Monday 14 May 2012

dates

There was no other identifying information near this headstone. I was struck at first by the simplicity and then by the dates that left out the month and day. The birth and death of both Mother and Father occurring in the same years and Margaret, presumably the daughter, born in the year of Confederation and dying in the last year of WWII. 
All three made it into their 70s. 
from the Hamilton Cemetery for a Taphophile Tragics

12 comments:

Paul in Powell River said...

I find it odd that there are no names for Ma and Pa - have never seen a headstone with no names.

Halcyon said...

I always find these "mother" "father" graves strange. I guess their real names weren't worth remembering. :(

Francisca said...

Yes, odd...

SeaThreePeeO said...

What a wonderfully simplistic marker. Shame their names are now lost to time.

Herding Cats

hamilton said...

it not as uncommon as one might think. though, often, the individual names are on flat stones on the ground surrounding the main stone. in this case, I couldn't find anything to indicate that had been done.

hamilton said...

I always wonder who decided to do that?

Deb said...

Great black and white shot, really suits the subject.

Oakland Daily Photo said...

Does this cemetery keep records of who's buried where? That would be one way to find out the family name. Really good photo. Like the way you can see how rough hewn the stone is.

Nellies said...

It wasn't until you mentioned it that it is indeed not common to only mention the years. I think it's a beautiful headstone, and I really like how you processed this photo!

Julie said...

It is very tactile, isn't it. Puffed up ... I really like the style, the font, the stone.

As a 'historian' the lack of information irritates me, yet I take Carolyn's point about the information possibly be available elsewhere. However, as a member of a family this just screams love and loss to me. 'They were mine. They are still mine. And that is all an outsider needs to know. So buzz off'.

Wonderful find.

CaT said...

there was also no name on the back of the stone? (i guess not!!)
but only after more than a year here in the US did i discover that the stones are often inscribed on both sides... or that the little stones with "mother, father, etc" in front of the stone refer to the names on the actual stone. haha, that took me a while..

this stone is pretty in its simplicity, i think!

hamilton said...

haha, I am sure there are many families who would feel that way! I wonder, sometimes, how they would feel about us in the 21st C poking around in their lives and reading those census forms!