My wife and I run a small residential-care home, and each year we take our residents and young family away with us for a summer holiday. In 1994 we all went to Watchet in Somerset, a county whence came some of my forebears.
While journeying out one rather damp day, I felt prompted to make a detour of some 15 miles to look in the parish churchyard of a small village named Brompton Ralph. I hoped to find mention of my fifth-great-grandfather John Blackmore, whose age was unrecorded in the burial register, and whose origins were therefore veiled.By the time we arrived, the drizzle was steady. The rain had almost persuaded us to retreat to the minibus, when we noticed a headstone commemorating a family with a familiar name, Chilcott. Curiosity compelled us to attempt to read the lichen-covered inscription, which continued down almost to the level of the turf.
My 13-year-old son Edwin, on hands and knees, dictated the words from the stone as I wrote on a scrap of paper I was attempting to shelter from the rain. As he leaned forward, he felt something hard beneath his knuckle, which he was resting on the turf. The object was the edge of a piece of masonry. It was not difficult to peel back the shallow layer of turf and moss which covered a shattered headstone about 2 feet long and a little narrower width. This material had fallen face downward, probably several generations ago, and had since been lost from sight and forgotten, together with its inscription:
Here lieth the body of John Blackmore of this parish who died the 23 December 1775 aged 63.
Loving friends I bid adieu
All the world and my Family too
I've gone before as you may See
Prepare your Selves to follow me.
The discovery of the buried headstone is really only half the story though. As we have stood proxy during various of John Blackmore's temple ordinances, we have known for certain of his conversion, and the conversion of his family to the gospel of Jesus Christ. The Spirit bears witness to us that our eventual reunion will be one of great joy if we continue faithfully.
