In the lawn outside St James, Ogley Hay, are set some headstones that have been laid flat. I had not thought to study them before, but was surprised to find one of Andrew’s Kindred. Most of these stones have some legible detail, despite encroaching grass and moss.
LLIAM DENN
WHO DIED JUNE 2, 1877
Aged 70 Years
———
ALSO OF
ELIZABETH
WHO DIED MARCH 9, 18
Aged 70 Years
———
ED ARE THE DEAD WHI
…………………THEY RE
I already had the bare facts, but it was a pleasant surprise to find this memorial. This was William Dennis, brother of second great grandfather Henry Dennis, and his wife Elizabeth, formerly Hogg. Elizabeth died in 1879.
This William has appeared before in Auction and Transition and Brothers in Harm’s Way.
William was an ordinary man, like two thirds of the men in this town a coal miner, and that for fifty or sixty of his seventy two years. Elizabeth was his wife of forty three years and mother to their eleven children. Now the grass and moss nibble away their memory. As on all things, the sands of time advance.
Andrew's Kindred 