Provo (Utah). Cemetery

This series contains books used by the sexton to record information about burials in the cemetery. It appears that the record was begun by sexton Daniel Webster in the 1950s and includes information about burials dating back to the earliest in the cemetery. It is not clear why Webster created the record, since all the information is also found in the official burial registers. Webster called the record "Opening and Closing of Graves," but the information he recorded does not seem to be directly connected to the actual burial process. The books include a "burial date," which for burials prior to the creation of this record, would have been copied from the official burial register and usually reflected the death date, rather than the date of burial. The books also include the name of the deceased, birthplace, birthdate, and location of grave. In the burial register the birth date of the deceased was eventually replaced by the age of the deceased, expressed in years, months, and days. In many cases Webster transcribed these ages as dates. The cemetery staff continued to maintain this record for about ten years after a new sexton took Webster's place, but the record ends in December 1970.

This series contains books used by the sexton to record information about burials in the cemetery. It appears that the record was begun by sexton Daniel Webster in the 1950s and includes information about burials dating back to the earliest in the cemetery. It is not clear why Webster created the record, since all the information is also found in the official burial registers. It may be that it was used as a quick reference source to identify burials. Webster called the record "Opening and Closing of Graves," but the information he recorded does not seem to be directly connected to the actual burial process. The books include a "burial date," which for burials prior to the creation of this record would have been copied from the official burial register and usually reflected the death date, rather than the date of burial. The books also include the name of the deceased, birthplace, birthdate, and location of grave. For earlier burials there is a page number indicating where that burial can be found in the official burial register. In the burial register the birth date of the deceased was eventually replaced by the age of the deceased, expressed in years, months, and days. In many cases Webster transcribed these ages as dates. The cemetery staff continued to maintain this record for about ten years after a new sexton took Webster's place, but the record ends in December 1970.