In researching the usage of kinship terminology in epitaphs I discovered from the data gathered by our class that: Mother is recorded 16 times, Father is recorded 14 times, Wife 5 times, Sister 3, Daughter 7, Grandmother 2, Aunt 1, Husband 3, and Son 4. The use of Father as an epitaph occurs most during the time period from 1945 to 1960. On the other hand Mother ranges from 1821 to 2006, with no discernible time period where it occurs the most. Wife seems to be used in the early 1900’s, while husband seems to be used more in the 1950s to 1960s. Daughter and son are both less frequent that Mother and Father, but seem to be used from 1821 up until 20015, at varying intervals. From comparing the data, there isn’t one set shape for any of the gravestones, although many independent of the epitaphs are block or tablet shaped. And the material composition of the gravestone and the use of particular kinship terminology don’t seem to have any strong correlations between the two. Although it can be assumed that many of the gravestones are wither made out of marble or granite, as earlier analysis showed that those two materials were used the most in making gravestones. Overall the data shows that women, especially Mothers are more likely to have epitaphs stating their relationship to those who bury them. Although Fathers are not far behind. These two kinship terminologies make up 55% of the epitaphs regarding kinship within the data collected. And terminology regarding women make up 62% of kinship related epitaphs.

Graph displaying Kinship epitaphs and the years which they were used.

The most enlightening information I gained from this project was just how absurd Excel and technology can be when trying to graph information, and attempting seriation by hand is not advisable.