Tombstone Tuesday; Janet McKechnie Craig

Fearless Female Ancestors Series by Lisa Alzo

Tombstone Tuesday: Janet McKechnie Craig

Photo of Janet McKechnie Craig's Headstone by Glenn Russell, 2002, used with permission

Janet Craig (1842-1918)

My husband's maternal family are buried in Oak Grove Cemetery in Fall River, MA (or in Mt. Hope Cemetery) in Swansea, MA). Since we now live a good distance from this location and both cemeteries are massive, I decided to turn to Find-a-Grave volunteer, Glenn Russell for help.

Even through he was moving, he has been very helpful locating and posting his finds to Find-a-Grave. 

This small headstone was probably placed here by her son, James Craig, my husband's grandfather. Then, he buried his 1st wife Hannah Wilde Craig in the same plot. He married again and his buried in Mt. Hope Cemetery in Swansea, MA with his second wife, Ella LANG.

Janet Craig is a VERY common name to research and it doesn't help that her husband's name was George. Many records list Scottish women named Janet, as Jean and Jennie. It depended in many cases what was heard when this name was pronounced.
It has taken a long time to find out more about her. Before she died, my mother-in-law encouraged us to keep researching her because she was a "Fearless Female". I promised to keep looking.

It would have helped if they had put her full name on the gravestone. Her maiden name was McKechnie and because that is not as common as Craig, and Scottish women often included their maiden name on records, I have been able to move ahead to tell her story.

She is buried in Oak Grove Cemetery in Fall River, Bristol, Massachusetts. Her husband, George Craig is buried in Scotland.