One has to visit a cemetery such as that at Canterbury to appreciate its scale ….

I had gone along Sunday with the hope and expectation of finding missing CASTLE ancestors which I was unable to locate in St Dunstan’s churchyard. I should have been much wiser, having gone armed with a cemetery plan which show its segmentation into smaller zones. And as usual I had not contacted the local council to determine possible plots numbers…. !

All this meant that I was relying on my usual wanderings through gravestones and along paths, recording any names which were recognisable. However, this did result in my locating two or three CASTLE graves for people not in my tree, and a Charles HATTON, which I need to investigate.

One benefit of checking by this method is that one tends to find graves which may not otherwise have been found.

All this took around 3 hours – and still probably less than a third of the cemetery checked…. !

Note to self (again) – really, REALLY, must research plot numbers with councils before visiting more cemeteries!

Having recently failed to find CASTLE ancestors at St. Dunstan’s graveyard, Canterbury, it would appear that, like Womenswold, I need to extend my research to a second cemetery.

David Wood, Chairman of the Canterbury Branch of Kent Family History Society (KFHS), informs me that I may find them buried at Canterbury Cemetery, Whitstable Road (just up from St. Dunstan’s). This cemetery opened for business from 1877 and, despite being registered in the parish of St. Dunstan’s, they may be buried there.

This would fit, since the earliest burial of this CASTLE family I have so far is 1883 – time to get hunting again!

I visited St.Dunstan’s church at Canterbury today, seeking CASTLE ancestry of my mother. Although I was unable to locate the relevant graves, I am confident of their existence from my sources. I believe that they are marked by some of the many weathered headstones.

Following this search, I moved on to nearby Blean and the churchyard at St. Cosmos & St. Damian. This was merely investigatory, with the possibility of locating a HATTON grave. Although I was unsuccessful in this goal, I surprisingly found a BALDOCK grave, for a couple I do not have, buried in the late 20th century. I now hope to trace these back for any possible links.

This week I entered a few searches into the International Genealogical Index (IGI) at familysearch.org and eventually came up with rather a surprise – a BALDOCK pedigree dating back to 1600!

The pedigree presented must however, like all IGI information, be treated with caution – since it suggested Joseph (b. ~1743) and his wife Elizabeth (m. ~1768) were both BALDOCK and had the same parents! It is not uncommon for LDS ancestries to be inaccurate, and “chosen” to fit the convenience of the situation… or just plainly erroneous in entry/submission.

Nevertheless, it provided me with dates and places, from which I can verify (or not) whether this pedigree is true ancestry for Joseph. I have recorded as such, for now (although not submitted online yet).

I spot another trip to Canterbury Cathedral Archives!

On Thursday I finally visited Canterbury Cathedral Archives, got my reader’s card and and spent the afternoon buried in microfiche and paper. However, my aim of finding the baptism record of John William FULLER (supposed illegitimate son of Charles LUCKHURST), born ~1824 at Dunkirk, Kent, proved fruitless.

Dunkirk church was only established following the local uprising of 1838, and therefore John would have been baptised in another parish. Despite me hunting around, I could not locate a record. Dare I use that well-oiled cliché, “he just does not want to be found” !

Nevertheless, I did locate the mother of Daniel CASTLE, born ~1814 at Stelling, Kent, and that of his wife, Eliza PAY, born ~1823 at Stelling. They were named Elizabeth and Harriet respectively.

Having now experienced Canterbury Archives, I will go more prepared next time, and endeavour to make it a whole day.

A very belated thankyou must go to Wendy from New Zealand (apologies, Wendy!). Thanks to Wendy, who provided me with photos of some HATTON ancestors and comprehensive WANSTALL and HATTON trees, I have been able to make great inroads into these families. Her information regarding books written by Professor Barry Reay of Auckland University has proved invaluable, and contact with Barry himself lead me to purchase his book titled “Microhistories: Demography, society and culture in rural England, 1800-1930” (ISBN 0-521-89222-8). This focuses on rural society around the Boughton, Blean and Dunkirk areas near Canterbury, and includes wonderful family trees – which include my FULLER and WANSTALL ancestors!

I have started reading another of his books first, though, namely “Rural Englands: Labouring Lives in the Nineteenth Century” (ISBN 0-333-66919-3), which covers rural life in sections of England (hence “Englands”) as a whole.

I have since spent many days (and still am) tracing WANSTALL families – not helped by there being three generations called Benjamin Wanstall, and other cousins/in-laws using the name too! I am also trying to pick my way through a recently found website:
http://wanstallkentandbeyond.com

Go along – and tell them I sent you!

PS. Stats updated

[I must emphasise, before you read on, the rants contained herein are solely the opinion of the author!]

A couple of weeks ago, I visited the churchyard at Barham in Kent to seek out some more graves, since sources indicated that I would find BALDOCKs. I could not believe my eyes on arrival, to find that around 75% of the churchyard was void of headstones, their place being taken up with mole-hills … hundreds of them! All and any headstones which may have been respectfully locating graves were now stacked like dominoes against the back wall of the churchyard, with only the front row showing their inscriptions.

I realise that moles are difficult to eradicate – my father had a devil of a job to get rid of them from our back lawn many years ago, but he did it. And (for all you animal welfare nuts out there) they can be trapped successfully, or even killed humanely.

Walking around the remaining cemetery investigating the graves which were left (locating possible FAGG relatives), I could feel how spongy the grass was, suggesting the problem may see the end of the complete churchyard!

I realise maintaining such places can be expensive, but remedial work at this late stage will be even more costly! And where do relatives now go to pay their respects? Ancestors should not be forgotten just because they died 100 years ago?! After all, isn’t that why we’re all in the genealogy game? I didn’t know how much pity/sorrow/respect I would find myself feeling for long-lost relatives until I started. Tracing family on the internet is all well and good, but visiting their graves makes it all very personal, however distantly they may be related. After all, DNA makes us a part of them…

Maybe it is not considered a priority now that there is a second cemetery on the opposite side of the road where I found more FAGGs (but not necessarily related yet) – but how long before this is affected if moles find the area so homely … ?

Please, Barham Parish Council, or Dover Borough Council, or Canterbury City Council, or Kent County Council, or even Kent Archaeological Society, do something to curb the problem.
Even the dead deserve respect – and their families would expect it!