Back in 2003, a family member in Boston, Lincolnshire, England took a family history trip to the local cemetery to photograph the memorials of our Davis ancestors. And I am so glad that they did! Why? Because yesterday, on a whim, I decided to check Find a Grave to see if there were any other photographs of those memorials, perhaps from a different angle. Instead what I found was that the memorial no longer looks quite like it did in 2003. While time can, of course, damage and fade the writing on a gravestone, our Davis family memorial seems to be missing half of the original stone.
Take a look…
It appears in the Find a Grave photo that the pedestal and two tiers are there, with one obscured by the long grass. The top tier and cross are missing.
In doing some digging, I found a very helpful group on Facebook called The Friends of Boston Cemetery. I posted the two photos there and asked if anyone might have an idea of what happened. Within an hour, I had a lovely woman offer to pop down to the cemetery office and see what she could find out. And then a little later, a response from a gentleman from Boston Cemetery itself, with an answer to why the memorial looks so different.
In their efforts to keep the cemetery a safe place, the memorials are checked every 5 years and if found to be a danger, are either staked up or dismantled. Our Davis memorial became unstable and could easily be pushed over accidentally, perhaps causing hurt to someone, and the top tier and cross were dismantled and laid flat next to the rest of the upright portion. I am glad to have an answer and very happy to hear that the dismantled parts are close by. The cemetery gentleman even provided a list of approved memorial masons who could re-erect the memorial if desired. Sometimes in genealogy, you really do come across the most helpful people!
Take those photographs of memorials NOW. You never know what might happen in the future!
KindredPast 
Your advice is very important…take those photos soon because stones can topple or deteriorate or, as in this case, become unstable. Something similar happened to one of my ancestor’s stones, and I only discovered it when I arrived to take the photo and found the top laid next to the main stone.
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I am grateful I have the first photo taken in 2003, as the top tier, which is now on the ground but not visible in the Find a Grave photo, has quite a bit of information on it! I am also thankful for cemeteries that try to keep the stones together, even if laying flat on the ground!
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You’re so fortunate to have that 1960s photograph, Eilene!
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That is very true! I had a photo of an illegible marker that was leaning over precariously. Someone sent me a picture of the same marker when it was upright and legible, probably taken in the 1960s. Big change over a 60 year span!
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