My husband and I have been to the churchyard. We couldn't find a headstone. The churchyard has virtually been cleared except for a small patch of trees and bramble. I thought maybe her headstone was in there, but cousin Allan went there when the leaves were off the trees and couldn't find a stone either. Or maybe there never was one because her parents couldn't afford one.
Besides not doing a Find A Grave memorial, I wrote that whole blog post about her from the marriage of her parents John Portas and Mary Ann Vamplew, to her birth, baptism, and death, yet never included one beautiful item...the funeral card. How could I miss that? It was in the folder with all the other images for the post. My cousin Sharon has this funeral card and all I have is the image of it. That's okay by me, at least someone in the family has kept it safe.
The card is beautifully embossed. I believe it is cut out and pasted onto a piece of black card stock. They don't make this type of card anymore and I think they should. Her name on this card is in initials which are Elizabeth Ann Vamplew Portus.
In Affectionate Remembrance of
E. A. V. PORTUS
who departed this life
NOVEMBER THE 16th, 1864,
AGED 6 MONTHS.
––––––
This lovely bud, so young, so fair,
Called hence by early doom;
Just came to show how sweet a flower,
In Paradise would bloom.
