ohhh thats sad

I'm still working on getting together funds and manpower to arrange for a restoration of my great grandparents grave, its a slow process getting in contact with people who may or may not have documents needed to allow the restoration people to take the rather massive stone away and recondition it.

In the process though I've made contact with my cousin George, a 3rd gen Beuken to my 4th. He provided some useful information and sadly reported that the deeds to the plots are lost..hmm ok 

Well that just means a bit more effort to get permision to restore it

But he also let slip a nugget of info I didn't know, my own grandmother is buried next to them in an unmarked grave.

Whhhhaat??

Its no longer a big family secret, my father was raised by his grandparents(the ones in the grave) as a son, becuase his mother died very soon after giving birth to him, It was a bit of a scandal in 1935 Fauldhouse because grandad got her pregnant... so a swift marriage was arranged and they were sent out of the way for a bit to have the kid and wait for things to settle, well that was probably the plan. But she died of sepsis less than 2 months later..  Grandad let his parents raise dad as their own, and met his 2nd wife Alice (also getting her pregnant...what a lad) and he moved on, and everyone was sworn to secrecy... Later causing incredible family rifts when the secret was revealed by one of my dads "siblings" who probably using choice langague informed the stroppy teen brat in front of him of his origins. The fallout lasted years.....years...still going on really.

But...back to my grandmother, since dad was raised as a son, the story of his mum wasn't discussed, and it seems that the family allowed her to be buried in a family plot but  not to be remembered.. She was only 19 years old, thats so sad.

I found records of her marriage and death in the Scottish records office and now have info on her. Her name was Catherine Marshall Thomson McAlonan, she married Mick(Matthew), my grandad in Oct 1935 while about 3 months pregnant. Had dad in March 1936, and passed away mid May. not even a year married...so sad.

I'm now quite determined to ensure that this young lady is not forgotton, all we have is a few records, an unmarked grave and a single photo, she deserves a little more.

Ahthankyew