Geoff, Many thanks for the clarification on the date. I thought it a bit strange that the the stone mason did not know the year but that makes sense now. I had already seen the monument inscriptions for Earsdon at Woodhorn so I knew that there had been a gravestone there in the past, whether it was still there was uncertain. We found the stone, a sort of 'table' on legs and it was rather strange to read the inscriptions for our 7xgt grandparents! Even so the transcription was slightly incorrect refering to 'Red House' when the stone clearly says 'Reed Hous'. However full marks and grateful thanks to those persons who have tramped around the churchyards writing down inscriptions, after even a few of them, the eyesight tends to 'blur'. And we have a photo for the 'tree album'! Many thanks again Mike Fairless -----Original Message----- From: northumbria-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:northumbria-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of NEGenealogy@aol.com Sent: 30 September 2009 11:26 To: northumbria@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [NMB] Newsham location ? Mike: 174 7/8 in any date means 1747-48, ie although you don't mention the month and day it would have been between 1 January, when the year starts nowadays, and 25th March (Lady Day), which was the "old New Year". If you think it correct to give dates Old Style, then you will read it as 1747, which is what it still officially was, but if you find it more meaningful for a modern reader to give it New Style, then you will call it 1748, whiich makes it have the correct relationship to modern dates. Such a situation with dates lasted from when certain European countries first adopted the Gregorian calendar until 1751 but literate people in this country had mostly changed over unofficially well before then, hence the need for "bilingual dates". And we think that European interference with our units etc is a new thing! Incidentally, there is very little left to be "discovered" on old gravestones in either Northumberland or Co Durham. Thanks to the efforts of the NDFHS (and their recorders such as Alan Readdie, Don Mason and Phil Thirkell), Cleveland FHS and lots and lots of individuals and local history societies, just about every ancient churchyard has now been recorded. Standards do vary, however, but the "genealogical" information (names, relationships, dates, addresses, occupations etc, where given) are usually "in the bag" and available for purchase from the relevant publishers. The publisher with the largest range of local churchyard MIs is the NDFHS (see ndfhs.org.uk). None of this is meant to imply that there is not still a major job still to do in recording such churchyards as have slipped through the net so far, plus the majority of municipal cemeteries, most of which are huge and, possibly for that reason, have been left untouched. The NDFHS certainly used to maintain, via their MI co-ordinator, a list of all known sites, with the current situation as regards whether they have been transcribed, whether someone is currently undertaking the job or whether they are still waiting for someone (one of the subscribers ot this list, perhaps?) to volunteer. Geoff Nicholson In a message dated 30/09/2009 10:24:34 GMT Daylight Time, michael.fairless@eds.com writes: We have the following transcription from a gravestone in Earsdon Church taken yesterday (29/9/2009) Can anyone tell me anything about "Reed Hous" Newsham ? It is not a transcription error for "Red", neither a missing letter for "Hous" but I expect it may have been "Red House" but if it was where was that? Interstingly the year of the date of death of William is carved as 174 followed by a 7 above an 8 separated by two horizontal dots, something like 7 .. 8 Was the stone mason unsure of the year????? There also doesn't seem to be a month for the Death of Elianor ! Many thanks Mike Fairless The NORTHUMBRIA FAQ page is located at http://www.bpears.org.uk/NorthumbriaFAQ/ ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to NORTHUMBRIA-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message