All over the world there are countless enthusiasts hot on the trail of their family history. If this is something that interests you, then there are lots of places that you can find information about your ancestors, with local archives and personal records being good examples. Gravestone memorials, particularly those from more recent centuries, are a vital part of the search too.
The inscriptions and / or epitaphs on gravestones can be used to fill in parts of the genealogical jigsaw. Since their introduction centuries ago, the tradition has been to record name, age and date of death. Over the years, and particularly during the Victorian era, this developed into the addition of other information, such as family links ("brother of", "wife of" etc.) and occupations.
The length of the gravestone epitaph itself can give clues about the person buried there. Inscriptions are charged for by the lettering so, in general, a lengthy text suggests a family financially better off. However, shorter epitaphs are not necessarily an indication of a poor person. There may just have been a preference for simplicity, or the deceased might even have been responsible for some family misdemeanor.
Gravestone inscriptions, particularly the much older ones, are not always limited to words. The skull and crossbones, for example, was popular on grave markers in the 1600s, being used as the ancient symbol for death. In the following century, the crossbones were beginning to make way for wings, introducing the idea of an afterlife. Over time, the emphasis shifted away from death and more positively onto life, with angels replacing skulls.
Other symbols to look out for, particularly on gravestones from the Victorian period, are urns, broken columns or inverted torches, all of which indicate that a life has met a premature end, a sickle, which represents the reaping of a soul, or a weeping willow tree, which symbolizes that man, like a tree, must always reach upwards towards the heavens.
However, lengthy inscriptions need upright headstones and, to ease ground-keeping maintenance, cemeteries are now steering a return to smaller grave markers, placed level with the grass. Creative epitaphs are gradually becoming a thing of the past and today's inscriptions are more to the point. Beyond the name, age and dates of birth and death they are often restricted simply to "devoted wife and mother" or "now at rest", denying the keen genealogist further important clues for their search.
Still, this need not be a big problem, and should by no means cut short your family history research, as record keeping over the past 50 years has become much more comprehensive, and so what has been lost on gravestones has been compensated for elsewhere. - 29954
The inscriptions and / or epitaphs on gravestones can be used to fill in parts of the genealogical jigsaw. Since their introduction centuries ago, the tradition has been to record name, age and date of death. Over the years, and particularly during the Victorian era, this developed into the addition of other information, such as family links ("brother of", "wife of" etc.) and occupations.
The length of the gravestone epitaph itself can give clues about the person buried there. Inscriptions are charged for by the lettering so, in general, a lengthy text suggests a family financially better off. However, shorter epitaphs are not necessarily an indication of a poor person. There may just have been a preference for simplicity, or the deceased might even have been responsible for some family misdemeanor.
Gravestone inscriptions, particularly the much older ones, are not always limited to words. The skull and crossbones, for example, was popular on grave markers in the 1600s, being used as the ancient symbol for death. In the following century, the crossbones were beginning to make way for wings, introducing the idea of an afterlife. Over time, the emphasis shifted away from death and more positively onto life, with angels replacing skulls.
Other symbols to look out for, particularly on gravestones from the Victorian period, are urns, broken columns or inverted torches, all of which indicate that a life has met a premature end, a sickle, which represents the reaping of a soul, or a weeping willow tree, which symbolizes that man, like a tree, must always reach upwards towards the heavens.
However, lengthy inscriptions need upright headstones and, to ease ground-keeping maintenance, cemeteries are now steering a return to smaller grave markers, placed level with the grass. Creative epitaphs are gradually becoming a thing of the past and today's inscriptions are more to the point. Beyond the name, age and dates of birth and death they are often restricted simply to "devoted wife and mother" or "now at rest", denying the keen genealogist further important clues for their search.
Still, this need not be a big problem, and should by no means cut short your family history research, as record keeping over the past 50 years has become much more comprehensive, and so what has been lost on gravestones has been compensated for elsewhere. - 29954
About the Author:
At gravestones.org.uk, we understand the devastation caused by bereavement, which is why we aim to make choosing a lasting gravestone memorial an easy process.
