of my mum's cousin have just had my great grandfather's headstone renovated,it stands about six feet tall and was nearlly falling over,they have had it cleaned and re-set .I was over in April and went to have a look at it,they have done a great job,some of the family have asked to contribute to the cost but they won't take anything. A lot of people in Derry are putting up headstones for long dead relatives,it is nice to see it being done. Paul.

I wanted to replace my gran's headstone as my 2 uncles where buried with her but now the churchyard where she is say there is no record of her being in that churchyard and all it says is under the path where there is no path now My uncle years ago put a wooden 1 there but it rotted away so I thought he must have had permisssion for that 1 to be there

One side of my family didn't believe in all the pomp of having gravestones, which has proved a bit of a pain for me! Hoping to visit the site of my gran's grave soon and persuade my dad we should have something put there, she was much loved in the family but her death made them all turn atheist. Other side of the family are very well provided for grave wise, it's just nice to know that something of your history is still standing that way. I know that some other researchers of my name have taken the time and trouble to uncover fallen stones and brush them up, which is so thoughtful.

Aw, thats lovely. I can remember my 'gramps' taking us down to the cemetary and repainting the letters on gravestones of his family, weeding and putting fresh flowers on. He said it was so sad that some of the graves were untended, and he didnt want that to happen to his family's graves. He died last year aged 89 :( .

I have a 1st cousin 5xtimes removed, and his wife, that had both their grave inscriptions redone by a lovely Australian cousin who was over in Surrey England some 20+ years ago, he had brass plaques ingraved with the original words taken from the grave stone, and had them attached to the grave stone, which will last other 150 years we hope, it was a lovely surprise to see them and lovely to see they hadn't been forgotton, my daughter and I left some flowers besided the graves...... One Plague says::: 'In memory of Phoebe wife of James Charlwood who died August 6th 1816 aged 39 years.' She was the mother of eleven children, three of which lie near her.'................. Lilly........ Phoebe died soon after giving birth to twin............

I recently found the graves of my great grandmothers parents and brother, I was shocked to see it was totally unmarked, just a patch of grass. I am having simply wooden crosses added with a little plaque for each along with another family member. My great grandmothers father was a photographer and because of him and his son that carried on after him, I can sit here and look at the most beautiful pictures of most of them, some as old as 1870ish. Its the only way we can say thank you now, is just to make sure they have the recognition the deserve

In one of the many families I have researched there was an Edward Tutt born 1820 in Sussex, joined the Royal Navy in 1840, was involved in numerous battles including the Crimea and awarded lots of medals. He also served in the Coastguard in Ireland retiring in 1870, and settled with his family in Liverpool. He died in 1901 and was buried in an unmarked public grave in Liverpool. I have recently been in touch with a descendant of this family in USA, who was shocked to hear that this brave man should have no headstone. So he said he was going to contact other descendants to see if they would club together and have a headstone erected.

Aaaw Susan, that sounds a lovely thing to have done by their descendants. The headstones I have found so far have been in quite good nick - IF I ever find any of the others I'd like to think I'd do the same if it were needed. Thanks for telling us about this. Snowdrops

Caroline Satherley Newton 1819-1893 James Newton 1820-1898 With grateful praise for their legacy of Christian faith and love of education. Erected by their American and Australian Descendants. What a lovely gesture! There was no sign of an original headstone – maybe there wasn’t one? I wonder if it was fellow genealogists who met through their research and clubbed together for the stone – or if they were distant relatives who kept in touch?

I came across a new headstone when looking round Kingsbury Episcopi churchyard............