Same happens in Hungary.
I did a search for my great-great-grandfather there and found the cemetery, but no sign of his remains or headstone (if he ever had one) from the 1860s.
But one way to look at it is also beneficial. I found in one Hungarian village someone with the same rather unique surname and it turned out to be the brother of my great-great-grandmother. I think the headstone was from the early 1900s and the fact it's still there (a very nice and tall tombstone) tells me someone has been paying for it and I have yet to track them down. They would be fairly close cousins.
Same thing for me in Piedade, Pico. I found a Leal da Rosa headstone, pretty new, and knew there was a cousin not far away. I did find them and they were 4th or 5th cousins, I believe.
I wonder if the cemetery makes some kind of notification before removal. Otherwise, I think many more might be gone if people forgot to renew.
Doug da Rocha Holmes
Sacramento, California
Pico & Terceira Genealogist
916-550-1618
Sacramento, California
Pico & Terceira Genealogist
916-550-1618
---------- Original Message --------
Subject: [AZORES-Genealogy] Bizarre...but is it true?
From: Herb <herbandj...@verizon.net>
Date: Tue, April 22, 2014 6:32 pm
To: azores@googlegroups.com
Yes it's true. I have lived and travelled to dozens of countries and this practice is common all over the world. There isn't enough room for all the bodies. My grandfather died in Terceira and was buried there in 1940, aged 40. When I lived in Terceira I went to the cemeteries to search for his headstone or some information on him and found out his bones had been removed 7 years after the burial. In Terceira it was 7 years I don't know about the other islands. In Guam I think it was 11 years after burial when I lived there. When I lived in the UK they leased plots for a period of 25 50 or 99 years. It's the same in Australia. Paris and Rome have famous ossuaries and catacombs
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