Cemeteries offer two important secondary sources for genealogical information, namely gravestones and burial registers. These sources are especially helpful to locate information about a person, for whom there is not a death notice or death certificate, but where the place of burial is known.

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Gravestones often provide clues to a person’s religious beliefs, the financial state of those who were responsible for the funding the burial, family members, circumstances surrounding the person’s death, military service and nicknames. Apart from the above information, the birth and death date, full names, surname, maiden name, details of the spouse and sometimes the children are often provided.

Messages on the headstones

Messages of love can provide insight to the person’s character and aspirations. Some inscriptions such as “My dear husband” “Our loving mother” or “Our grandfather” show the family connections. You can for instance, determine who took care of the burial and who were still alive at the time.

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Family graves

Family graves or double graves have a wealth of information since they contain members of one family with their order of birth and death recorded. One grave can lead you to the burial places of other family members.

Religion

Religious affiliations are indicated through the inscriptions and the location of the grave. Many cemeteries are divided into specific religious sections such as Catholic, Presbyterian, Anglican, Jewish, and German sections.

Cemetery Records

Below is a classic example of a burial plot card that shows many still births yet none of these people would appear on a headstone

Behavior

The graves of murderers, thefts, slaves, people who committed suicide and in some cases, people who followed another religion not accepted by the community, are often found outside the main cemetery or buried in the opposite direction. Graves or people who commit suicide are sometimes also found to have the epitaph on the back side of the headstone.

Living relatives

If you are looking for relatives that may still be alive, flowers, letters and other objects show how recently the grave was visited. If someone is still tending the grave, then there is a chance of getting in contact with the relatives.

Finances

The financial state of the those responsible for the erection of the tombstone is indicated by the size of the headstone as well the length of the carvings, although a person may have died without the knowledge of close relatives or anyone willing to erect a tombstone.

Affiliations

The deceased’s language preference is indicated by the language in which the inscriptions are made. This also holds true for the ethnic group or membership to special organizations such as the Free Masons.

Military record

Military service recordings such as rank and battle where the individual died can be used to locate military records from museums and war commissions.

h3>Age and state of the gravestone

Modern gravestones from around 1910 are made of granite or marble, whilst those erected from around 1880 until 1909 were made from softer light grayish granite and are damaged. The gravestones from around 1860s’ were square blocks with ornaments and were normally large statutes. White marble stone were used from 1830 until the late 1850′s. Sandstone or slate headstones with minimal engravings date from before 1800.

A modern tombstone for a person, who died before 1910, indicates that the gravestone has only been erected much later or may have been replaced. Original tombstones are more accurate sources of information.

The plot or burial place lay-out

Some of the family graves have more than one tombstone, but the layout can indicate the relationship. The head of the family most often has the largest tombstone with his wife buried next to him, while the children and other family members are placed in their order of either birth or death.

Meaning of symbols, abbreviations and special carvings on the headstones

By studying special engravings on the headstone you can learn a lot, for instance a woman who outlived her husband is indicated by the word “Relict”. Abbreviations such as F & AM indicate membership to the Free Masons, while POW stands for Prisoner of War. The word cenotaph is used to indicate an empty grave. The ivy or a broken column is engraved on the head of the family’s grave while engraved willows or a butterfly indicates death at a young age. Corn means the person lived a long life. Crossed swords are normally used for a person who held a high military rank. The oak can symbolize strength and old age, while the ivy can also symbolize friendship.

Size of the grave

Children are buried in graves that are shorter than two meters or five feet and their graves are marked by small headstones.

Finding graves in Pretoria

Please contact Isebell Gauche for a specialised service in looking up graves.

Written by Isebell Gauche – with kind permission.