Some Great Cemetery News.

Last June, while I was in Sydney on holidays, my Aunt & I had a cemetery day. We went to 3 different cemeteries where our ancestors are buried - Rookwood, Field of Mars & Macquarie. We hadn't had a cemetery day in quite some time, and we were very keen to speak to someone about two things we wanted to do -
1. See if it would be possible to have a headstone done for my Great Great Grandmother & Great Uncle whose grave is unmarked at Rookwood.
2. Have the death date on my Great Grandmother Elizabeth's headstone fixed at Field of Mars.

Rookwood Cemetery

My Great Great Grandmother Christian Croal & Great Uncle Adam Gow have been buried in an unmarked grave at Rookwood since Adam died in 1905 & Christian died in 1909.

Sitting at the grave of Christian Croal & Adam Gow
Rookwood Cemetery, June '13.
Image from my personal collection.

This was my second time to see their grave. The first time was in 2009 and it took us a good hour to find it. On this day, it took me 10 minutes. I have a pretty good visual memory with landmarks and whatnot.

My Aunt & I went up to the Office and spoke to someone about having a headstone done for Christian & Adam. They said to e-mail them with the details of our request which we did that night.

After not hearing anything for a few weeks, my Aunt rang them a few times, until finally, in November, we received approval to do the following 'We are able to supply you with a basic form of grave marker called a "sloper & plaque." This is an unpolished granite base with a lawn size bronze plaque with 8-10 lines of inscription.'

My Aunt didn't actually tell me any of this until the beginning of January because she forgot to forward me the e-mail, haha. But being told this in person was so much better anyway.

Now it's just a matter of deciding what we want the plaque to say. 

Field of Mars Cemetery

When I found my Great Grandmother Elizabeth's grave for the first time ever in 2009, I was a bit shocked to discover that the year of her death was incorrect. She died in 1952, but it says 1962. My Aunt & Dad do not remember my Poppa talking about his Mother's grave having a mistake on it. He was very much into family history as well, so we're not sure if he ever actually saw the headstone after it was done because he would not have let the incorrect year remain. Since then, my Aunt & I have always discussed about having it rectified. I also found her grave again within 5 minutes of being there (I really do love my awesome memory, heheh).

Grave of Elizabeth Gow, Field of Mars Cemetery, June '13
Image from my personal collection.

The Office at Field of Mars was closed, and said that it now operated under the same trust as Macquarie Cemetery so any queries were to be directed there. Well, that was quite convenient for us as that was our next stop. We were going to find some of my Poppa's cousins' graves. The Office at Macquarie Cemetery directed us to one of their onsite tombstone businesses. They were closed that day, but we went back the next day and spoke to them. That took some persistence from my Aunty as well because they couldn't find the grave so she had to go meet them out there one day. Along with the news about Christian & Adam's grave, she told me that Elizabeth's grave had now been fixed. She's hoping to go out there in the next couple of weeks to check. It's not a permanent fix, only a temporary 4-5 year thing. The only way we're going to be able to fix it permanently is if we get a completely new headstone. Because my Poppa did this one we were a bit hesitant, and are going with the temporary solution for now. In the future, if it comes down to it, we will get a new headstone for her.

A Genealogy Happy Dance.

As a result of Scotlands People publishing my article about my Great Great Aunt Jeannie Gow, I’ve received many messages from others asking if their Gow’s are related to my Gow’s. Two people even recognized the handwriting in the photo. The handwriting is that of my second cousin once removed, Betsy, who lives in New Zealand. Betsy is a descendant of my Great Grandfather William’s brother John. I’ve never met Betsy, but she was in close contact with my Grandfather in the 70’s & 80’s. In the late 80’s, they even travelled to Scotland together. They lost contact during the 90’s, and my Grandfather passed away in 2003.

Before I go any further, here’s a quick back story: My Great Grandfather William Gow was the youngest of 5 – John, Robert, Isabella, Jeannie & William. John immigrated to Ireland, Robert & William to Sydney, and the girls remained in Scotland.

When I started delving into the family history a few years ago, my Aunt always said that we must get in contact with Betsy, but we never succeeded in doing so. About 2 years ago, another distant cousin, John, who lives in Canada (also a descendant of John), put me in contact with many descendants of Robert. One of my new found distant cousins, Heather, who also lives in New Zealand, had an address for Betsy. When I solved the mystery of Jeannie, I posted a copy of the documents to Betsy, but never received a response.

Now, a few weeks ago, I had an email from Carole. Carole’s husband is related to Betsy on the non-Gow side. I was so excited!

I learned that Betsy is 85, and living in a nursing home with early stages of dementia. Hence, she hasn’t delved into the family history for a while. Carole took Betsy a copy of my Scotlands People article which she read, and also helped Betsy with establishing where I fit in her family tree. Betsy had only completed up to my Dad. Betsy gave Carole her genealogy folder full of information on our Gow family for her to scan and send to me.

Yesterday, I received a few e-mails from Carole, and it was not at all what I was expecting. The first contained photos of my Great Grandfather William when he was a teenager. These photos I had not seen before, so I was quite excited. However, my excitement shot through the roof when I discovered that Carole had sent me photos of Isabella, Jeannie & Robert too!!! I had never ever ever seen photos of Isabella, Jeannie or Robert before! I was massively happy dancing!! A little later last night, I realized that I now have photos of all 5 siblings!! And of course, I had my own dance party in my room.

I felt like this moment deserved fireworks. Sadly no fireworks could occur in my room for safety reasons.

I shall be posting these new photos over the next couple of days, so do keep your eyes peeled.

And to Carole, all I can say is thank you!