More repeated names

On the subject of reusing the same name after the death of a child, and further to David Cross’s letter in the Summer issue and Janet Hall’s in the September issue, I have a family that can go one better, despite the sad circumstances that surround it.

My husband’s 3x great uncle, John Robinson, had nine children, of whom only one survived. There were two Samuels, two Alices, four Johns and a William. Samuel was the first and died at the age of six; the second Samuel was child number five, but died aged nine months; Alice died aged 18 months and the second Alice at three months.

Worse was to come: John (I) died at two months, John (II) at four months, John (III) at four months and John (IV) at two months. Only one was given a middle name: John (II) was John Lawrence. But to no avail. The parents must have been desperate and were eventually buried with their eight babies. Very sad. The only survivor was William.

There’s a different curiosity from my family: my 3x great grandmother died in 1837. Her death certificate shows that she died on 5 July at 10pm, but the parish burial register records her burial 25 days later on 30 July. No burials are recorded for the previous month in the register.

I have never encountered a delay as long as this at such an early period, and, let’s face it, they didn’t have the facilities that we have today for dealing with such gaps between death and burial. Sue Smith Editor replies: 25 days is a very long gap. Have any other readers come across similar situations?