I learnt a new word today – Taphophile; someone who enjoys cemeteries.
Take a look here.
I would never have previously considered myself in this category, and maybe enjoy is even too strong a word. Nevertheless, if we consider ourselves in any part serious genealogists, we will all become one at some point, and probably sooner rather than later… just don’t get it confused with necrophile !
Those of you who use Genes Reunited will probably be aware of the facility which notifies you of record matches in your posted tree.
I had such a recent match, suggesting that Frederick Elmer HAGESTADT and his cousin, John, were both participants in World War I. A short spell of research revealed that they were, unfortunately, casualties.
Frederick fought in East Africa, and is commemorated at the Dar Es Salaam British & Indian Memorial.
His cousin, John, is commemorated at the Trois Arbres Cemetery, Steenwerck, France
R.I.P.
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!
