Why are memorial inscriptions (MIs) important?

What can they tell us that other records cannot?

For family historians MIs are most valuable in establishing family relationships, particularly for the period before the mid-nineteenth century, when there was no civil registration of births, marriages and deaths (this began in 1837) and no useful censuses (the first one with good records of individuals was that of 1841). Before this date, the most important source of information is that of the parish registers, and here you are in the hands of the incumbent of the period and place. Sometimes the registers give some indication of relationships, often none. An example is the Robinson family, living in a Bedfordshire parish during the eighteenth century. From the baptism, marriage and burials registers we glean the following information - just names and dates:

Parish Register
Baptisms- David, 1711, Mary, 1742, Sophia, 1744
Marriage - no records
Burial - David, 1772, Mary Ann, 1766, Sophia, 1766, Fanny, 1800
This is not very helpful on its own - and there's not a lot else before the nineteenth century. But, fortunately, there are four headstones, all legible.

1. In affectionate remembrance/ of/ David Robinson/ Born June 30th 1711/ Died June 4th 1772/ Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord./
2. In affectionate remembrance/ of/ Sophia Robinson/ Daughter of/ David Robinson/ and Fanny his wife/ Born July 25th 1744/ Died August 25th 1766/ Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord./
3. In affectionate remembrance/ of/ Mary Ann Robinson/ Daughter of/ David Robinson/ and Fanny his wife/ Born January 20th 1742/ Died April 6th 1766/ Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord./
4. In affectionate remembrance/ of/ Fanny Robinson/ Who departed this life/ January 16th 1800/ Aged 83 years./ Blessed be the dead which die in the Lord/ Erected by her only son.

From these we can draw up a family tree:

The Robinsons' family tree:-

From this we can reconstruct the Robinsons' story - or, at least, part of it.

David Robinson was born in the village in 1711 and met and married his wife in another place about 1740 when he would have been 29 and his wife 23. Two daughters and a son were born to them in the 1740s, but before the daughters had married they both died in the same year, 1766. Six years later the father died, leaving his widow Fanny and their son behind. Fanny was to live for another 28 years before her own death in 1800, and the depth of her son's love for her is shown movingly in the inscription on her gravestone.

Without the uniquely important evidence provided by the MIs, the Robinson's story would have died with them. How important this is to any of their descendants interested in their ancestors, for without a written record it would be unlikely that the MIs could even be located, unless the place of burial was known. And the gravestones together with the inscriptions on them form the most significant public record of those individuals commemorated which is created by their family and loved ones, rather than written down by representatives of an external 'authority', such as the parish priest, or the Registrar or census enumerator (the other example being that of wills).