Have you ever heard the one about how there are only two things that are certain to us?
The first one being that we are all subject to some form of taxation and the second is that one day we WILL all die.
As a genealogical researcher my time is usually spent grappling with the mystery of death.
And if I’m not in search of a missing ancestor or researching another life long lost to history – I will be poring over the details on a newly discovered and often indecipherable certificate of death or trawling through the parish records in search of a burial entry.
Being able to locate the final resting place of those from my research endeavours has always been an important task and an unsuccessful search is disappointing as the final piece of the jigsaw remains missing.
However, if you struggle with the thought of death – MY world is probably NOT for you!
As I love nothing more than a ramble through a graveyard and have been pottering among the tombstones for as long as I can remember – I will be sharing the tales and triumphs of family history and the images and podcasts of my wanderings among the dead.
And imagine my surprise and delight one dull Sunday afternoon when I stumbled upon the blog Beneath Thy Feet and discovered that far from being the only ‘Tombstone Tourist’ – I counted OVER 45 fellow GeneaBloggers listed on this wonderful site who all share their wanderings among the dead!
And when I discovered the Graveyard Vlogs of my friend, author and fellow Byronian Amy McLean – well, let’s just say that my plans for an afternoon of research mysteriously vanished!
The author Lailah Gifty Akita once said that – “The graveyard is an everlasting home of every man” and within most of our cemeteries there is evidence of spectacular craftsmanship, awe inspiring stonework, history, sublime words of poignancy AND the occasional flashes of humour ALL just waiting to be discovered!
Being able to locate the final resting place of those from my research endeavours has always been an important task and an unsuccessful search is disappointing as the final piece of the jigsaw remains missing.
And as I have recently discovered the whereabouts of numerous Edesons who having filled out the branches of my maternal family tree very nicely are all dotted about in the cemeteries of the coastal town of Scarborough and so armed with the burial records and grid references – my journeys with the dead will begin another exciting chapter!
