More Fieldwork (Almost Literally)
My step-count is exemplary this week! Today, I ventured into deepest Lanarkshire to find Rose Smith’s father’s grave. There’s a map at the cemetery, but it only helps locate the zone. I had a plot number, and a very old black and white photo; eventually, looking for the shape of the gravestone and those around it proved the best method.
It’s not as easy to decipher as in the old photo, but I was pleased to have found it. Since it also commemorates Rose’s mother, brother and son, Rose and her surviving siblings must have had the engraving updated in or after 1918.
I visited the library whilst I was there – the old building that houses it wasn’t the library when the Smiths were there, but it holds some really old archival materials, and I had a great chat about local history events.
And now? The whole trip was completed in a morning. I wandered off and had a coffee, and headed for the station. I wonder what it was like in Rose’s day?
