Stranger in the same grave.

[Durham Lady]

My paternal grandfather was buried in 1938, his wife was buried with him in 1943. I've found out that an 83 year old lady was buried in the same plot in 1955 but I have no idea who she could be. The surname is not one that has ever come up in my family.
I know graves were sometimes used for later burials but, would it be usual for a burial of someone unrelated to the family to take place relatively soon after a family member? 12 years doesn't seem long and there were other family members who might have wanted to use the same plot.

[JBee]

I would say that it depends whether the plot had been purchased or not. It could also have been a mistake but either no-one realised or didn't want to go through the process of a re-burial.

[kiterunner]

Did they pay for the plot, do you know, Daphne? Or was it paid for by someone else? Just wondering if it could have belonged to someone who was related to one of the couple and to the old lady, but on different sides of his family?

[JBee]

I was just going to say that too Kite.

MY OH's great aunt purchased 3 x 2 berth plots. She is buried in one along with a brother.

OH great grandparents are in one and his grandparents in another. Great aunt never married

To be honest I had to work out who the owner of the graves was.

[Kit]

If they open a grave up for burial and decide it is the wrong one, or is too full, they will close it up again.

It happened with my grandma. She wanted to be buried next to her parents but it turned out there were 3 not 2 people in there already so they closed it back up and she is somewhere else.

Daphne I wonder if you contact the cemetery if they would know? The undertaker would be a better bet but 1955 is probably too long ago.

[Shona]

Same thing happened in OH's family. The mystery woman was buried in the family plot in WW2.

[Durham Lady]

Thanks for your thoughts everyone. It looks like it could be a burial in the wrong place or perhaps a friend of someone in the family and they were offered the space to save having to have the lady put in a common grave.

As far as I know the plot was purchased by the family. It is in the Churchyard not a council owned cemetery. I have never come across anyone with the surname of the lady buried with my grandparents that could be related to them or related by marriage to any of their children. My grandparents had no siblings anywhere in the area, grandfather's were all in America and grandma's Northumberland.

Tony I would have no idea who the undertaker would have been back then. We don't get that sort of information on death certificates as you do in Aus so purchasing that wouldn't help me.

It looks like a mystery for me to try and solve, along with all the other brick walls :)

[kiterunner]

You can post up the names and let us have a go at it if you like, Daphne.

[Phoenix]

When the owners of a graveyard want to re-use graves, or otherwise disturb them, they usually write to the latest address they have. It might be that they did this, but got no reply from next of kin. There is huge pressure on graveyards, so they may have been reusing graves if they couldn't make contact.

Aunt tells tale of going to lay flowers on her parents' grave (probably less than twenty years after the last was interred) to discover that the council had removed the headstone. :eek:

[Olde Crone]

The unrelated elderly lady buried in a family grave turned out to be the housekeeper who had lived with them in their declining years! My uncle remembered her and said he thought she was widow with no children, so rather than her being buried in a paupr's grave, they used the last space available for that family.

Also are you relying on transcribed records? I've been ploughing through transcribed MIs recently and have found two definite mistakes in transcription.

OC

[Durham Lady]

OC, someone I know who lives in the area and has researched the village and surrounding area over many years, he has a wonderful website, was able to send me the following.


The M.I. records for St Barnabas Churchyard state the following for the grave itself:

*** *** grandmother Catherine **TTLEFAIR, died Dec.23rd 1955, aged 83 yrs. (burial book gives Richard NORTHEY, Jan 11th. 1938, age 83 and Catherine NORTHEY, Oct. 6th. 1943, age 78)./ Double width, broken,white back kerbstone only. The grave ref.No. D3.13.

Littlefair is a fairly common name in the County Durham area bbut I've no idea who this lady is. I've asked P if he has any other information but waiting to hear back from him.

[kiterunner]

There are two possibles for Catherine Littlefair on the 1911 census - one is 38, wife of Emanuel Littlefair, and the other age 37, married 9 years, mother of Rhoda who was born 1904, but this Catherine isn't with her husband on the census.

There is another Catherine Littlefair death registration Jan-Mar 1961 age 86 who is likely to be whichever of the above is not the one who died in 1955.

The maiden name of the Catherine who was married to Emanuel was Daglish. There are a couple of possible marriages of a Catherine to a Littlefair for the other one:
Jul-Sep 1901
Littlefair Henry Dobson
Maunder Annie Warren
Mellanby Alexander L
Werndly Catherine

Jul-Sep 1902
Crawford Catherine
Davison John
Littlefair Matthew James
Robson Bertha Mary.

There is a Henry Littlefair on the 1911 census who is married (10 years, 2 children) but his wife isn't with him. Matthew James Littlefair is with his wife Catherine who is 34 so a few years too young (unless her age on the census is wrong, of course.)
There is an Anne W Mellanby who dies in 1965 age 90, in Cambridge.

So I suspect that the "other" Catherine Littlefair in the deaths is the wife of Henry Dobson Littlefair, but not sure which of the two (wife of Henry or wife of Emanuel) is the one who died in 1955. Emmanuel Littlefair died in 1961, so you would think he would be buried with his wife (if he was buried). Henry D Littlefair died in 1929.

Rhoda Littlefair married a Robert Thompson in 1929 in Gateshead district. There should be another child of Henry Dobson Littlefair and his wife as they each say 2 children on the 1911 census but the other child wasn't with either of them. Of course they could have had some more after 1911. (Just thinking of that "grandmother" bit on the gravestone and trying to figure out who she was the grandmother of, though of course the grandchild could still be alive so won't post up any possible names unless I know they are not.) Rhoda seems to have had quite a few children.

[Durham Lady]

Thanks for looking Kite, not one of those names come up in any of our family lines. I've asked within the family but no one has an idea who she is!
Still not heard back from P who sent me the information.

I should have said the Church is at Burnmoor, or as it now seems to be called Bournmoor, in what was County Durham but now part of Tyne and Wear.

[Tilly Mint]

I wonder if it could have been a step family?...just a thought.

[Durham Lady]

Not come across any Jacky and we have the family sorted right up to the present generation.

[JBee]

Perhaps the vicar didn't want her buried on her own?

[Janet in Yorkshire]

I would try writing to the churchwarden to see if they can throw any light on the matter. They will know all the specific rules and regulations for burials in their churchyard. (Single depth graves only where I live, and strict measurements about distances between. My friend's mother had to be buried in a different place from her father - father had been buried in an infill and there wasn't enough room to dig safely in the remaining space.)

Jay

[Durham Lady]

Looks like the mystery is solved.
I've had someone make a few enquiries for me, I'm 250 miles away, he finds that it's the ashes of the lady in question and going by the details he's seen, the ashes are in D2.1.
My grandparents are in plot D3.13. So, looks like whoever transcribed the information we were given at first got it wrong!
Thanks to everyone for your input :)

[Kit]

So glad you have solved the mystery and that there were no holes in your tree. :)