Jack, No, I can't imagine the witness mentioned in the church records would be the witness at the time of death. He would be the person present at the time of the burial Mass. Also, the cemetery records at every church are maintained by a person separate from the church records. I think the key here is the statement made in the church records, i.e., "........buried in the cemetery of this parish....", if we only had access to all of them. Les ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jack Langlois" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, November 12, 2002 10:47 AM Subject: [ILSTANNE] Les: Witness at death ?? > Les > Thanks for the response. I have found that the burial records of the > churches are saying generally that there was a funeral mass for > an individual and gives the death date. If so the witness mentioned in the > church records would be the witness at the time of death ?? > > The death records of MBVM as well as St Patricks church in Momence are > seperate than the cemetery records generally maintained by the sexton. The > Sexton's records shows who was actually buried and the plot. Just because > they were buried at MBVM cemetery does not mean that they had a funeral > mass was at MBVM. Church. Another example is St.Joseph in Manteno here thay > had a mass but internment was at St.George Cem. > > Seems one needs a score card and a big eraser to discern iinformation. > a Bientot > Jack Langlois > > : Re: [ILSTANNE] Witness at death ?? > > > > Hi Jack, > > > > In attending the Fall conference of the ACGS in Manchester, NH, we had a > > speaker who talked about researching the vital records of our ancestors. > > The subject of witnesses at the baptisms, marriages & burials was > addressed > > and she made the point that witnesses at BURIALS are NOT necessarily > related > > to the subject of the records. I am also finding this to be true in my > work > > on transcribing the St. Mary's of Beaverville parish records. The same > name > > appears on every burial record. I would assume that the person worked at > > the church as a grave digger or in some other capacity. > > > > Hope I have been helpful > > > > Les > > > > > ==== ILSTANNE Mailing List ==== > You can search or browse the ARCHIVES of any RootsWeb list at: > http://listsearches.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/listsearch.pl > > ============================== > To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237 > >