The Repose of Betty Beaumont Shaw
After posting my previous post, I thought for some cheap entertainment, I should see if I could locate a record of the grave of George and Betty Shaw, my 5th great grandparents. I was assuming they lived and died in Scapegoat Hill but perhaps they lived outside of it near another church and not in the town proper itself. I searched for George Shaw first but didn't turn up anything I could pin down. So I turned to wife Betty and was quickly rewarded with the following which is a copy from the Pole Moor Baptist Church Burial recods less than a mile to the west of Scape Goat Hill.
Note on the fourth line down it says "66, Betty Wife of George Shaw, Scape Goat Hill, buried Nov 29 1866, 75 years old." Also on her line both at the start and the middle are the numbers 64 and 65. There is something scribbled above Betty but the numbers appear to simply be order of death so I'm not sure what to make of the writing. More interesting to me is the opposing page.
Reading across on line four it say, "Golcar, 21, From the Walk 10 1/2 yds from the Hall in her son grave No. 120." Intrigued, I traced all her children and many of them end up with the exact same description so indeed it is a family plot though I am uncertain of a few. My 5th great grandfather George Shaw is one of them as he disappears after the 1871 Census and Betty is listed as a widow there forth. Since she never married, I assume he is buried in the same family plot though I can't find a record such as above that I could with Betty and many of her children. My ancestor Mary Shaw Bolton is an unknown. I haven't been able to trace her in records past 1861. Finally, Mary's older brother Eli is also not buried there and is most likely buried somewhere in the United States making him the second Shaw child to immigrate there. He took with him a wife and seven children plus added an eighth shortly upon arrival so there is a Shaw line running loose here on this side of the pond.
Another google search I ran turned up a site that had pictures of nearly 100 gravestones of Shaws and other spouses and children of them also in the same cemetery at Pole Moor Baptist Church but after going through each one individually, I didn't see one for Betty Shaw. Perhaps a sign that they are in an unmarked grave. If I ever get to that part of England, I definitely want to walk in the old part of the cemetery and figure out where 21 from the walk and 10 1/2 yards from the hall gets me.
I've thought of taking a genealogy trip but mine would lead me to northern Italy. Another relative had trouble finding the grave of one of my great-grandmothers and that's because she was buried in a specific section of the cemetery with members of her Italian lodge. That part of the cemetery even had its own name.
ReplyDeleteI have zero percent Italian heritage in me so going to Italy for genealogy purposes isn't in the cards. But I would like to go and see it someday anyway.
DeleteThe writing is pretty good. Some documents are either poorly written or poorly kept.
ReplyDeleteI certainly don’t have any documents a third as old that are even readable anymore.
DeleteOne day I am going to be as ambitious as you and find out where the Shifleys got started. I think I am kind of scared to see where it all began because it might validate some family drama that runs deep. But it might turn out we are an awesome clan. Anyway, thanks, Ed. I enjoy reading about your family history and your investigative skills.
ReplyDeleteYes, I know a number of people who have turned up a lot of drama. Fortunately, my family is fairly small and largely uninterested in my sleuthing.
DeleteUntil you mentioned Scapegoat Hill, I had never heard of it though I have done some walking to the south and south west of Huddersfield which is some thirty miles north of Sheffield. I admire your dedicated detective work - rooting out information about your family history. Oftentimes poorer families could not afford to pay for professionally inscribed gravestones and since the mid-1800's a significant number of old gravestones have been lost for one reason or another.
ReplyDeleteThis is the crazy bit. I am prepared to drive up to Scapegoat Hill some time this summer. There I could factor in a long country walk as well as seeking graves and maybe one or two of your family locations. I could take photos etcetera. However before doing this, I would need as much guidance from you as possible. Do you have my e-mail address Ed? I can't remember.
I don’t have your email address but mine is linked above my blog roll. Shoot me am email and I can give you what details I have.
DeleteSince they didn’t appear to be prosperous, I suspect you may be right and there aren’t even any markers for their graves.