Every case is different. I’ve known of people who had a service with a full body (open/closed casket) memorial then cremation a couple of days later, and burial a couple of months later. Other times cremations a couple of days after death and burial immediately. My father was cremated almost immediately, had a service about a month later, then burial three months later because Arlington National Cemetery has a long waiting list. That’s another thing to take into consideration. Getting documentation outside of your immediate family can be difficult too especially with certificates.
This is an example of either delayed or no burial. When I worked for a local cemetery, there were several containers of cremains that had been in a locked safe for years because the families never claimed or buried them. A few of them I buried myself because I had site numbers for them, then recorded the information in the books. Those burials would only be found in cemetery records because they took place years after death and cremation. This was a very inactive cemetery that had very few burials. Some of these cremains were more than 30 years old, and some are still there in that safe. I wouldn’t always go by obituaries or other notices in newspapers, and sometimes the death certificates can be wrong too especially for older burials. I’ve had some ancestors whose death certificates showed their bodies were “donated to science,” but they never said where the remains were buried afterward. A relative told me two of these ancestors were cremated a couple of days afterward then buried at a specific cemetery. I don’t know where they got the information so I just listed it with that person as the source. Another thing to consider with cemetery records is that if there is no death date shown in the records, the burial date might not be the original burial date. They could have been moved within the cemetery or even to other cemeteries. I ran across this numerous times working for that same cemetery and discovered someone used the reinterment date as the death date when in fact they were transferred from another cemetery and there was no record of the original interment date at that cemetery. No wonder I never could find an obituary for some of these people. There were hundreds of graves moved when a cemetery closed down in the late 1800’s and sometimes fifty burials a day so record keeping probably wasn’t the priority then. I would suggest trying to get a hold of the mortuary/funeral home to see when the cremation actually took place. For more recent burials, it’s usually on the death certificate/transit permit, but older records do not always show this information. I have some family members that were cremated, but I have no idea what date it was done so I just list the burial date if known. I only list cremation date/place information if I have a record for it otherwise I don’t bother. Also, sometimes cremains are never buried so I would understand the need for a cremation date if there was no burial. Bill Boswell From: Paul Kean [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Sunday, March 06, 2011 11:58 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [LegacyUG] funerals & burial/cremation Hi, I've been using Legacy for a number of years now, but I have just come across a situation that is new to me and I wonder how others handle it. Recently my M-I-L died and her body was cremated. Up until now I had always assumed that cremations took place on the same day as the funeral service, just like a burial. I guess this is the result of my not having been close to a cremation before. However in this case I know that the cremation was three days after the funeral service because the funeral service was on a Friday and the undertaker told that they were unable to get a booking at the crematorium until the following Monday. The issue is how to record this. I have created a 'Funeral' event for the day of the funeral service and then changed the burial to cremation. This seems OK, although now I think I have to check all my deaths for cremations and remove the cremation date because I really don't have any info as to when the cremations took place. then I would have to create a 'funeral' event for all these as well. Then I wonder if I should create a 'Funeral' event for all the burials as well, just for the sake of consistency. Also how do I record the case where a body is cremated, but then the ashes are buried? This means its really both a cremation and a burial. Any thoughts on this issue. Thanks. ..Paul Kean Legacy User Group guidelines: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Etiquette.asp Archived messages after Nov. 21 2009: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ Archived messages from old mail server - before Nov. 21 2009: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ Online technical support: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Help.asp To unsubscribe: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/LegacyLists.asp
