A mirror onto the good old days

The skull, together with other assorted bones, appears on many 18th and 19th century Scottish gravestones. It was there as a symbol of mortality, to remind people that they would inevitably die. This particularly grim one resides in the kirkyard of Foveran Parish Church, a couple of miles outwith Newburgh on Ythan.

Sadly, the people who lived in those times had precious little need of being reminded of their mortality, death being a constant and feared companion. A couple of yards from the skull one finds the family lair of Hugh Cowie who died at the age 0f 78 and his spouse Elizabeth Smith who lived to be 91. Buried with them are their 8 children; all but 1 died as infants or in their youth; only 1 outlived their father and none outlived their mother:

Theodore. Died Feb 1835 aged 3 years
Theodore Gordon. Died Dec 1836 aged 6 months
Janet Rae. Died Nov 1839 aged 18 months
Margaret. Died April 1843 aged 14 years
William. Died Jan 1845 aged 19 years
Hugh. Died Feb 1850 aged 15 years
Mary Sangster. Died Sept 1852 aged 10 years
Elizabeth, their first-born, died Oct 1887 aged 70 years

It is difficult now to imagine the utter, relentless grief that must have pervaded the lives of so many families, in "the good old days".