Tombstone Tuesday: SHAW, Rachelle

Rachelle
Shaw

Holy Trinity Anglican Cemetery, Sturgeon Valley, R.M. of Shellbrook No. 493, SK, CAN.

Tombstone Tuesday: MASON, Michelle

Michelle Mason
1970 - 2008

Holy Trinity Anglican Cemetery, Sturgeon Valley, R.M. of Shellbrook No. 493, SK, CAN.

EDT: Corrected death year.

Barre, A Town With Cemeteries I Want To See

On Tuesday, January 12th events conspired together that I could actually attend the local genealogical society chapter meeting where one of the members was presenting a presentation on Hope Cemetery, Barre, Vermont, USA.

Barre, VT was brought to my attention by an old National Geographic magazine zipUSA 'spot light' series. A city sustained by it's granite quarry industry, of Barre Grey Granite, the graveyards, Hope Cemetery in particular, are show cases of the granite sculptors artwork.

Hope Cemetery was established in 1895 consisting of 53 acres but has since grown in size to 65 acres and is the largest of the three graveyards managed by Barre. Beyond the restriction that all monuments must be of Barre Grey there is no limit on the markers that individuals can have erected. If you've seen pictures of a grey granite car, a grey armchair, a larger then life soccer ball, or a cube with a tree of life on one face--they all stand in Hope Cemetery.

This is why I want to visit the cemetery.

It was always why I was "dying" to attend the presentation when I learned of it some months ago as I wanted to view more of the unique stonework that Hope Cemetery has to offer. The presentation, though too short for my connoisseurs tastes, did not disappoint. Even with those limited photographs, it truly demonstrates how markers can be more then stones but stones of art.

But, beyond the images of Hope Cemetery I got in contact once again with Barb, the woman who manages the societies cemetery and burial records, and a few days later she sent me copies of their burial records! I'm thrilled to have them as I will be comparing them with information that I learn as I transcribe the surrounding graveyards. Seeing their recording system also made me add a few columns in my Excel documents and made me aware of what information they would like as I come across things that will need to be updated.

And as much as I'd love to take time to locate obituaries, if possible, for the individuals interred in "my" graveyards I think for the moment I'll stick to the markers and history book entries to glean additional information. In future years I may be able to add information as all the cemeteries will be transcribed, freeing up time for more in depth research.

Further reading:

05641: A Town of Grave Importance written by Margaret G. Zackowitz

A Tale of Two Cemeteries: Elmwood And Hope Cemetery written by Sally Cary

Book Reivew: The Graveyard Book

Book
The Graveyard Book
Written by Neil Gaiman, Illustrated by Dave McKean

Nobody Owens, know to his friends as Bod, is a normal boy.

He would be completely normal if he didn't live in a sprawling graveyard, being raised and educated by ghosts, with a solitary guardian who belongs to neither the world of the living nor of the dead.

There are dangers and adventures in the graveyard for a boy--an ancient Indigo Man beneath the hill, a gateway to the desert leading to an abandoned city of ghouls, the strange and terrible menace of the Sleer.

But if Bod leaves the graveyard, then he will come under attack from the man Jack--who has already killed Bod's family...

Beloved master storyteller Neil Gaiman returns witha luminous new novel for the audience that embraced his New York Times bestselling modern classic Coraline. Magical, terrifying, and filled with breathtaking adventures, The Graveyard Book is sure to enthrall readers of all ages.

NEIL GAIMAN is the author of several books for children, including the New York Times bestelling Coraline; the collection of short stories for young readers M is for Magic; and Interworld, co-authored with Michael Reaves. His picture books included The Wolves in the Walls and The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish, illustrated by Dave McKean, and The Dangerous Alphabet, illustrated by Gris Grimly. He wrote the script for the film MirrorMask and is also the author of nationally bestselling, critically acclaimed, and award-winning novels and shorts stories for adults as well as the Sanman series of graphic novels and other graphic novels, including the graphic novel adaptation of Coraline. Among his many awards are the World Fantasy Award, the Hugo Award, the Nebula Award, the Bram Stoker Award. Originally from England, Gaiman now lives in the United States. Visit him online at http://www.mousecircus.com/.

Review
I selected this novel to read for two reasons, 1) it had "graveyard" in the title which is a key word I keep my eyes peeled for as possibly being related to the subject of cemeteries and 2) I hadn't really heard anything bad about it.

Well The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman is juvenile fiction making it very "light" (and enjoyable) reading for me, what I absolutely adored as a taphophilia was how Gaiman rendered the graveyard experience into the story.

When visiting a cemetery, a person does not just look at the markers and scenery but read tombstones. There are 12 instances where this "graveyard lingo" appears much like a transcribers work and for me, made the book a truly well done fictionalized graveyard experience.
As the reader in me wants to share, here are the 12 accounts:

p. 39 - ...while Bod lay in the spring sunlight watching a bronze-colored beetle wandering across the stone of Geo. Reeder, his wife, Dorcas, and their son Sebastian [Fidelis ad Mortem].

p. 48 - ...the boy popped up--literally, like a jack-in-a-box--from behind a tombstone [Joji G. Shoji, d. 1921, I was a stranger and you took me in].

p. 96 - Doctor Tregusis [1870-1936, May He Wake to Glory] inspected it and pronounced it merely sprained.

p. 104 - The moon had begun to rise by the time Bod reached Mr Pennyworth's mausoleum, and Thomes Pennyworth [here he lyes in the certainty of the moft glorious refurrection] was already waiting, and was not it the best of moods.

p. 106 - And so it went, until it was time for Grammar and Composition with Miss Letitia Borrows, Spinster of this Parish [Who Did No Harm to No Man all the Dais of Her Life. Reader, Can You Say Lykewise?].

p. 140 - Bob was walking, sleepily and a little gingerly, past the small tomb of the wonderfully named Miss Liberty Roach [What she spent is lost, what she gave remains with her always. Reader be Charitable]...

pp. 163-4 - He went down the hill at a run, a ten-year-old boy in a hurry, going so fast he almost tripped over Digby Poole [1785-1860, As I Am So Shall You Be]...

p. 174 - Bod sighed and he lowered the book, and leanded out enought to see Thackeray Porringer [1720-1734, son of the above] come stamping up the slippery path.

p. 176 - ... while Miss Euphemia [186-1883, She Sleeps, Aye, Yet She Sleeps with Angels] had been buried in Victorian times...

p. 209 - Bod rubbed his hand over the stone of Thomas R. Stout [1817-1851. Deeply regretted by all who knew him]...

p. 221 - "Majella Godspeed, Spinister of this Parish, 1791-1870, Lost to All But Memory," Scarlett read aloud.

p. 231 - Nehemiah Trot was the Poet's name, and his gravestone, beneath the greenery, read: Here lies the mortal remains of / Nehemiah Trot / Poet / 1741-1774 / Swans Sing Before They Die

So, go! Read! And tell me if I missed any!

Source: Gaiman, Neil. The graveyard book. New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 2008.

Where Are the Very Old Native Bones?

As stated in Charles Mann's novel 1941:

Paleo-Indian skeletons are extremely rare. In Europe, archaeologists have discovered scores of skeletons ten thousands years old or more. By contrast, only nine resonably complete skeletons of similar age have been found in North America (a few more exist in South America, although, as with the Lagoa Santa skeletons, their provenance is often unclear). "It's a big mystery why we don't find the burials," the University of Vermont archaeologist James Petersen told me. *

It is a very good question.

Where are the thousands of years old skeletons of South and North American native inhabitants? It depends on may things I suppose. (And what actually is the count for aged European skeletons vs. aged American skeletons?)

Method of 'burial' for one -- in the ground, beneath cairns, air burial, cremation and I'm sure there's more with intricate steps that I'm not familiar with.

Conditions that preserve skeletons for another -- in which type of soils do bones disintegrate? How long does bone disintegration take in those types of soil? What methods of preserving bodies are practiced (not just mummification but use of sarcophagi, removing the flesh, etc.)? Under which conditions are bones best preserved? How many of the European and American burials are accident vs. deliberate interments? Are the European numbers high because burials simply occurred in the right conditions for preservation?

As they say in retail, location, location, location -- European culture tends to be a socially stratified one, thus individuals of high status are buried in significant marked grave sites. Those grave sites are readily discovered with a wealth of burial goods, but were are the skeletons and grave goods of those that buried those kings and priests? In either European or American lands? Also when one considers the population density on available land on either continent, a great deal of American land is cultivated farm land with no previous archaeological examination. Who knows what's buried underneath a farmer's field deeper than the plough? Are they looking in the right place? Do they know were the 'right' place to look is?

How graves are marked -- has the landscape been significantly altered or marked in some manner that indicates a burial site or burial ground? Is the site marked with earthen mounds, below ground or above ground tombs, gravestones, or other distinctive 'grave' architecture? Is there a unique communal site used for interment like a cave where multiple skeletons would "accumulate" over time? Or are graves located next to a significant location be it spiritual (e.g. underneath a church) or secular (e.g. outskirts of a settlement)?

Oy. I think that's enough for now until I get some answers to a few of the questions I've just poised. Though now I wonder where I could find the answer to some of my questions. I also wonder if there are any (and where they are) archeological or forensic papers written about some of the issues...

Any help? Or your thoughts about this post?

Citation:
* Mann, Charles C. 1491: new revelations of the Americas before Columbus. New York: Vintage Books, 2006. p. 169.

The Final Resting Place

The January 2010 edition of Graveyard Rabbits Carnival edition, is The Final Resting Place. This theme comes from Colleen McHugh, author of the GYR blog, The R.I.P.PERS. Colleen wants us to investigate how families determine their final resting place. She goes on to say:

In today's mobile society, does one choose a place near where they last lived? Or do they return to the place of their roots? Do they rest in a family plot? If so, and if married, whose family plot? How has the determination of the final resting place changed between the time of our ancestors and now?

In today's mobile society, does one choose a place near where they last lived?

I believe that a person is more likely to chose a place near where they are most sentimentally attached to, not their last physical residence. That is especially if a person has prearranged their funeral details or made their wishes known to others, be it relatives, close friends, or some 'official' if they have none of the former.

At the moment my burial location is in Holy Trinity Anglican Churchyard (Lot 32), a church and graveyard that I am most sentimentally attached too. I have been quite irate twice with changes done to the church and landscape without "informing me" because I live next to it, so it's mine god darn it!

Or do they return to the place of their roots?

Returning to the "place of their roots" happens once again when sentimentality is taken into account. My father will be buried with his parents, uncles, grandparents and other relatives as he has and had emotional bounds with those individuals. My mother on the other hand, has to the best of my knowledge, no burial grounds that serves as a loci point for family and has arranged for burial in Holy Trinity (Lot 32).

Do they rest in a family plot?

While Lot 32 of Holy Trinity Anglican Churchyard can serve as a family plot (having 8 burial places), the location of my father's future burial in Flat Rapids Cemetery, Renfrew County, Ontario is unsuitable to "plot" layouts as the bedrock resides close to the surface resulting in graves being placed where they can be placed. (Or, so I was told at one point so that may have changed and I only vaguely remember one visit to the cemetery.) And as my father has relatives from his maternal and paternal sides of the family in the cemetery it can be seen more as a family "cemetery" then a family "plot".

Plots tend to be restrictive in size anyway. Once a plot fills up a family is usually required, if it is possible, to purchase additional plots elsewhere in the same cemetery. For example, in Holy Trinity the Bruce family has plots on opposite sides of the cemetery (generation 1 and generation 2 here, generation 3 and generation 4 over there, etc), with other relatives that married outside the Bruce family scattered throughout the graveyard.

In my rural area, over time cemeteries tend to become "family" cemeteries simply because the burials reflect the families living in the area and become places where we can see land occupancy traditions as well as marriages between the families that have lived long in the area.

If so, and if married, whose family plot?

I find that wives tend to reside in their husband's family plot. As for the 3,000 km distance between my parents burial places, my mother desires to be cremated and has specified that we split her ashes between Flat Rapids and Holy Trinity, with possibly a third scattered across some landscape or waterway. Discusions have also been had about indicating the burial location of the spouse on the markers erected in both locations.

How has the determination of the final resting place changed between the time of our ancestors and now?

I don't believe it has changed all that much as finances, family association and geographical location continues to play the largest determinant. Individuals tend to be buried with the family they most strongly associated with in life, and if they are not located to "their roots" it is because they are geographically prohibited from being buried with "their roots" (cost of transport, cost of burial in preferred cemetery) or because they have become more attached to a certain geographical area.