Mr Slinky

I finally got up my nerve and tackled the Anglican records left by the minister after John Seaman. I am still not entirely sure what this man's name was as his handwriting most closely resembles a stretched out slinky. I have gathered information from this remarkable script for 11 more burials. I can almost forgive Reverend Slinky because, while he often omits where people are from and his handwriting is wretched, he gives places of burial and often cause of death. So of these 11 new burials between 1880 and 1881 I'm pretty sure none of them are at Reilly Cemetery. Three burials are listed as at the common burying ground/ common graveyard of ----- village. No capitals, two words. I have no idea where these people are but they were buried by an Anglican minister and at least two of them died of diptheria. The third falls into the same time period but does not specify cause of death. This fellow also never calls Holy Trinity, Lascelles that name, he calls it the Church at Masham. I'm fairly certain of this as for the five records he has left of people buried at the Church at Masham, there are 2 headstones at Holy Trinity Lascelles for commemorating 4 of 'em. That or there's a mysterious anglican church at Masham of which we have never heard. Now, just to be sure I'm leaving no stone unturned, it's fair to mention that normally I would take the mention of burial at Masham as at Reilly cemetery-- in the case of this minister there is far more proof that people are not at Reilly Cemetery --the Colbert family (3 of the 5 diptheria cases I mentioned above) has 12 family members commemorated at Lascelles. Not once does this minister ever refer to Holy Trinity, Lascelles, which is part of the diocese of which he was priest-- I think he just called it the church at Masham. UNLESS, it occurs to me, he is burying people at Reilly Cemetery and the Neeley and Colbert families got it wrong...I can see one being in error as this has happened before, but two? Considerably less likely.

Ahh the joys of archival research...

Annual Clearance Day in Review or How I Have Come to Love the Sound of Chainsaws...

Hey everyone!

The Annual Clearance Day on Saturday was quite a success! We had about 20 people show up to help clear brush, haul off bits of trees, clean the entrance area and to generally pick up, tidy and sort. Everyone was busy enough to make it worth their while but we all found time to chat at one point or another. As the photos below demonstrate, tractors are a wonderful thing. A great many trees were felled and cleared away.

 The Chain Gang

 How much stuff can you get in the back of a tractor?

Lots apparently.

 Here we can now see out front to the south east.

This is the new and improved view to the north.

Three hours of physical labour later the cemetery was cleared of dead and dying trees, the cedars and pines were cut back substantially and the view all around improved. Everyone who showed up deserved the lunch that followed and the sincere thanks of all descendents of Reilly Cemetery. Sorry, I was too busy eating (the beer tasted amazing too) and listening to the stories-- so much so I forgot to take pics. We decided to make this an annual event and set a date for the first Saturday in May next year so mark that in your calenders! If there isn't enough work we can turn it into a picnic!

Anglican Records, Holy Trinity, Lascelles

Well actually I'm going to put up the burial records that the minister for the wider area including Eardly, Low, Wakefield and Lascelles. I don't know the area particularly well so I am including them all. This list is subject to change and to revision when I have more time to take better notes. So here it is, warts and all-- there will be errors so don't take these as gospel. I stopped at 1876 because I ran out of time today. I'll get to the others later if I can. A note here, the minister, John Seaman, was not overfond of providing a great deal of information-- he usually says where someone is from (and I see I missed this in some of my notes) but only very rarely says where someone is buried. IF I follow the reasoning I did with my paper then we have a whole bunch of likely burials at Reilly Cemetery-- anyone who has been to Holy Trinity has noticed the lack of headstones there-- perhaps people were more commonly buried elsewhere.

Name	Wife of/Notes	Origin/Twsp of	Died	Place of burial
James Shouldice		Wakefield	14 ??1864
Alexander Higgins		Low	17 Aug 1864
William Smiders		Masham	15 Sept 1864
Luke Brown		Wakefield	24 Nov 1864
Sarah Michel	John Mahon, Reilly witnesses	Masham	17 Dec 1864
Hugh Bell Brown		Eardly	13 Dec 1864
Catheren Martin	Henry Wills	Wakefield	6 July 1865
William Collons		Wakefield	1 Sept 1865
Elizabeth Stewert		Denholm	5 Aug 1866
Elizabeth Kentrick??		Alwin	8 Mar 1866
Alade Farburn	William Offertson	Wakefield	19 July 1867	Wakefield
Edward Brown		Masham	26 Dec 1867	Wakefield
Charlot Elizabeth Seaman		Minister’s daughter	18 Aug 1868
Sarah Jane McKitrick			19 Aug 1868
Judith Irwin ??	Robert Shouldice	Masham	10 April 1868?
Helenar Mullin		Wakefield	2? June 1869
Ann Jane ____	Alexander Thomas ______
Mary Jane Denzell??	James Jonston	Masham	12 ??? 1870
John Thompson	Shouldice & Graham signed	Masham	10 May 1870
Robert Wiggans			1 April 1871	Holy Trinity
Mary Seaman		Wakefield	16 May 1871
Thomas Brown		Masham	4 June 1871
Ellen (Eileen?) Adol??	James Mullen	Wakefield	4 Aug 1871
William Johnston		Portland	25 Jan 1871
John James Samuel		Portland	18 April 1871
Phaby Samuel		Portland	26 May 1871
Elizabeth Stinke??	Thomas Mullen	Masham	4 Jan 1872
Margret Simpson Armstrong	Robert Armstrong	Wakefield	24 Mar 1872
Margaret Armstrong	d/o above	Wakefield	30 Mar 1872
Marjory Murdoch		Low	5 April 1872
William Murdoch	See above, sibling	Low	8 April 1872
John Bagnols???		Lascelles	24 May 1872
Isabella Higgins		Masham	20 Sept 1872
Samuel Higgins		Masham	12 Oct 1872	Holy Trinity
Elizabeth Wil__	(Mahon witness)	Masham	20 Oct 1872
Wm Thomas Gabriel ??			19 April 1873	Holy Trinity
Samuel Deagall???		Masham	13 July 1873
Frances Cook	Robert Nesbit, Mahon & Mitchel witnesses	Masham	29 Oct 1873
James Gordon Kennedy		Masham	23 April 1874
Mrs Kennedy	Adam Kennedy, mother of above	Masham	23 April 1874
Sarah Elizabeth Brown	Thomas _____	Hawke??	25 May 1874
Andrew Matchet Murdoch	(not local)		9 Oct 1874
Wm Gordon Fraser??		Wakefield	11 Jan 1875
Elizabeth Wilkes	Wm Craige, O’Hara signature	Masham	17 Mar 1875
Jane Mahon	John Riley (three sons signatures)	Masham/Irland	17 April 1875
Thomas Brown		Eardly	19 Jan 1876