Any Insight As To Why This Would Happen?

[datxcali]

Hey all.

I've been doing a TON of research of the Italian side of my family and, quite frankly, the deeper I go, the crazier things seem to get.

I recently discovered:

- My GGGF died in a freak elevator accident in a high end department store.
- My GGGM committed suicide by jumping out of a building.

I already knew that their child (and my GGF) was killed in a hunting accident, but I finally found the location and exact date (and ordered the death certificate a few days ago).

I also learned that my GF (who I knew and had a very strong relationship with) had a TON of family in the US that neither I nor my mother ever heard about. I'm not sure that my GF even knew about them.

But probably the most bizarre thing was a discovery that I made on a genealogy trip to Calvary Cemetery last week. I was able to find my GGGF's grave on billiongraves.com. We went to his grave (which seems to have not been visited possibly ever) and looked around for other possible relatives without success.

We went to the front office and gave them the name of my GGF. It turns out that he's buried in the same grave as my GGGF, though it is unmarked. Even more strange: my GGGM AND GGGGM are also buried there, both also unmarked! The grave was apparently purchased and inscribed in 1915 by my GGF after the death of my GGGF.

Obviously, this was pretty disturbing. I kind of feel like my GGF was just thrown into a grave like a piece of garbage by his wife, his mother, and his grandmother (the latter two also being in the grave, but died after him). But I'm also wondering why no one else is marked either.

Does anybody have any insight as to why something like this would happen? Is it a family thing or is it something that's acceptable in Italian culture?

For the record, I'm in the process of getting the tombstone inscribed to have my GGF honored (though I really do feel that his mother and grandmother should have done this and will not be honoring them in the same way).

[PippoM]

We don't know what might have happened at that time.
Maybe they were so afflicted that they didn't want to read his name on a tombstone.
Then years went by, and noone did it.
Everyone of us has a different reaction in front of Death. For instance, my sister never visited my father's tomb, but I can't say she didn't love him!

[Italysearcher]

In England up to 6 persons can be buried in the same grave. One on top of the other. If a headstone can be afforded it is placed, but if the succeeding generations don't have the money to add succeeding names and dates then the later deaths go unacknowledged publicly. They are not being offensive, just practical. Better to have food on the table than an inscription in the cemetery.

[datxcali]

Thanks for the responses!

[jennabet]

After attending the Burial Mass in Pescara, when I got to the cemetery, they were still digging the grave with the deceased husband's casket clearly visible, along with caskets of some other family members. Hers went in right on top of his.

[Plotinus]

I urge you to include all names & information on the tombstone. As others said, we do not know the circumstances that caused their names to be omitted.
In my personal experience, I found my great-grandmother Anna Maria LEONE (nee' PANELLA) buried in the plot of my grandparents about 25 years prior to their deaths. Her name was not on the stone, but it is now!

[carogers]

I found out that my great aunt died in Michigan in 1919 and was buried in a small rural cemetery. A kind lady at the county courthouse stopped by there on her way home one day but couldn't find a marker. The family was poor back then and probably couldn't afford a marker.