History in Stone

 

Part of the story of the lives of people who have lived in your community can be found in cemeteries.  You can learn things by visiting a cemetery, but it is necessary to behave well and show respect for the families who have members buried there.

 

Begin by locating the oldest cemetery in your area.  Take your worksheet, a large sheet of plain paper, and some crayons.  Find one of the oldest tombstones in the cemetery, and press the plain sheet of paper against it.  Then rub the paper with your crayon until the words on the tombstone can be seen on your paper.

 

After you have finished rubbing, answer the questions below.

 

  1. What is the name on the tombstone? ___________________________________

  2. When was this person born? _______________________________

  3. When did he or she die? _____________________  How long did this person live? ____________________________

  4. Fill in the chart below with information from five other tombstones of people who were born in the 1800s to find out something about the lives of people of that time.

Name

Birth

Death

Life Span

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 









5. Divide the total life spans by 5 to find the average life span.
Added total: _______________
divided by 5: ____________________________

6. How is this different from today's average life span? ______________________ _________________________________________________________________

 

 

Courtesy of the Warren County Historical Society