On that windy, overcast morning in May, when we decided to visit the Allenvale Cemetery to find the unmarked(1) graves of Ella’s maternal grandparents, John McDonald Beattie and Ursilla Katherine Bruce Beattie (pronounced "Yer-SILL-a")(2), it seemed like it would be a fairly easy task, as we knew the cemetery section and plot number of the graves.(3) But as the events unfolded, it truly seemed that there was divine intervention to guide us in our efforts.
We had arrived in Aberdeen the afternoon on the previous day, and that evening at the hotel we met Ella’s first cousin CS for the first time.
After some introductions, she said that our visit had prompted her to revisit and sort through some documents that she inherited when her older sister had passed away. Included in these documents, which she unfolded so gently as some were quite delicate, were two hand-written receipts for Allenvale Cemetery, to George Findlay (Ella's father), dated 11 May 1936 and 8 February 1937.
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| Hand-written receipt to George Findlay for the payment of a funeral plot at Allenvale Cemetery |
In that moment, it didn’t make sense what those receipts would have been for. This was about 13 years before George and Kate Findlay (Ursula Katherine Bruce Beattie Findlay) and their family would emigrate and at that time they were just in their early 30s. Were they buying this plot to plan for their future?(4) We were planning on visiting that cemetery the next day, so we would do some further investigating while there.
The next morning, before we headed out for the day, I took another look at the receipts for the cemetery plots, and it hit me: The plot numbers listed there were for George Findlay’s in-laws, John McDonald and Ursilla Katherine Bruce Beattie. And the dates on the receipts were just days after they had both passed.(5) It now made sense: John and Ursilla had only one child, their daughter Kate, and thus after they passed, it would be Kate and her husband George who would provide for their burial.
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Allenvale Cemetery is such a beautiful cemetery, with tall trees and neat rows of headstones of various shapes and sizes. And it’s huge: it must have thousands and thousands of graves.
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| Allenvale Cemetery - thousands and thousands of graves! |
We knew the grave location—section 2, lair/plot 278—but I was unable to find a cemetery map online, so we thought there might be some sort of sign or map at the cemetery itself. So we entered through the gates by Allenvale Road and Hardgate, and we walked in. Wow, was it overwhelming! With so many graves, how would we know where to begin?
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| The entrance to Allenvale Cemetery off of Allenvale Road and Hardgate. |
I ran ahead, looking for any plaques, maps, or markers, but I wasn’t able to find anything. Instead, perhaps there might be an office, or a groundskeeper who could direct us?
After working my way through section after section of the cemetery, then across the street in yet another section, I saw a couple of chaps, and asked them whether they could help me find the plot. Sure! They were happy to help! They brushed their hands off on their overalls and apologized for the dirt - they were busy digging graves by hand that morning.
We entered into a small office on the side of a home in that part of the cemetery, and G, the energetic and friendly grave digger, pulled out a tattered map from a drawer. Wow, this office! It was not an “office” in the modern sense, but an unfinished room attached to a home, with a couple tables, perhaps a chair, and aged maps, barely being held together by threads, rolled up in the drawers. There was also a cabinet full of hand-written ledgers of burial records and loose papers, tucked onto the shelves. Nothing digitized - no wonder I couldn’t find this information online!
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| Confirming the location of the family plot. |
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| Gathering around the map. |
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| Hand-written ledgers of burial records. |
G checked the map for the location I noted (section 2, lair/plot 278). The area we were interested in was right on a torn seam, so he was carefully rolling frayed pieces of the map down to try to piece it together. “Ah!” he says. “G. Findlay!” “Yes! That’s the one!” Why “G. Findlay” on the map? Because that’s who paid for the plot, even though he is not buried there. And because of the documents Cousin CS shared with us the night before, it was all making sense; there was no confusion about why G. Findlay’s name would be on the map.
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| "G. Findlay," located on that ripped seam. |
Now that we had confirmed the general area, G grabbed the map and we headed out across the cemetery, with his fellow grave digger A following along.
We actually went back to the section of the cemetery near where we had parked our car and had initially walked in. We were so close already! G would energetically check the map, walk a few paces, check the map, get down on his hands and knees to check grave stones, removing his glasses, putting them back on, moving to the next spot with this ragged map billowing in the wind as he walked. Assuming that our family’s plot had no grave marker, we were checking the adjacent graves that had tomb stones, comparing them to the map. Our anticipation kept growing! We were on the verge of finding the plot!
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| Checking the map. So close now! |
G and A thought they identified the spot, but there seemed to be another grave marker placed there - a loose one. As often happens, the stones might be moved for maintenance or groundskeeping work, and then erroneously placed back in the wrong spot. It appeared we had a squatter!
However, after closer inspection of the map, G confirmed that the grave we were looking for was right where we were standing, denoted by a small tin pot mostly submerged in the dirt (that perhaps held flowers at some time). We found it! What a thrilling treasure hunt! And how grateful we were for the help of these cheery grave diggers.
We were on the hunt! Found it!
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| The submerged tin pot in front of Ralph's left toe marks the final resting place of John and Ursilla Beattie. |
We lingered at the gravesite longer, marveling at the events of the day and so very grateful. Grandma Ella and I picked some of the tiny wildflowers that were growing in the lawn and laid a petite bouquet of wild daisies and dandelions on their graves.
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| A tiny bouquet, in remembrance. |
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These are the graves of my great great grandparents, John McDonald Beattie and Ursilla Katherine Bruce Beattie. From what I’ve learned of them, life was not easy for them but they seem to have had strong characters. Both were deaf since childhood but that didn’t seem to hold them back. He was born in Aberdeen, an illegitimate child, his mother died when he was 9 and he grew up in an orphanage. She was born in Shetland. Her father died when she was 3 years old, and she spent 6 years at a boarding school for deaf students in Edinburgh. They married in their late 30s and had one child in their early 40s, whom they raised to be a strong, stalwart woman - Ursula Katherine Bruce Beattie Findlay (“Grandma Kate”), Ella’s mother. He worked in the Aberdeen iron foundry, dying of chronic bronchitis when he was 75. She was trained as a dressmaker and had worked for a time as a domestic servant as well. She died at age 74 of uterine cancer. Ella was just 2-3 when they died, so she doesn’t have any first-hand memories of them, though she heard much about them growing up.
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All coincidence perhaps, but I like to believe that the hand of God was helping orchestrate the day’s events, that through inspired thoughts and actions (including the receipts that Cousin CS shared and meeting the grave diggers), we were guided to answers, that so many little pieces and people came together to lead us to where our ancestors were laid to rest. Perhaps we would have found this information eventually regardless? But it all certainly came together in a way we couldn’t have anticipated.
What’s next? We are waiting to hear back from the burials office of Aberdeen City(6), as it’s time we have a proper gravestone marker put in place. “Until we meet again.”
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- We weren’t 100 percent certain that the graves of John McDonald Beattie and Ursilla Katherine Bruce Beattie were unmarked, but we had vague memories of oral history recounting such.
- Ella’s maternal grandparents, John and Ursilla Beattie, passed away when Ella was 2-3 years old. I wonder whether Ella had ever visited the graves with her parents before they emigrated?
- The plot locations of John and Ursilla Beattie at Allenvale Cemetery were confirmed via email with a Bereavement Services Registrar at Marischal College on 5 Oct 2016.
- It also isn't apparent why George’s sister would have been the caretaker of these receipts, which were then passed to her daughters (eventually to Cousin CS), as these were for plots for George’s in-laws, not related to the Findlays. But for whatever reason, we were glad they were preserved!
- John McDonald Beattie: 12 November 1860 - 8 May 1936. Ursilla Katherine Bruce Beattie: 19 Feb 1862 - 6 Feb 1937.
- When I called Aberdeen City to inquire about getting a proper gravestone for their graves, they asked who had paid for the plot. Ah-hah! “I’ve got the receipts for that: George Findlay.”
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| John and Ursilla Beattie are Ella's maternal grandparents. |
