East Molesey burials

[Minnow]

My Keen ancestors lived in Walton Road, East Molesey from 1860-1930ish. I have visited St Mary's and St Pauls but could not fnd a single Keen in the graveyards. Does anyone know if there's a local cemetary that I've missed?
Any guidance would be appreciated.
Regards
Mary

[jeeb]

Hi Mary,
Lack of a gravestone does not mean your ancestors are not buried there. A large proportion of the population never have a gravestone in the first place and also many of those that did, are often removed for various reasons, usually ease of graveyard maintenance. I'm afraid this can apply to gravestones as recent as 1930. Many churchyards and cemetries now have there M I's recorded by gallant groups of volunteers and you may be lucky enough to find a memorial recorded which no longer exists in the churchyard.
Jeremy

[Peter Goodey]

"I have visited St Mary's and St Pauls but could not fnd a single Keen in the graveyards"

Have you looked at the parish registers of burials to check whether any of them actually were buried there?

[Minnow]

"I have visited St Mary's and St Pauls but could not fnd a single Keen in the graveyards"

Have you looked at the parish registers of burials to check whether any of them actually were buried there?
Dear Peter,
Would I need to write to the churches for this information?
Regards
Mary

[Peter Goodey]

No. You need to track down where the registers for those churches are lodged. You can do this by visiting GenUKI which you should already have bookmarked. This indicates that they are at the Surrey History Service -
http://www.surreycc.gov.uk/sccwebsite/sccwspages.nsf/LookupWebPagesByTITLE_RTF/Surrey+History+Service?opendocument

You'll find a visit there much warmer than ferreting around in graveyards :D

[Peter Goodey]

It may also be wise to check with the relevant local authority.

Elmbridge Council website reveals several cemeteries in the area some of which covered the period in question. These are:

Burwood Road (opened 1938)
Hersham
Surrey

Long Ditton (opened 1953)
Rectory Lane
Long Ditton
Surrey

Weybridge Cemetery (opened 1876)
Brooklands Lane
Weybridge
Surrey

Hersham Cemetery (opened 1865)
Falmouth Road
Hersham
Surrey

Cobham Cemetery (opened 1885)
Tilt Road
Cobham
Surrey

Molesey Cemetery (opened 1866)
Walton Road
Walton
Surrey

Walton Cemetery
Terrace Road
Walton
Surrey

[Peter Goodey]

I should have added that from the mid 19th century onwards many church graveyards were getting full and consequently many private and municipal cemeteries were established.
Unless you have a particular thing about graves (I don't but I know many people do and I don't crticise it), you might find that civil registration details of deaths are sufficient for your purpose.

[jeeb]

Unless you have a particular thing about graves (I don't but I know many people do and I don't crticise it), you might find that civil registration details of deaths are sufficient for your purpose.

Gravestones can be a most valuable source of information. They may list family relationships, very helpful if you are researching a common surname. Ages are invariably given, this will rarely be given in parish registers pre 1813 and often older gravestones can be found in family groups of several generations. The death certificate will give most if not all the relevant information found on gravestones for the period Mary was inquiring about, ie 1860-1930 but extra information may still be obtained from the gravestone especially if children died in infancy/childhood and included on the parents memorial.
Jeremy

[Peter Goodey]

Jeremy

I do apologise for not being more specific. I had intended that the phrase of mine you quoted should forstall such posts as yours. I future I will try to find a better form of words.

[FredP]

When looking for the grave of two parishioners of St Paul's East Molesey who died in 1885 and 1902 respectively, I contacted Elmbridge Cemeteries Services and Ms Marilyn Tickel obtained for me the grave number and gave me directions to find it in West Molesey Cemetery.

It seems thsat there aare no funeral records for St Pauls at the Surrey History Centre in Woking, but I was able to see the record of services there. The church was built in the late 1850s.

FredP.

[Minnow]

Thank you all for your help and guidance - more investgation to be done. I do like gravestones - they seem more tangible to me.

Thanks again
Mary

[Peter Goodey]

"there are no funeral records for St Pauls"

To avoid any possible confusion, it's worth underlining that the official register was of burials. It's my understanding that there was no formal requirement to keep any record of funerals if the body was buried elsewhere, for example in a municipal cemetery, or cremated. There may or may not have been an informal record of funerals not involving a burial at the church and it may or may not have survived.

[hazelha]

I have many relatives from East Molesey in this time frame. A lot were buried at the cemetery adjoining St Peters church, West Molesey so I would suggest checking there. Very early ones were buried at St Mary, East Molesey, but due to lack of space & no burials at St Pauls you should find them there if they were Molesey burials.
If anyone has connections to the Davis/Burch/Bryant families of Molesey I would love to hear from them. Or anyone related to Creek Rd & Castle Hotel families.
All the best, Hazel

[Minnow]

Thank you for this info - looks like a return visit to Molesey is on the cards!

[Minnow]

Thank you for the tip Hazel - I visited Molesey Cemetary today and found my GGrandparents and two great aunts! Still missing a number of Keens but these were great finds.
Mary