Old Tombstone Found in Fireplace Hearth

Imagine finding an old tombstone in your fireplace! It happened recently in Ontario Canada.

A tombstone found by Ingersoll homeowners who were recently renovating their fireplace is that of a pioneer with connections to Brant and Oxford counties, who was also a veteran of the War of 1812.

The pristine limestone grave marker of Comfort Sage, who died on April 5, 1887, at the age of 90 years and 10 months, was found by Russell and Heidi Watson. The couple had turned over a large rectangular hearthstone in their home only to discover that it was actually a tombstone

Source: The Expositor. "Discovery of Tombstone Has Descendants Thrilled to Death" by Heather Ibbotson

Continue reading this fascinating story and see a photo of Comfort Sage

Neanderthal family found cannibalised in cave in Spain

Archaeologists in Spain have unearthed the remains of a possible family of 12 Neanderthals who were killed 49,000 years ago.

Markings on the bones show the unmistakeable signs of cannibal activity, say the researchers, with the group having probably been killed by their peers.



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Coffin Plate: Ezra Holmes

The featured coffin plate today is for Ezra Holmes 1847~1899


View over 500 Coffin Plates at Ancestors At Rest Coffin Plate Collection

Neanderthal genes 'survive in us'

Many people alive today possess some Neanderthal ancestry. Between 1% and 4% of the Eurasian human genome seems to come from Neanderthals according to a landmark DNA study.



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Ancient Muslim cemetery demolished by military regime

A 124 year-old Muslim cemetery was demolished by the Burmese military regime’s Engineers’ Corps from Pegu Division on December 16, 2010, according to a statement issued by the Burmese Muslim Association.

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French Scientists Identify the Head of King Henry IV

With no DNA to help them, a team of French scientists has nevertheless identified this mummified head as that of one of the most popular monarchs to reign over France.

Henry IV was murdered 400 years ago and was buried. But his head was lost during the French revolution at the end of the 17th century when royal graves near Paris were ransacked.

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Coffin Plate: ARMAND in Massachusetts

The featured coffin plate today is for Lauuelina Jane Armand 1841~1866 Massachusetts.

View over 500 Coffin Plates at Ancestors At Rest Coffin Plate Collection

Coffin Plate: George W Abbott

The featured coffin plate today is for Geo W Abbott 1860~1879 Found in U.S.A.

Radar probes for submerged graves

The sloping pasture land near Weyers Cave in northern Augusta County contains centuries-old family mysteries that could be fully explained by a technology developed during the Vietnam War.

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Coffin Plate of Livonia Hodsdon 1807~1868

I have just added the Coffin Plate of Livonia Hodsdon 1807~1868. I had a look in the 1850 United States Federal Census on Ancestry.com. I did not find a Livonia Hodsdon but I did find a Livonia Hodgdon.

1850 United States Federal Census

Livonia Hodgdon
Age: 35
Estimated birth year: abt 1815
Home in 1850 (City,County,State):
Tremont, Hancock, Maine
Household Members:
Name, Age

Enoch Hodgdon 37
Livonia Hodgdon 35
Enoch Hodgdon 9
John W Hodgdon 8
Thomas Hodgdon 5
Cordelia H Mayo 16
Livonia Ann Mayo 17
Joshua C Mayo 13
Warren H Hodgdon 1

Not sure if this is the Livonia we are looking for. It will take a little more reasearch.

Tombstone Tuesday - Hugh Archer

Well its Tombstone Tuesday again so today its the grave of Hugh Archer in THE PRESBYTERIAN CEMETERY WYEBRIDGE, SIMCOE COUNTY, ONTARIO.

ARCHER

HUGH ARCHER

Died

Sep 11 1889-Aged 52 Yrs

JANE ADAMS - His Wife

Died Mar 14 1905 Aged 57 yrs

Featured Coffin Plate: Lydia J. Wallace died 1901

AnotherCanadian Coffin Plate. The featured coffin plate today is for Lydia J Wallace 1843~1901 Ontario Canada

Featured Coffin Plate: Mary Ann Wood

The featured coffin plate today is for Mary Ann Wood Found in Pennsylvania

Cemetery in Haverhill Massachusetts missing thousands of records

The Hilldale Cemetery, which was founded in 1859, is missing deeds for almost a third of the cemetery’s 4,816 graves.

http://news.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view/20101117thousand_of_records_missing_at_haverhill_cemetery/

Tombstone Tuesday, Metal Tombstones

Tombstone Tuesday. Well I was out taking some cemetery photos and this one caught my eye. At first glance one would not think that their is much different about this grave marker. From a distance it looks quite normal. But in fact the entire grave stone is metal. Metal grave markers of this type are rare in my area. And they are getting rarer all the time as they really don't stand up to the weather as well as granite and they are much more susceptible to damage by vandals. You can see cracks starting to form in this one and I would guess its days are numbered.

Geo Catlin

Died

Feby 16 1880

Aged 80 Years

At Rest

Featured Coffin Plate: Martha D. Wolfe 1847-1892

The featured coffin plate today is for Martha D Wolfe 1847~1892 Found in New Hampshire

I Wonder who they are.

I thought perhaps I should do something in honer of Remembrance Day today. So I started looking through my family photographs and I came across this interesting one. My grandfather was a airplane mechanic in WW2 and he brought back a few photos and other items. Some of the photos are of him but this one would seem to be the crew of a bomber. It looks to me like a Lancaster bomber but I am no expert. Did they make it back. I guess I will never know. Gramps died a long time ago and he did not talk much about the war any way. They look like nice young men and I can only hope they survived. Being in a bomber in WW2 was a dangerous job and I really don't know how they found the courage to keep going.

How Much For That Tombstone In The Window

How Much For That Tombstone In The Window. Over the years I have spent a lot of time in cemeteries. And while wandering about looking at all the grave markers I have often wondered about how much they must have cost. Many are quite large and beautiful and it must have been a fair burden for some of the families to pay for. Times were hard in The Good Old Days. People did not always have a lot of extra cash. But it was very important to them to have a nice memorial for their loved ones. So to that end I have done a little digging and one of the first things I found was a 1902 Sears and Roebuck catalogue. When I think of shopping at Sears tombstones are not the first thing I think of. But back then Sears sold just about everything you could think of.

The prices in 1902 would seem to start around $6 dollars for a small stone and go right up to almost $30 for a big 4ft tall stone. This would appear quite cheap to us. But when you think about how little people made back then. You realize just how costly they were and how hard it must have been to pay for. For example the 1901 Canadian Census tells us that back then a good wage for a man was about $1.50 to $1.75 per day. So you're looking at a week to a month's pay just for a tombstone. Not an easy burden. Then when you add the cost of the funeral and the fact that the person being buried was in many cases the main source of income for the family. One can really start to get a feeling of just how important it must have been to the family to have a nice marker.

Featured Coffin Plate: Joshua woodman 1807-1876

The featured coffin plate today is for Joshua Woodman 1807~1876 from Maine.

OLD PROTESTANT CEMETERY IN ST.MARYS, PERTH COUNTY, ONTARIO

Well I missed Tombstone Tuesday as I was out taking pictures of tombstones. So how about Grave marker Wednesday this week. This week it is the grave marker of Wm Barron. William lived with his family in Blanchard Township in Perth County. He was buried in the OLD PROTESTANT CEMETERY IN ST.MARYS, PERTH COUNTY, ONTARIO in 1858.

http://www.ancestorsatrest.com/perth_county_ontario/old_st.marys_protestant_cemetery_good.shtml