52 Weeks of Genealogical Research - Week 14 - Cemetery Records

This is my post for week 14 of  Shauna Hicks challenge for 2014.  Shauna said that this blog challenge is to stimulate my own genealogy blogging efforts in 2014 by focusing on a different kind of genealogical record each week. I wanted a challenge that reflected my own archival background as well as my own genealogy interests and there are probably lots of other records that I could have included. The challenge has an Australian focus but most of these records will be found just about anywhere in the genealogy world.

My husband's direct ancestors in Australia are buried from Glen Innes to Uralla - a mere 1.5 hours driving time. My direct ancestors however, are buried in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania and Western Australia. This means, that wherever I go there just happens to be an ancestor buried there. My daughter once asked if a visitor wanted to see our holiday photos - yes they were headstones.

There is now a proliferation of Websites such as Australian Cemeteries Index and individual cemetery sites which makes finding the resting place of family members much easier than in the past. These sites can be used to make research trips more effective. 

I was fortunate to be able to locate headstones for two sets of great, great, great, great grandparents in Ireland before I visited.


  • James (d. 1857) and Rose Hannah (d. 1858) are buried at the Bushvale Presbyterian Church at Stranocum, Co. Antrim in Northern Ireland.
  • Andrew (d. 1853 and Rosannah (d 1830) Lagan are buried at Swatragh, Magherafelt, Co. Derry, Ireland.

Armed with this information I was able to visit these cemeteries and easily find what I was looking for. Without prior research it would have been impossible to take these two photographs.


Hannah headstone, Bushvale, Co Antrim, Northern Ireland


Lagan headstone, Swatragh, Co Derry, Ireland





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