Salomon Hartvig – A grave with no name

Dear friends, Shalom.

I have been engaged in some personal genealogical research lately and found that a distant relative of mine, Salomon Hartvig, died alone in Melbourne on 5 August 1899. He is buried in one of the Jewish sections at the Melbourne General Cemetery in Carlton, and sadly he has no headstone or mark of any kind to show that he once lived, and is now resting forever in this spot. See photo below of his devastatingly sad grave.

I received the following written confirmation from The Southern Metropolitan Cemeteries Trust on 20 January 2020:

"I can confirm that Solomon is interred at the Melbourne General cemetery. We do have a number of Jewish sections at our cemetery, he is buried in one of them. The cemetery does not have any information on the deceased persons relatives. I have attached a photo of where the grave is, it seems he does not have a headstone."

In addition, from the JewishGen Online Worldwide Burial Registry I have the following details:

Name: Solomon Hartvig | Hebrew Name: Shlomo | Death Date: 29 Av 5659 | Burial Plot: Section H, Row H, Plot 132, 1 | Cemetery: Melbourne General Cemetery - Carlton

From my own research I know that Salomon was married and had five children. He left them all behind when he left Sweden for Australia around 1875, and it is likely that they were not even aware of when or where he passed away. Thus no one could care for arranging a headstone for his grave.

Now, some 120 years later, I have an opportunity to make this wrong right. Therefore I have created this campaign in order to raise funds for a plaque for Salomon Hartvig's grave, Zichrono Livracha. A donation of 50-100 dollars would be most welcome, though any other sum is of course great as well.

Together we can give Salomon a much more dignified resting place. Thank you so much.

David