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I had been meaning to do this for a while, but never got around to it. I got up early this morning to bike down to Mount Pleasant Cemetery to visit my great-grandfather and great-grandmother's graves. It had been nearly decades since I last visited their grave site and I figured that it was high time to visit. MJNL was supposed to come along as well, but it was too early in the morning for her (since I insisted in biking down).
The ride down was quite nice actually. The weather was good, and it was early enough in the morning not to be overly hot. I met up with my dad (my mom did not come) at the cemetery. Neither of us remembered where the site was, but my uncle visits regularly so he was able to forward the information to my dad.
I had sort of recalled a tree being nearby the tombstone, but it had been such a long time that I did not trust that memory. Well, it took us about half-an-hour to find the grave. Part of the reason was because the map marked the location to far east, and most of the tombstones did not have numbers etched in them, so it was difficult to pinpoint the exact location. Furthermore, there was a grave with the same last name at another location which had a single digit different from the one given to us. Since the stone had no pictures, and I did not know my grade-grandparents' Chinese names, I could not tell if this was the right spot or not. (My dad told me that it was not.)
We did eventually find it after much searching. There was indeed a tree in front of the grave. It was a maple tree which was quite mature. The stone itself was flanked by two bushes, which made it difficult to spot. It also had pictures, that made it much easier to identify. What surprised me the most was the fact that my grade-grandfather's name was in English. I found that extremely strange, since virtually all of the other Chinese people of that generation had just Chinese, or romanized versions of their Chinese names.
After we found the site, we stayed for several minutes before heading home.
I got home in good time and MJNL and I went to Steve's Restaurant at Bathurst and Wilson for brunch. The food was tasty, and a lot less greasy than your usual all-day breakfast place. MJNL ordered the waffle, with strawberries and bananas, which was very tasty. Prices were reasonable, so we would recommend that place so far.
Afterward, we headed off to MJNL's parents' place to watch the FIFA World Cup finals, play some Blur, and have dinner with a most of her siblings.
Monday, July 12, 2010 at 21:27:53 (UTC)
Hmm, was your great-grandfather an immigrant? Back in those days, immigration agents were quite aggressive in registering English names onto foreigners with difficult given names. My friend's father (who's Polish) had this happen to him:
"Jerzy?.....How about Jerry." And the name stuck.
OTOH, the name carved onto the tombstone is usually the family's choice so, yes, it is a bit strange.
Maybe you should get the GPS coordinates of the gravesite in case anybody else in the family wants it? (Just a suggestion!)
---HKL
GrinningReaper
Tuesday, July 13, 2010 at 01:36:33 (UTC)
Yeah, he came over after the Great War? I can not remember, but my mom should know. With regard to the GPS coordinates.. Gah! I should have thought of that! However, I did not have a GPS on me at the time and I did not think that it would have been so hard to find.
QYV