Grave Words 2

 

Once I wasn’t,

Then I was,

Now I ain’t again.                                                    

[Minnesota, USA]

In health I went away from home,

But did with life no more return;

My horse he stumbled and fell down,

And threw me lifeless on the ground;

Short was my life, my pain the less,

God took me home as he thought best.

[Chilton Church, Oxfordshire]

- and his ghost is said to haunt the nearby Downs to this day.

And what of this double tragedy - two sons lost to drowning within the same year:

Henry Leonard Belt, youngest son of George Belt, Newcastle, d.7-4-1859 aged 19 years. The deceased who was on a visit to his uncle Jacob of this village went to bathe at a spot known as the Doctor Stanners a little above Ryton Fisheries, and though able to swim was unfortunately drowned....

Anthony Belt, 2nd son of George Belt, Newcastle, d.26-10-1859 aged 29. The deceased with upwards of 400 others perished on the wreck of the SS ship "Royal Charter" in Dulas Bay, Anglesey, during the dreadful hurricane of that day, his body was interred Penrhos Lligwy, Anglesey.

[Both from Holy Cross, Ryton, Co.Durham]

Weep not for me, my wife and children dear,

I am not dead, but sleeping here;

My race is ran, my grave you see,

Prepare yourselves to follow me.

[St.Nicholas, Cramlington, Northumberland]

- Er, not just yet, if you don't mind!

Nineteen years I was a maid,

Seven years I was a wife,

Seventeen days I was a mother,

And then it pleased the Almighty

To call me from this world, to another!

           

[Noted in the Border Advertiser of 3rd Feb.1854, location unknown]

Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.

Also Edith Ruby.

[Southwick Churchyard, Sussex]

And finally a few famous folk:

3.14159265358979323846264338327950288...,
[German-Dutch mathematician, Ludolph van Ceulen, who famously calculated the value of pi to 35 decimal places prior to his death in 1610.  He was so proud of his achievement that he insisted on the number being engraved on his headstone]

A tomb now suffices for him, for whom the world was not enough.
[Alexander the Great]

That's All, folks!
[Mel Blanc]


A reminder to you all that I'm always on the lookout for unusual stories, facts and figures from the world of family history.  If you have anything to offer, then don't be shy - email them to me at micksouthwick@blueyonder.co.uk .