Genealogy Chat

Can anyone tell me if there is a way to find out who is buried in a cemetery or maybe (a hell of a long shot..) what the gravestone has written on it, or even if there IS a gravestone or whether it is an unmarked grave?

Andrea I think the only way you can do this is to either visit or phone the cemetery. If I'm wrong, I'm sure someone else will correct me. Lynne Sale CHS

I think: That it will depend whether you are talking about a local authority cemetery or a churchyard. The authority (Cemetery Supervisor's Office?) will have a record of the former. For churchyards the record will be in the parish registers which will either be at the church or have been archived with the diocese or local Record Office. It might be worth contacting a local undertaker: they will know what's where as they often have to find out who's in which grave when seeing if they can add a later burial in the same plot.

Hi Andrea I made a similar enquiry to you locally. My results were that churches seemed to have their graveyard records from 1900 onwards(and a very nice vicar sent me a spreadsheet of the names I needed in his graveyard - very nice and very helpful), and prior to this they are stored at the county records office (I do not know if this is true of all counties, but it is the case for Staffordshire and Shropshire),however when I tried to find out the plot number of my Great grandparents in a certain cemetery on Stoke, I was refered to the main Crem (which also has a graveyard)who told me that they would supply me with the grave reference and details as long as I could supply them with an exact date of death for one of the people buried there. They would do a search but would charge £10 for each year they had to look through! Plus they wouldn't let me look myself! A bit of a change from the days when you could wait for the Clerk at the graveyard who would help you out for nothing! Quite often Churches have web sites nowadays, and you can contact the Vicar to administrator through them. Regards Maxine

Maxine - Very er.... UnChristian? - I mean. UnChristmassy thing for Stoke to do! My Sympathies - how did you manage to keep your cool? Rosi

Maxine, Thats great. Most of my family are from Shropshire and you have just given me a good lead. Allie, SAL.

Andrea Put out a plea to find out if anyone lives near the cemetery that you are talking about. There are a few of us out here that will visit them if they are nearby and do the looking for you. I had a wonderful lady that found the grave of my gt grandparents, cleared it, took a picture and mailed it to me. There are some of us out here that are trying to get a seperate board opened up for people that need a little help like this and for people that can offer.As i said post the details and some kind person may come back with some help. if anyone is interested i can cover Cambridge Cemetery and some of the local villages. Nick Cambridge

Thanks for the advice everyone. OK here goes. If anyone lives in Darwen, Lancashire and can get to Darwen New Cemetery to help me out, I would be very grateful. The thing is that I am not sure if there will be anything to find! My mum thinks that her sister, Maureen, was buried with her Dad in said cemetery and that there is a gravestone. However, I seem to remember discussions going on between my cousins (Maureen's two children who were very young at the time of their Mother's death) that they will both put to and buy a gravestone for their Mother's grave, as it is unmarked due to lack of funds at the time of her death.... There is also the added mystery of the surname for Maureen as my cousins wanted her maiden name on the stone (if they got one)and not her married name. So, there may either be a stone for Thomas Smith and Maureen Smith / Ward or there are two separate burials, one with a gravestone and one without. Or two separate gravestones!!! Hope this makes sense.

Just thought I would let you know.I phoned Liverpol Cemetaries central phone no today,very helpful.I just had to give one name and they looked it up for me and gave me date of burial and name for all the four people buried in that plot,well pleased

My family were told by a Cemetary Registrar in Oldham that there was a form I could fill out and upon receiving this form the registrar would then be able to tell me who was buried in which plot even if they were'nt listed on the headstone. George

i am looking for a grave site in christchurch dorset for a fellow member but the cemetery is huge so thought i would phone local authority who said that they will charge £22 to advise whether said people are actually buried there, there are only two grave yards in christchurch and one of them has been closed to new burials for years i am going to try and phone the local undertakers this week and see if they can be more helpful hevi

I have heard of the burial index publication. Does this tell you where people are buried? If not what does it tell you?

My local library has the town cemetery records on microfilm. I was able to find burial dates for a number of relatives, including the address they were buried from and grave reference numbers. Churchyards, however, are another story! Beryl Darlington DUR

It looks like it's pot luck doesnt it, some will look for nothing, others want to charge - if anyone is interested I found LEWISHAM Dept of Cems and Crems very helpful and cost nothing but my phone call. Sue

I wrote to Camden Town Council about 2 graves in St Pancras cemetery. They 'phoned me and gave me buriel dates and the grave inscripions. For Whitby cem. I had to 'phone Scarborough. They were extremely helpful and told me grave numbers, dates of buriel and who else was in the graves. I think it just depends which part of the country you are looking at!

Hi Andrea. I went to the cemetery yesterday and was a bit upset. On my family grave is their names and date of death and age. My great mother is a mystery. Her birth, getting married, and having her first child 2 years is missing. MARY

Maybe we do need a board with the best way to get info by cemetary? I went to East London Cemetary (on the weekend due to work) I have the grave number so thought I was on to a sur thing, but no headstone after many hours searching. Prior to this I had emailed but no response, afterwards I phoned and was told I had to go out with a grave digger during the week - so pretty useless on that one. Donna