Join me on my Cemetery Searching expedition for the 2023 A to Z Blog Challenge. I’ll be re-visiting some cemeteries and preparing for a wish list of others. Some family members will be mentioned but I also have an interest in German family graves as well as those of people born in Co Clare Ireland.
Wallumbilla Cemetery, Queensland
Descendants of the Kunkel family, the Lee and Paterson families lived in Wallumbilla. Louisa Lee nee Kunkel was the fifth child of George Kunkel and his wife Mary O’Brien. Louisa died on 22 December 1914, the second of their children to die over the Christmas period.
Winton Cemetery, Queensland
My grandfather’s aunt, Agnes Mellick, lived in Winton for many years of her adult life. She arrived with her parents, Bridget and James Sherry in 1883 at Rockhampton. On arrival her name is given as Bridget but she later used Agnes.
Observant readers will note some anomalies in the gravestones which is presumably why there are two on the grave. However, there’s also an anomaly between these details and the BDM indexes.
Life in the west was challenging and often-times dangerous. These are a few of the gravestones which caught my attention.
Cemetery Searching Wishlist
I’m keen to visit Wallerawang Cemetery near Lithgow to follow up some of “my” Germans.
Family history across the seas 
Typhoid — !!!
So many things change, and so quickly. It’s hard to believe that typhoid and cholera were common only a hundred years
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(Sorry, I hit the reply button accidentally too soon!)
Hard to believe that diseases typhoid and cholera were common only 100 years ago. It’s amazing.
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Sure is. I remember having to get vaccinations for both when we first travelled overseas. I’ve seen so many infant deaths, in burial registers, from illnesses they are now protected from.
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Lightning strikes, typhoid, stroke, consumption and who knows what for the man with his degree from London University. What a hard life it would have been in Winton.
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Life in the bush….lots of things can kill you.
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I used to always want to do something like this…visit cemeteries and take pictures of interesting tombstones and statues.
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They can be fascinating for sure.
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You have an awesome collection of headstones and grave stories.
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Tip of my cemetery iceberg Jill.
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Life was tough in the bush Pauleen. Very sad to lose children, but to lose them over Christmas is cruel.
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Yes, I’ve wondered if that was why my grandfather didn’t really “do” Xmas – his father on Xmas Day and mother 6 weeks before.
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I’ve also found differences between dates on gravestones and in vital records for some of my ancestors. The rule of thumb seems to be: go with the paperwork unless the stone is all there is. The downward pointing hand on HLC Johnson’s grave was a common symbol for those who died suddenly, as supported by his obituary.
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Interesting about the symbol…so many have meanings but I’ve not delved deep enough into them. I agree, I wouldn’t take te dates on the stone as gospel for my own family without checking.
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You certainly have collected much cemetery photos on your ancestors. Scary that typhoid and cholera were common only a hundred years… and one day they’ll be talking about Covid deaths
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