Identifying the Dead

Last week while on vacation, I was able to find an old cemetery thought to be associated with some of my ancestors (you can read about that here).  There were 4 graves located in the one cemetery- 3 adult sized graves and one child sized grave.  Only one of the graves seemed to have any kind of inscription on it. When I went back to try to get some information, I was only able to determine that the first name was Joseph and the last name possibly started with an S.  There was some birth and death date information, but not much of it was clear.  I was a little disappointed as I was unsure these graves had anything to do with my family.

While I was busy trying to use aluminum foil to get a "rubbing" from the one grave (more about that another time), my husband and father were checking out the other markers.  Shockingly enough, they were able to see inscriptions on one of the other graves.  This grave clearly showed the name L.T. Weston with birth and death dates.  Still not a name I recognized, but I was still thrilled with being able to gain some information.  The third grave was partially buried in a kiwi vine jungle, and I was certain I wouldn't be able to find any information on the marker.  As we were getting ready to leave, my husband actually noticed writing on the grave.

So I did what any good genealogist obsessed person would do, I climbed in.  Granted, this photo doesn't look like a dense kiwi vine jungle, but it took some creative maneuvering to get myself in there (It was much like moving around laser beam security systems you see in movies and TV)  

Once inside, I had to use sticks to try to scrape off a couple inches of dirt off the inscription. Eventually, I had to use my hands to get most of the dirt off.  I'm not a fan of getting my hands dirty, so work gloves need to be part of the "Old Cemetery Car Kit" (I'd also like to note that my husband made it clear that I would not be crawling under the house that is rumored to be built above some graves).

I managed to uncover the initial W. with a last name of Weston and very clear birth and death date information.  It seems that being buried under kiwi vines and dirt helped preserve much of the inscription.  I'd like to note here that not only did I climb around a kiwi jungle and get my hands dirty, but I also scraped my knee and had blood all over the place.  Here's hoping I don't end up with some ancient long dormant disease that has been entombed for hundreds of years (yeah, too many Mummy movies or something).

In the end, I think I have been able to identify 3 of the 4 graves.  The 2 adult graves with the last name of Weston appear to be a George W. Weston and a Lambert Thomas Weston.  The child size grave I believe is George Weston's 5 month old son Elmer who died from Pneumonia.  Upon searching their information on Ancestry.com, I came to realize that these Westons are in fact family.  Their mother was a Kellum and a direct descendant from the same Kellums I am directly descended from.  After reviewing each of their death certificates, I noticed that each of these three people were listed as being buried in the "Old Kellum Cemetery".  So it appears I did find an old family graveyard after all.

 

I still need to try to figure out who the 4th grave belongs to.  So far, I have not been able to uncover anyone with the name combinations I've tried.  I'm hoping that I might find a potential matching surname suggestion in reviewing chancery court records.