Abstract
This study analyzed the psychological narratives of family life stories on headstones. First, the family life stories
on19th century family graves were examined in three old towns: Haworth, York, and Oxford. Then, the family life
stories of contemporary children's graves in York cemetery were analyzed. Life stories can be studied not only from the
events of individuals' lives or from the perspective of life-span development but also from the stories narrated after
their deaths. The death stories on headstones have at least three psychological functions: they are simple summaries of
individual lives narrated in reverse from the age at death; they contain the chained, repeated expression of family
relationships, told using the loving bonds between parents, children, and intimate generations; and they are
communications from the living to the dead and from past to future generations with a long time perspective.
