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!