Milton Town Cemetery

Credit: University of Otago Exhumation and analysis of skeletons and burial sites in the historic Otago town of Lawrence is underway, with University of Otago researchers conducting The Otago Historic Cemeteries Bioarchaeology Project. Professor Hallie Buckley, of Otago's Department of Anatomy, and Dr. Peter Petchey, Honorary Research Fellow of the Department of Anthropology and Archaeology and Director of Southern Archaeology, are Co-Directors of the project which focuses on the original Lawrence cemetery that closed in 1867 on Ardrossan Street, along with the Chinese area of the town's more recent Gabriel Street cemetery.The community-supported project, which involves isotopic and DNA analyses of remains, has already uncovered exciting discoveries."In the old cemetery we wanted to establish whether there are still graves present after supposed exhumations occurred when the area was closed. The local legend was that one person was left behind. In the first few days on-site we've confirmed there were at least four other people left behind, and there are at least three other grave cuts present which we are investigating for skeletal remains," Professor Buckley says.In the new cemetery on Gabriel Street, the team are looking to establish whether there are graves in areas around the Chinese section which likely also includes the graves of other marginalised people.Further aims of the project include creating a detailed picture of what life was like at the time of the Goldrush (early 1860s). The remains can reveal aspects of people's health, diet, and overall quality of life.Dr. Petchey says the project provides a rare opportunity to discover new details about members of Otago's gold-rush society.[embedded content]Credit: University of Otago"We can learn about aspects of their health and wellbeing, the makeup of the population, burial traditions, and compare all of the above with our other research project in Milton," Dr. Petchey says.The Milton research – the first of its kind in New Zeala... (Phys.Org)

I did it their way, so now I figured I'd do it my way.- Florence ChaffeyFlorence Chaffey's husband died a year and a half ago at the age of 66, and was buried in a two-person plot in the Milton-George's Brook All Denomination Cemetery.Last June, Chaffey had a headstone installed over the grave, but later learned through chatting with friends that someone else had been buried right below the portion of the marker where she planned to be laid to rest next to her late husband."Someone noticed that another guy that passed away was also buried in my plot," she told the St. John's Morning Show.Maurice Chaffey was buried in this plot in 2016, and his wife Florence was supposed to be buried next to him. But now she's fighting to have another man's casket removed from her spot.(Provided by Chaffey family)Chaffey immediately called the cemetery committee, which confirmed someone else was indeed buried in Chaffey's spot, and the committee told her they would sort it out within a few months.They didn't know where they had to dig to, so I guess they just took a guess at it.- Florence ChaffeyAfter several months and no action, Chaffey finally got a meeting with the funeral home and the son of the deceased man that's lying in her plot.It was during that meeting that Chaffey was given a photo of the grave site, which showed the pegs marking out her plot had been moved and that's why another man was buried there."I heard after that the guys that came to dig this guy's grave knocked all the pegs down before the dug the grave, and they never put them back up," she said."They didn't know where they had to dig to, so I guess they just took a guess at it and dug where they thought was the right place."Grave mistakeNow 10 months later, the man's casket is still in Chaffey's plot and no one seems to be offering a solution.David Tilley, the treasurer of the cemetery committee, said the issue with getting the body moved is with the family of the man who was mistakenly buried in Chaffey's plo... (CBC.ca)