Taking up Stuart's Robertson's suggestion, we should all be aware that gravestones are rarely a permanent memorial. Besides vandalism (fortunately still rare in Orkney), sandstone headstones suffer from frost damage. Today the OFHS, led by Dave Higgins, is making an excellent effort to record all of Orkney's old gravestones still legible. Luckily the Council had started this process in 1990, and in the old graveyard of St.Peter's, Sandwick their team transcribed the inscription on my great-great aunt's stone. When Dave and I came to check this work and start transcribing the stones in the West graveyard there in 2001 I found her stone bare, defaced by frost. And by 2002 the Council had removed the stone completely! Visiting St.Peter's in S.Ronaldsay in 2006 I saw several beautiful 17th century stones with heraldic carvings crumbling from frost damage, almost as I watched. I'm not sure what the answer is, except don't put off visiting and photographing your ancestors' graves any longer than you have to! Don't wait for the beneficial effects of global warming!! James Irvine.

Betsy, forgive me if I've asked you this before... but what Longhope, Walls, surnames are you researching? I have, connected to a branch of my So. Ronaldsay line, a daughter [Barbara MATCHES] of Charles MATCHES and his wife, Jane SINCLAIR; -- in 1873, Barbara MATCHES married a John ANDERSON of Walls [he was a son of James ANDERSON & Margory HEDDLE]. I know of at least three of Barbara and John's children: Jean/Jane ANDERSON, Mary Heddle ANDERSON, and James Matches ANDERSON. Mary Heddle ANDERSON married William CLOAD; Jean/Jane ANDERSON married Thomas KIRKPATRICK; James Matches ANDERSON married Mary Ellen Kennedy CORMACK. -------------------------------------------------- Betsy VanAuker wrote: > ... Edinburgh cemeteries where former Longhope, > Walls, Orkney residents might be buried. If anyone would like to continue > this thread away from the Orkney group, please contact me at > mvanauker@hughes.net. (However, I will be away on business Sunday-Tuesday).

I know what you mean, Charlie. Sometimes I wonder if anyone will ever experience that sense of the unknown, the risk, excitement, hope, of traveling to somewhere you know nothing about, as our ancestors did (I slightly embellish that, as I know they did have letters and newspapers). With the internet, before traveling, one can at least google the unknowns away. If one chooses to do so.

Thank you. But I am very glad to help! Wish I could quit my day job.

I am willing to take Norman's suggestion to get back to Orkney, but would like to continue off list on Edinburgh cemeteries where former Longhope, Walls, Orkney residents might be buried. If anyone would like to continue this thread away from the Orkney group, please contact me at mvanauker@hughes.net. (However, I will be away on business Sunday-Tuesday). I have another question: Was there anything happening in the Orkneys - economic, political, etc. - that might have made several generations of a family decide to leave the Orkneys for Edinburgh? Margaret VanAuker

I know my family left for Canada (1858) in search of work and education, as the family followed the herring in Orkney and Caithness, and the fish were not as plentiful. I would imagine that others felt Edinburgh was far enough to go. Charlie Petersen Port Townsend WA USA

-- I second Willie's comment about James Irvine's writings. :-) -- Dave Annal also portrays several headstones on his great site, as do many other family researchers. -- No, Willie, you did not speak out of turn! For my site, I wish to show headstones that are 19th-c. or earlier. (I do have a lot on my plate, but importantly, working with you is part of that! Your photos are first in line as I will try to turn some attention to those headstone images you sent to me for my site. I am so immersed in the birth registers, it is hard to set those aside. Willie, your patience is exceptional! I think I need to fly you to my city so we can tackle some genealogy side-by-side - heh! But thank goodness for the internet. Where would we be without it.) Lisa >

Stuart Robertson wrote: > Margaret, > > Some of the graves are overgrown and headstones have been toppled > over but with a bit of luck it should be possible to locate the > headstone which should detail all the family members interred > there... > > Stuart Robertson Nairn, Scotland Much of that toppling of headstones was quite deliberate policy on the part of Edinburgh City Council. See what's said on the lower part of this page: http://www.edinphoto.org.uk/10/12_edinburgh_today_-_warriston_cemetery_gravestones.htm The gravestone of my mother and father suffered the same fate in another Edinburgh cemetery though I very much doubt if it was seriously insecure. Admittedly it might possibly have fallen on a determined hooligan who was trying to push it over, but I don't believe it would simply have collapsed onto some innocent infant who might have been toddling past. The Council failed to contact us or the funeral director who had carried out the last interment a few years earlier, and the only way we knew was that my brother found out about it on visiting the cemetery. At first, because many stones had been flattened, he thought there had been a mass attack by vandals, and in a way he wasn't far wrong. It cost us around £650 (about US $1100) to have the stone re-erected. I wasn't impressed, and it seemed an absurd overreaction on the part of the Council. The council here in south-west Scotland seemed to be proposing a similar policy, even in ancient graveyards, but fortunately they seem to have abandoned their plans for such barbarism. I don't think it's happened in any of the Orkney graveyards.* Norman Tulloch *Unsubtle attempt to bring the topic of the post back to Orkney.

Margaret, I have searched and found gravestones for some of my Shetland relations in Warriston cemetery. Details of burial dates and grave locations are available from Mortonhall Crematorium, Howdenhall Road, Edinburgh. Anyone local to Edinburgh would be able to find the details as long as they had a date of death. Some of the graves are overgrown and headstones have been toppled over but with a bit of luck it should be possible to locate the headstone which should detail all the family members interred there. I do not live near Edinburgh but my brother does. If you let me have the full details of the death notice we might between us be able to get more information. Stuart Robertson Nairn, Scotland > Norman, > Thank you for the link to the pictures of Warriston cemetery. It was > wonderful to see them. > Margaret VanAuker > > ------------------ > List Archives, information on contacting list administrator, Subscribing and UnSubscribing can be found at: > > http://lists.rootsweb.com/index/intl/SCT/ORKNEY.html > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ORKNEY-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > >

Warriston Crematory is located next to Warriston Cemetery. See the crematory building at 36 Warriston Rd using the link below. Zoom outward and notice the cemetery lies across the street to the left. www.flashearth.com/?lat=55.970114 <http://www.flashearth.com/?lat=55.970114&lon=-3.196362&z=20&r=16&src=msl> &lon=-3.196362&z=20&r=16&src=msl Dick T "On the Highway of Life, you're either driver, passenger, or roadkill."

Actually, I'm not sure that Warriston Crematorium and Warriston Cemetery are directly associated, though they must be in the same area. http://www.pbase.com/wangi/warriston_cemetery Norman Tulloch

Betsy VanAuker wrote: > Dear Bruce, > The cemetery in Edinburgh where Jemima Heddle is buried is the Harriston (or > Warriston) Cemetery. > Margaret VanAuker That'll be Warriston. http://www.edinburghcrematorium.com/ Norman Tulloch

Thank you Norman for the second link, I could only see the crematory, didn't look like any cemetery, just a Hall of Memories. The photos are fantastic. Charlie Petersen

Norman, Thank you for the link to the pictures of Warriston cemetery. It was wonderful to see them. Margaret VanAuker

Dear Bruce, The cemetery in Edinburgh where Jemima Heddle is buried is the Harriston (or Warriston) Cemetery. Margaret VanAuker

I found this and I just thought I would post it in case it was of interest to anyone. CRAWFORD, Thomas Newfoundlander December 3, 1866 (Monday) Died. - At Fogo on the 11th ulto., Mr. Thomas Crawford, a native of Kirkwall, Orkney, Scotland, aged 30 years. Willie Sinclair

Margaret, You indicate that Jemima Heddle was buried in Edinburgh. There is a range of books and CDs produced by or available through the Scottish Genealogy Society, Victoria Terrace, Edinburgh which gives details of the burials in many of the Edinburgh graveyards, and these might be available in your local Family History Centre. Alternatively, if you can let me know which cemetery she was buried in I can try and find details, although it may be after the cut off date for transcription! Regards, Bruce Gorie On 13/10/2008, Betsy VanAuker <mvanauker@hughes.net> wrote: > > I have just received a box full of letters written from about 1900 to 1930. > Some are very brittle and turning brown. Many are folded in their original > envelopes. What is the best way for me to preserve them? > > I would like to transcribe the letters and share them with others who might > be interested. But I do not know what is the best way to share them. The > letters include every day happenings: weddings attended, babies being born, > soldiers being sent away, Christmas presents and the like. The majority of > the letters were written by Jemima Heddle (b.1846), daughter of Edward > Ellicott Heddle and Frances Sutherland, to my grandmother Jane Hughes > Heddle, her niece. Other letters were written by other family members. Do > you think anyone would be interested in their contents? > > Also I received the funeral notice for Jemima Heddle from her sister Jean > (Jane?), which included the name of the cemetery where she is buried. I > think that other members of the cemetery might be buries there. How can I > find out about who is buried in a cemetery in Edinburgh? > > It may take me a long time to transcribe the letters from Jemima Heddle > because her writing is so stylized I can barely read it. > > Thanks for any help you can give me. > > Margaret VanAuker > mvanauker@hughes.net > > > > ------------------ > List Archives, information on contacting list administrator, Subscribing > and UnSubscribing can be found at: > > http://lists.rootsweb.com/index/intl/SCT/ORKNEY.html > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > ORKNEY-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes > in the subject and the body of the message >

Willie, I was daring enough (or daft enough) to visit the site via the dodgy URL that you mentioned and didn't experience any problem or receive any warning. I suppose the trouble is that should a hacker decide to have a go at the site again, he might decide to target a different page. Since it's not a site that I use I'm not worried, but others who do use it might want to be on the alert. Norman T.

Hi Norman When I visited the site, my virus checker (Nod 32) threw me out of the site straight away. It indicated that there was a tojan virus on the site. I have since heard from other people who have found the same problem and some who were infected because they had a poor or old virus detection programme. The address I have given for the site, is free of any virus as it was the main address that was attacked, so if you are still wary, you should use the address that I gave, I will be for a little while until more people say that it is fine. Willie 2008/10/14 Norman Tulloch <norman@nwtulloch.vispa.com>: > Willie, how did you find that out? Was your own computer infected by > visiting that site? What virus is it? > > Norman Tulloch > > ------------------ > List Archives, information on contacting list administrator, Subscribing and UnSubscribing can be found at: > > http://lists.rootsweb.com/index/intl/SCT/ORKNEY.html > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ORKNEY-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >

Here's what Hugh Wallis himself said earlier today: "Just got home - got the notice from rootsweb that they have put it back on line. Checked the page and it did have the offending code - I HAVE NOW REMOVED IT AND YOU SHOULD BE OK. Do, however, watch out in case this hacker gets back in again. The page appears to have been changed on July 9th 2008 but, since I do not keep a copy of my password on my computer the intrusion could not have emanated from me. Thanks for everyone's support Cheers Hugh" http://www.british-genealogy.com/forums/showpost.php?p=206444&postcount=79 It looks, therefore, as if the site's OK at the moment but it needs to be treated with some caution. Being a trusting soul, I'd hope that my Norton Internet Security would spot anything nasty, but maybe I'm over-optimistic. According to the rest of that thread, there seems to have been a problem for some time: http://www.british-genealogy.com/forums/showthread.php?t=34165 Norman T.