Dear Liz,

I went back down on the post of this thread and found where Ms. Coakley states in her post of May 9,2010, at 4:09 p.m. ," In old church yards before the 1881 burial act that appointment of s extons there were NO PLOTS EXCEPT IN SOME NEWER YARDS SUCH AS DOUGLAS, ST, GEORGES, BRADDAN, NEW ETC, , prior to this there were conventions as to which family
'OWNED" ie generally buried their dead in certain areas( there are several disputes mentioned in the MANX NOTEBOOK for early 18th C as they are often found among the wills)- what is recorded by the IOMFHS in the surviving MI and the IOMFHS designation(printed at the start of each book of Mis) is just a locator of the position and has no official use.

The message states in NEWER YARDS opened post the burial act there will be generally a plot/grave number that if often recorded in the burial registrar, thus even if there is no MI, those buried in the same plot can be found, The musuem has ownership books for some yards eg Bradden New9 the older section) that show who owned the plot(not always the person buried there).

This was a response back to to ddouglas. So before the burial act of 1881, it seems those records are kept by the MUSEUM, or the IOMFHS, if ADAM CAINE AND ELINOR STEPHAN ARE BURIED THERE, WOULD NOT PHILIP BE BURIED THERE IN A FAMILY PLOT, IF THE VICARS ARE SCARCE AND BEING USED TO HOLD SERVICES AT MORE THAN ONE CHURCH, THEY WOULD BE HARD PRESSED TO GET INFORMATION. Here in UNITED STATES, the church keeps the family/plot on record, for years and years and years, and the court house , bureau of vital statitics and newspapers have that information also, and family BIBLES, so we know where our dead are buried. I would have thought the MOTHER COUNTRY would have even more definite records of such, for records have been kept for centuries in ENGLAND.

So if you have not made your trek, perhaps you may find some grave/plot for the CAINES/CORLETT, STEPHAN, if you have already gone, I will do all that when I come, I plan to stay as long as it takes to get our family history fully straightened out. For I had to put much on hold when our daughter had her sickness and Mum and husband. So I am back with my researching, for BALLACAINE, was held by the CAINES, ADAM CAINE. There is much to look for and do while there. So if you cannot find or have already gone, I hope you find someone of our line, if not, so be it.

Well, must get ready for worhsip.

I see your are a poet, I am too, have been writing poetry since a child. Guess it runs in our line for we had a POET LAUREATE here in SOUTH CAORLINA IN OUR LINE AMONG POIITICIANS.

Take care.

Ruth,

P.S. TEA POT SHALL ARRIVE SOON, LOOK FOR IT.