Pushing open the church gate, and leaving the hubbub of the traffic behind, you enter your ancestors’ graveyard. It’s hard not to feel whisked away to another time, another world – that of the people who’ve come before us.
Graveyards and cemeteries are a very real reminder of earlier generations and visiting them will not only spark thought-provoking memories, they may also provide you with new clues and details. Are there several family members recorded on a memorial? Perhaps you may spot the names of children who died before ever being listed on a census? Or maybe there is a young man killed in action overseas, but remembered on the family stone at home? Of course, you may not find your ancestors’ memorials. Perhaps, particularly in centuries past, they were too poor to have had one.