Ancestors' Headstone: I Finally Got The Image Four Years Later!

Back in July 2014, Bob and I visited my ancestral haunts in Lincolnshire, England, after a couple weeks in Europe. I wrote in a post 26 July 2014, "Don't Do What I Did When Visiting A Parish Church and Graveyard,"  that I didn't get a picture of Alan's and my 4th great grandparents' headstone in the North Cotes parish churchyard.

Well on this trip -- four years later -- I was determined to get that picture! And I did. It wasn't easy though. We got to the churchyard and started to hunt for the headstone. Of course, I had left a not-so-good picture of the headstone back in Illinois, so I had to go by memory of what I saw in the image that could point to its approximate location. I remembered seeing a corner of the church building on the left side of the face of the headstone image. So around we went to each corner of the church. We looked and looked and looked at headstones. Nothing. Bob took another approach and yelled out "It's here!"

Low and behold, there it was under old chestnut trees in shade. Looking at the headstone's face, the church's corner was just where it was in the picture. 

Arrow shows where 4th great grandparents William and Elizabeth (Knight) PORTAS' headstone was found in
the St. Nicholas parish churchyard, North Cotes, Lincolnshire, England.

Over the years the shade has put a lot of green mossy smeary stuff on the headstone and it was a little hard to read, but that didn't matter, at least I was there and I could get a picture of it. I don't try to clean headstones because these old ones are fragile and any cleaner could damage it worse than that green stuff.

IN MEMORY OF

WILLIAM PORTAS

OF NORTH COATS

WHO DIED JULY 19th 1827

AGED 74 YEARS

ALSO

ELIZABETH PORTAS

WIFE OF THE ABOVE

WHO DIED DECEMBER 21, 1847

AGED 80 YEARS

BLESSED ARE THE DEAD WHICH DIE… 

Cousin Alan and me with the headstone of our 
4th great grandparents William and Elizabeth (Knight) PORTAS.

We all took pictures of it. I guess we wanted to make sure I didn't go back to Illinois without one again! 

Bottom entry is the burial record for
William PORTAS, North Coats, 19th July, 74, T. Harris Curate.

Bottom entry is the burial record for
Elizabeth (Knight) PORTAS, (living at) Binbrook, Oct 21st, 86, L. Curs Curate.

The church wasn't open. I would liked to have gotten a picture of the baptismal font. It would have been nice because all of William and Elizabeth's children were baptized in that church which includes Alan's and my common ancestor, 3rd great grandfather Joseph was baptized 1786. [Joseph and Mary (Dennis) PORTAS are both buried in St. Helen's churchyard in Mareham Le Fen. There is no headstone for them so Alan and I can't get a picture.]

First entry in North Coats Register for the year 1786,
is Joseph son of William and Elizabeth Portas was bapt May 7th

With this adventure behind me, I can finally check the box I couldn't in 2014. Now I'd like to get into that church to get a picture of the baptismal font. Yet another box on my "To Do" list to check off. I guess I'll just have to go back!