Chorley Assists Family History Society at Local Cemetery

More than 30 members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Chorley, Lancashire area, and their friends, got together with members of The Lancashire Family History and Heraldic Society to tackle a project at the Chorley cemetery. The project involved photographing headstones and indexing the information that was shown. One of the fastest growing hobbies around the world is researching family histories. The task has become much easier in recent years with the advent of the internet which makes records and images available at the click of a mouse. One of the photographers was very surprised to find a gravestone with a link to Royalty. There was a brief family history on the headstone which connected a George Beechey to Houssiana Begam, daughter of the King of Oudh. The Kingdom of Oudh was a princely state in the province of Awadh, India.

Bishop Johnson, the leader of a local congregation in the Chorley area said, “We were really pleased to be able to help our friends at The Lancashire Family History Society on this important project. Once it has been completed, anyone in the world will be able to find, and also see, the gravestones of their family members or friends in the Chorley Cemetery by using the Internet. We took about 1200 photographs while we were there. We all enjoyed this fun activity with our families and friends and we plan on returning until the entire cemetery has been covered.”

Steve Williams, President of the Lancashire Family History and Heraldry Society commented, “This was a collaboration between two groups of people who have family history in common. It was wonderful to see the team of church members, of all ages, coming together to enjoy a productive afternoon in which well over 1000 graves were photographed. The photographs and the index will be a very important resource for family historians worldwide seeking their Chorley ancestors."