Hi Rich, There could be several reasons for this, but in my personal experience, there are 2 reasons: 1) The plot/grave of the first person to die was full - I have this with my parents. The grave that my Mother is buried in was brought 20 years prior to her death, in a hurry because my sister had died and they had to buy it when she died, When my Mother died she was buried with my sister. When my Dad died, 20 years after my Mother, I had to buy a plot/grave for him because the grave my sister and Mother are in is full. 2) Different Religious Affiliations - I have this with my Great-grandparents. Our Family is Roman Catholic, but my Great-grandmother is a Presbyterian. When she died she could not be buried in a Catholic Cemetery, she is buried in Northwood Cemetery as are her parents and sister (a non-sectarian cemetery). Her husband was Roman Catholic (and he remarried, but I don't know what would have happed if he did not remarry) and he is buried in Holy Redeemer Cemetery (a Roman Catholic Cemetery) along with his second wife, and 2 of his 5 children. I do not believe that the second reason would apply in your case since both Lawnview and Mt. Vernon Cemeteries are non-sectarian. Another possible reason could be financial, (they did not own their own graves), so when the first person died, in your case Jacob, may have been buried by his family, so they would put him in a family grave that they owned. So when his widow died, Dorothy, she may have been buried by her family in one of their family graves. I hope this helps. Dee -- Dee Kaelin Maialetti Philadelphia, Pa. ************** Listowner: KAELIN-L **************** Kaelin Ancestry Page http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~kaelin/index.html **************** Genealogy Blog: Looking Into The Past http://lookingintothepast.blogspot.com/ -------------- Original message -------------- From: philly-roots-request@rootsweb.com > Today's Topics: > > 1. why wife and husband not buried together (ColumbusGuy) > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Sat, 14 Apr 2007 15:10:46 -0700 (PDT) > From: ColumbusGuy > Subject: [Phly-Rts] why wife and husband not buried together > To: PHILLY-ROOTS@rootsweb.com > Message-ID: <821870.23059.qm@web55105.mail.re4.yahoo.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 > > Hi all, > I'm curious why a widow (who had not remarried) would not be burried by her > family with her previously deceased husband. > > A week or so ago I had been sent the death notice for one of the people I've > been researching, Dorothy Schmalzried, who died in 1935, 13 years after her > husband Jacob; the notice indicates that Dorothy was to be interred at the > Lawnview cemetery in Philadelphia. Today, I just received a death notice for > her husband Jacob Schmalzried. In the notice, it indicates he would be interred > at the Mount Vernon cemetery in Philadelphia. It lists his wife as Dorothy > Schmalzried, etc, etc. The info all matches, such that these death notices are > indeed of the husband and wife I'm researching. > > So, what struck me odd was that the husband , Jacob, was interred, not at the > Lawnview cemetery, but at Mount Vernon. This was totally unexpected. I just > assumed that if I contacted the Lawnview cemetery last week, they would have > told me Jacob was buried next to Dorothy. > > I guess it doesn't matter why. It just took me totally be surprise. > Rich > > >