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Jenny Hart @jenniferirvinghart.bsky.social · 17h

Not at all odd - exactly where my mind went too. Notable to those who knew them

Jenny Hart @jenniferirvinghart.bsky.social · 19h

#31DaysOfGraves where grandma was born was not the most #Notable thing about her. It was her close ties to her family. When she died, a niece sent irises & I thought they were beautiful so nearly a year later when I married, I chose irises as the centrepiece of the bridesmaid bouquets. A memorial.

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Jenny Hart @jenniferirvinghart.bsky.social · 1d

Yes - it really hit home to my daughter when she rowed to a dawn service in 2015 with her university squad & realised that all the blokes in the crew would have been rowing the boats into Gallipoli 100 years ago

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Jenny Hart @jenniferirvinghart.bsky.social · 1d

So many poignant stories among that collection of four photos.

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Jenny Hart @jenniferirvinghart.bsky.social · 1d

The lack of acknowledgment that deaths in the years after the war were a result of the war made my Pop very angry. His best friend died of nephritis in 1921 having been medically discharged in late 1917 with many symptoms that scream nephritis & couldn’t get a pension. Dad was named Bill after him.

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Jenny Hart @jenniferirvinghart.bsky.social · 1d

That’s why I enjoy doing challenges like this from time to time. A fresh look at things you already have can reveal new information 😀

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Jenny Hart @jenniferirvinghart.bsky.social · 2d

#31DaysOfGraves Day 11 #Military Pop’s cousin Roy May died of wounds sustained at Gallipoli & is buried in Cairo. He is also memorialised at Waverley Cemetery & the Australian War Memorial. Just weeks after news of his death arrived in Australia, Norman Butchart departed Grenfell with 19th btn

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Jenny Hart @jenniferirvinghart.bsky.social · 2d

#31DaysOfGraves Day 10 #Urn this is the grave of two of my g grandfather’s 1/2 sisters & 1/2 brother in the row behind. My Pop was executor of Tottie’s will. I think Aunt Dellie left him property in Stanmore which he sold & bought in Toongabbie - moral - don’t take property advice from Pop!

South Head Cemetery, Vaucluse, Sydney NSW
Adelaide Tailby (née Butchart), Gertrude St Clair Butchart (aka Tootie) & their brother, Leslie Algernon Butchart at rear to left

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Jenny Hart @jenniferirvinghart.bsky.social · 3d

In my 20’s we went to STC production of Happy Days starring Ruth Cracknell - well credentialed Aussie actor. She could perform a monologue well but….. The only play where I have left at interval! And there was nothing Happy about it!

Jenny Hart @jenniferirvinghart.bsky.social · 3d

Participating in 31DaysOfGraves has led me to fix up burial location for an Edinburgh ancestor with the help of another participant who kindly looked at the parish record & explained the header which indicates Grey Friars not Canongate & also steered me in the direction of other interesting websites

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Jenny Hart @jenniferirvinghart.bsky.social · 3d

And their death certificates have mothers maiden name ✅

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Jenny Hart @jenniferirvinghart.bsky.social · 3d

despite having GPS coordinates. It struck me how environmentally unfriendly the vast expanse of concrete graves are. I guess people liked the neatness & modernness of it in the early 20th century. William left behind his own memorial - three exercise books of autobiography, approx 100 A4 typed pages

Field of Mars Cemetery, Sydney William & Georgina Irving & two of their sons -David & William Clark Irving - David was William father’s name & Clark is Georgina’s maiden name
The Palm in the background is my aid to locate

William was a marine engineer - hence the propeller

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Jenny Hart @jenniferirvinghart.bsky.social · 3d

#31DaysOfGraves Day 9 and this grave could use a helping #hand it’s my gg grandparents - William Irving is the source of my middle name. The cemetery is Field of Mars, Ryde, Sydney, NSW. I stopped by on my way home one stinking hot February Friday afternoon, walked round & round in circles 1/2

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Jenny Hart @jenniferirvinghart.bsky.social · 4d

#31DaysOfGraves -Day 8 #Glass & sticking with my broad take that memorials of any kind are included - these are the stained glass windows in CofE church, Grenfell, NSW installed by my gg grandfather & his brother as a memorial to one of their brothers. I love - “Let Brotherly Love Continue”

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Jenny Hart @jenniferirvinghart.bsky.social · 4d

I discovered recently that the “best” photo I took of a gx3 grandmother’s grave in the cemetery in Grenfell, NSW - a solid 5 hr drive - had empty alcohol bottles next to it (to the left)

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Jenny Hart @jenniferirvinghart.bsky.social · 5d

#31DaysOfGraves Day 7 #Angel when my grandfather’s brother died of wounds sustained in a shelling attack, his parents didn’t know whether he would have a grave. This is from his mother, Cissie’s little autograph book where she noted significant events in her life & the first memorial to him

I’m using a broad interpretation of grave to mean commemorate a person
This is from Cissie Newman’s little autograph book

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Jenny Hart @jenniferirvinghart.bsky.social · 5d

Weeping angels - one of the best Doctor Who episodes ever

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Jenny Hart @jenniferirvinghart.bsky.social · 6d

Interesting- I wonder if that was respectful to the children of his first marriage? Or an economic decision- he’d bought the plot for two & may as well use it?

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Jenny Hart @jenniferirvinghart.bsky.social · 6d

#31DaysOfGraves #Gender Dearly Beloved Mother in the wild old CofE section at Rookwood & two sisters in the Catholic section - both dearly beloved wives of Joseph Thomas Rich. He’s buried in his mother’s plot, as is his sister. One of my early cemetery forays - a massive sprawling area in Sydney

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Jenny Hart @jenniferirvinghart.bsky.social · 7d

I swapped from Chrome (spinning nothingness ) to Edge yesterday & hey presto all was working ok for personal tax. For business- it made me use the MyId system ages ago

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Jenny Hart @jenniferirvinghart.bsky.social · 7d

I know several family historians who would love to crack the file naming code! Especially photos with lots of people in them

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Jenny Hart @jenniferirvinghart.bsky.social · 7d

Fascinating & beautifully told. I posted two panels from Menin Gates for #31DaysOfGraves today using the tenuous connection of a soldier called J. Swan. His story has many parallels to Thomas Wootton’s. My grandfather’s brother is buried in a small cemetery on the outskirts of Ypres.

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Jenny Hart @jenniferirvinghart.bsky.social · 7d

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Jenny Hart @jenniferirvinghart.bsky.social · 7d

#31DaysOfGraves Day 5 #Bird these are the panels at #MeninGates listing the soldiers of my Pop’s 1st. AIF 19th Battalion with no known grave, including J Swan. NAA records show he was a farm labourer, single & died “in the Field Belgium” I don’t think his mother truly had adequate means?

Centre top panel -19th battalion continued including J Swan - photo in September 2022

Extract from John Swan service number 5639 - records born Dumfries Scotland, joined AIF Cootamundra, NSW 6 April 1916, 29 years old, farm labourer

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Jenny Hart @jenniferirvinghart.bsky.social · 9d

#31DaysOfGraves Charles Rae arrived in Australia in 1855 from Udny, Scotland, lived in Forbes NSW for many years & his granddaughter, born over 40 years later said his accent was so strong he may as well have been speaking another #language This plot is at Rookwood Cemetery, Sydney NSW, Nov 2015

Rookwood Cemetery - Old Presbyterian- Charles Rae, wife Emma Jane Rae née Bradford, formerly Wright, her daughter-Louisa Chesher née Wright, Lillian Mary Christian (née Rae, formerly Keating but I suspect Louisa’s daughter) & a memorial to Sophia Morrison

Source unknown- I was given this by a descendant of Charles Rae & Emma Jane Bradford - my husband is also a descendant

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