But Headstones Are Never Wrong!

[Cornish Terrier]

But Headstones and the information inscribed on them can never be wrong! I believe we have heard that one before!

The Towednack MI's provide us with a neat little example for the Quick family at Zennor.

John QUICK 19/5/1891 86 also Matthew O QUICK his son husband of Emma 3/2/1902
62 also Emma died at Penzance 1/10/1906 66

This is Matthew Osborn Quick and his wife Emma (nee Jeffery) and note that Emma died at Penzance 1st October 1906. (I should note here that I am quoting from the transcription by Suezan James and not from the headstone itself which I have not personally seen.)

Following a couple of questions from Sandra I had another look at this family because I was perplexed at not being able to find a burial record for Emma. There is no Emma QUICK buried at Towednack in 1906 and likewise not at Penzance.

In fact the only name that raised an eyebrow was that of Emma TREGONING at Towednack 1906 purely because the name seemed out of place.

A check of FreeBMD was in order to try and get some more clues on where I might look but there was no record of Emma Quick dying in 1906 either! In fact there was no death record for an Emma Quick within years of 1906.

Plan B - Emma would have been about 62 when Matthew Quick died so is it possible she may have remarried?

FreeBMD
December Qtr 1904
Vol 5c Page 489
James TREGONING
Emma QUICK

And there is that name again!

This appears to have been a Registry Office marriage so other means were required to identify James Tregoning which in turn would help identify this Emma Quick.

James Tregoning was baptised at Gulval 9th October 1842 to Richard and Sarah Tregoning. He was first married to Ellen Carhart at Gulval 2nd May 1863 and both James and Ellen can be found at Gulval in the 1901 Census.

Ellen Tregoning of Gulval Churchtown age 61 was buried at Gulval 26th Oct 1901.

This was the only James Tregoning in the area at this time so it appeared obvious he must have been the man who married Emma Quick in 1904. And that then meant that Emma Quick was almost certainly the widow of Matthew Osborn Quick of Towednack.

The Towednaci MIs stated that Emma Quick died at Penzance 1st October 1906 at the age of 66.

In 1911 James Tregoning, widower, was living at Penare Road, Penzance and James Tregoning of 11 Penare Road, Penzance age 70 was buried at Gulval 20th February 1813.

And now we return to the Towednack Parish Register and that 'out of place' entry:-

Emma TREGONING of Penzance age 66 buried 4th April 1906

So did Suezan make a mistake with her MIs or in typing up the information OR could it be that there is a MISTAKE ON THE HEADSTONE!

Or did Emma take up an option to 'live in' for six months to try the coffin on for size before she actually died! ;D

CT

[donne]

That's a very useful piece of deduction for Quick researchers, CT, but as I'm sure you would agree it's the transcription of those worn, faded and mossy letters which are more likely to be at fault than the headstone itself. Across the border in Devon a transcription of the headstone for my great grandmother gives her age at death of 16 when I know she died at 76. As ever, always treat secondary sources with caution but let's be grateful to the volunteer transcribers whose efforts make internet genealogy so rewarding!

[Cornish Terrier]

I agree Roger - but I would have to see that headstone, or at least a good photo of it, before being certain where the error is.

I can only hark back to the discussion last year about the grave and headstone of Benjamin Trewhella Jewell in Penzance Cemetery.

The inscription (very clear) on this grave states as follows:-

Benjamin Trewhella Jewell Born Sept. 3rd 1844,Died Oct. 26th 1898
Also of Mary his wife Born Nov. 6th 1894, Died Nov. 18th 1918

Benjamin Trewhella Jewell actually died 26th October 1894 age 50
Benjamin Jewell, father of the above, died 19th November 1898 age 78

And then look at the details for Mary which states, quite clearly on the gravestone, that Mary was born November 6th 1894.

I have heard of 'promised brides' before but when you consider that Benjamin Trewhella Jewll and Mary Johns were married 20th September 1874, more than 20 years ealier , it is a little beyond the realms of belief!

Mary was born at Ludgvan November 6th 1849!

So forgive me for being just a little sceptical.

CT

[sandraquick]

It certainly is interesting. I can imagine some very heated exchanges between family and the stonemason when family had saved carefully to pay for the stone and then the inscription comes out WRONG!

For me, there a couple more interesting things about this particular headstone, that of Matthew and Emma Quick. By 1902, and by extension by 1906, Matthew Quick's parents were both dead and his three brothers were respectively 1. dead, 2. in Australia & 3. in New Zealand. I cannot find any evidence of Matthew and Emma having children (which of course doesn't mean they didn't). So who paid for the headstone? The absence of the Tregoning name, from Emma's second marriage, on the headstone would normally suggest to me that it was the children of the first marriage erecting the headstone who wanted to preserve her as they knew her.

[Cornish Terrier]

There were no children or at least none that lived long enough to be found in Census records. Certainly no baptisms found for any.

I don't know who would have paid for the headstone but it is not unusual for a widow to marry again but then later to be buried with her first husband.
The same happened with Christopher Trewhella and his wife Minnie Hocking. After Christopher died she married Henry Major Harris but died within two years and was buried with Christopher.

CT

[Deleted]

Hello there

That's a very useful piece of deduction for Quick researchers, CT, but as I'm sure you would agree it's the transcription of those worn, faded and mossy letters which are more likely to be at fault than the headstone itself.

No I disagree. A lot of those headstones were put up after the death of those in the plot and the accuracy of the headstone will depend a lot on the availability of the correct dates for those persons commissioning the work.

I have a photograph of the Matthew O Quick headstone and it has lettering attached to the stone and would be very readable to anybody at the cemetery. I was not too interested in the quality of the photograph as I would have written down the inscription, but it will have been easily read.

Lannanta