Anomalies

Throughout the project we have discovered a number of anomalies when comparing records and inscriptions. Many of these are easy to explain, such as when the record book lists "Elizabeth" but the stone shows "Betty".

More difficult are where burial date precede death dates. There is a stone in St. Leonard's (Churchyard No.2) that lists the parents at the top of the stone and lower down 4 children with dates of death. Looking at the records all these children were buried around 1 year earlier than the date on the stone.
It appears that when the first child died, the stone was not inscribed, 3 more children died before their parents and it was only when the first parent died (some years later) that the inscription was made.
When working out the year of the first child an error was made. Child 2 died "2 years later", child 3 "the same year" etc. so all dates are therefore incorrect.

A stone in Middleton Old Cemetery records a date of death as 14 November 1904 but the burial took place on 12 November 1903, so here both the day and month have been remembered incorrectly.

Graves would often be purchased but not used at the time. Some marker stones show the name of the grave owner, rather than the name of the person buried. Grave L13 in Middleton Old Cemetery (pictured right) is engraved "Elizabeth Davenport" but the records show that James and Martha Davenport were buried there in 1905. The 1901 census shows that Elizabeth was their daughter.

A number of stones have been found to list the names of, usually children, family members who are not buried in that grave. If the family could not afford a grave following the loss of a child, they may be buried in either a public grave or a grave owned by a different family member. When the parent died and a grave was purchased, the names of the children may be inscribed on the family stone. These are noted in the "Extra notes" column, but will not appear when "plot link" is used.

 

 

Marker stone MOC Grave L13