Yesterday (day #8 of our trip) Lisa, my mom, her husband, and I drove about a half-hour west of town to the Freeland Cemetery. Mom had noticed that I have an interest in old-timey cemeteries, so she thought it would be fun to go see a frontier version.

Right around lunchtime, Barry Horn stopped by to show us some of the photographs he made there earlier in the month. When he was done, I felt like I had already been there but was still really excited to see it.

While the names and headstone imagery may be rather different than what you see out our way, this little cemetery out in the middle of nowhere had all the originality and charm that I’ve come to love about how the living memorialize the dead.

What’s interesting to me is that the bodies aren’t so much buried as covered. (And some people have decided that “being laid to rest under the sod” allows for the use of Astro-Turf if real grass doesn’t grow well.) But the tributes to individuality — which I think is a hallmark of Wyoming — really impressed me.

As usual, here are some photographs of the markers and memorial “plaques.” Some of the more unusual names follow.

Bodies covered with dirt, rocks, and driftwood. These bodies were “buried” more than twenty-five years ago and grass hasn’t really started to regrow.

When you can’t grow grass, use what you’ve got.

This mausoleum was built out of petrified wood, rose quartz, and other local minerals.

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Note the ranch brands on the headstone.

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A little bit of everything.

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Notice the boot boxed in acrylic. We were musing about what we would put in ours.

Doris C. Clark (♀ 1916-2006)
Oh, put my spurs upon my breast,
My rope and saddle tree,
And while the boys lay me to rest,
Go turn my horses free.

Jim L. Nall (♂ 1937-2004)
If tears could build a stairway
And memories a lane,
I’d walk right up to heaven
And bring you home again.

• Izetta G. Clark (♀ 1908-1973)
• Homer R. Clark (♂ 1909-1973)
• Diller W. O’Brien (♂ 1873-1949)
• Hattie P. Clark (♀ 1875-1948)
• Rollin A. Clark (♂ 1870-1952)
• Cordelia M. Cheney (♀ 1834-1906) [1]
• Baby Towne (no date)
• Mary Trollope (♀ nd)
• Lillie Trollope (♀ nd)
• Emery Crouse (♂ 1902-1970)

[1] — Still-Vice-President Dick Cheney grew up in Natrona County and nominally still resides in Wyoming. We went to the same high school (separated by about 40 years, of course). The football field was renamed in his honor sometime after 2001.

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If you’re in the U.S., I hope you enjoyed your Memorial Day.

Lisa and I went to the Old Burial Hill in Marblehead today, where Lisa took this picture:

In Memory of James Dennis Hammond
He was one of the Heroes of the Frigate Constitution and having been wounded in the capture of the Java he received a pension from his grateful Country untill his decease which happened Oct. 24, 1840 at the age of ?4 years 10 mos. & 14 days.

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For some reason, this small, rural cemetery was once known as “Paddy Lincoln Cemetery.” Now it’s just “West Cemetery.”

• Enoch Chamberlain — Revolutionary War soldier (♂) [1]
• Capt. Staples Chamberlain — Revolutionary War soldier (♂) [1]
• Enoch Chamberlain (♂ - †1841 Æ63) [1]
• Mrs. Submit, Wife of Enoch Chamberlain (♀ - †1831 Æ84)
• Appleton Adams — Co. D 1st Mass. H.A. (♂ 1822-1862)
• Washington Adams (♂ 1814-1894)
• Mrs. Thankful Watkins, Relict of Mr. Andrew Watkins (♀ - †1811 Æ71)
• Jemima Fisk (♀ - †March 6, 1819 Æ46)
• Levi Fisk (♂ - †June 20, 1819 Æ53)
• Jackson, son of Josephus and Emeline Phipps (♂ - †1858 Æ18mos. & 2ds.)
• Mrs. Achsah, wife of George W. Merchant & daughter of Samuel & Achsah Leland (♀ - †1839 Æ28)
• Dexter Leland (♂ - †1841 Æ1mo. & 8ds.) [1]
• Dexter Claflin (♂ - †1832 Æ8yrs.) [1]
• Ebinezer Cutler (♂ - †1828 Æ82) [1]
• Miriam, Wife of Amasa Foristall (♀ - †1858 Æ49) [1]
• Selina A. (♀ 1843-1866)

[1] — The elder Enoch Chamberlain was likely born in 1737 and died in 1812. Capt. Staples Chamberlain, probably is not buried in this cemetery, though, since he was born in Newton and died in Roxbury. Staples did have a namesake grandson who was born in Holliston in 1796, but I suspect the government marker for him probably doesn’t belong here. (More info…)

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This is a wonderful, little cemetery just north of Sherborn Centre on Route 27. There are many interesting stones, including a couple unique designs and one of the best urn motifs that I’ve yet seen. (See some of them in the Miscellany.) For a small burying ground — which often indicates a rural or clan-like community — the powerful and the plainfolk are buried together.

we noticed that several families had more than their share of tragedy. Adelphus and Nancy Clark buried seven infants in the span of seventeen years. Each had their own marker at a time when it was very rare for infants for to have any marker at all. Only young George Washington Clark (♂ - †1814 Æ11 mos.) was given a name. Next to him were three brothers (†1817, †1819, †1831) and three sisters (†1818, †1821, †1826). And then there are the Chamberlen orphans who also died young.

Isaiah Woodcock died by a wound in his arm that he received in the Battle of Bridgewater.* July 25, 1814. Æ28 yrs. 3 mos.

Mrs. Mary, Relict of Johnathon Leland, who died Dec. 3, 1839, in her 92 yr.

Albert Green, who died in San Francisco, Cal. Jan. 10, 1857, Aged 30 yrs, 2 mos & 3 days

• Moses Chamberlen (Father - †1813 Æ36)
• Sarah Chamberlen (Mother - †1815 Æ36)
• Charolette Chamberlen (Daughter - †1819 Æ18)
• Labez D. Chamberlen (Son - †1820 Æ16)
• Rebekah Bigelow, Wife of Elijah (1788-1825)
• Micah Leland (♂ - †1810 Æ69)
• Lawson Leland (♂ - †1819 Æ9 mos.)
• Amory Babcock (♂ - †1853 Æ60)
• Eunice French (♀ - †1821 Æ24)
• Ophelia Sanger (♀ - †1876 Æ64)
• Elbridge Sanger (♂ - †1885 Æ79)
• Ouvra Taylor (♂ - 1821-1852)
• Angenett Davis (♀ - †1844 Æ18)
• Miss Thankful Whelock (♀ - †1844 Æ32)
• Rufus Lufkin, Member of Co. G. 25th Regiment Maine Vols. (♂ - †1909 Æ76)
• Keturah Hill (♀ - †1836 Æ75)
• Aseneth Pratt (♀ - †1804 Æ36)
• Roxana Pratt (♀ - †1872 Æ73)
• William Pratt (♂ - †1810 Æ15 mos.)
• William Pratt 2nd ** (♂ - †1831 Æ20)
• Bela Grout (♀ - †1800 Æ36)
• Royal Grout (♂ - †1825 Æ38)
• Rhoda Grout (♀ - †1808)
• Almira Perry (♀ - †1836 Æ28)

* — The Battle of Bridgewater is better known as the Battle of Lundy’s Lane.

** — It was fairly common before the mid 19th-century to name children after their deceased siblings.

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What better way to take advantage of the first beautiful weekend of spring than to go for ice cream after visiting some cemeteries with Lisa? I drive by these smallish cemeteries every Friday evening when I take back roads to avoid the traffic delays on the Masspike, but I’d never visited. Today we drove part of the route (in the opposite direction) and stopped at three different cemeteries in Holliston and Sherborn.

I love having Lisa come along with me, because she always notices so much more than I do about what’s written on the gravestones, while I usually look at the stones themselves. She notices who had multiple wives, the children who were named after deceased siblings, the spinsters, the families decimated by a sickness in the house, etc.

Here are some of the highlights from Holliston, which is a great town for visiting burying grounds. (Previously I wrote about the Old Indian Cemetery and Central Burying Ground.) Most of the cemeteries are small and well maintained, and there are a lot of great names.

South Cemetery — Holliston

• Gilbert Lovering — “A hopeful and engaging youth” (♂ - †1803 Æ17)
• Hepsibeth Adams (♀ - †1852 Æ66)
• Elial Littlefield (♂ - †1865 Æ88 yrs 6 mos)
• Tabatha Littlefield (♀ - †1819 Æ81)
• Loammi Littlefield (♂ - †1874 Æ90)
• Isanne Littlefield (♀ - †1837 Æ20)
• Ephraim Littlefield (♂ - †1828 Æ74)
• Huldah Bullard (♀ - †1853 Æ46)
• Bathsheba Hill (♀ - †1825 Æ82)
• Mrs. Zilpha Clark (♀ - †18?? Æ27)
• Abijah Clark (♂)
• Silence Claflin (♀ - †1828 Æ74)
• Achsah Pond, wife of Phillip Pond (♀ - †1832)
• Achsah E. Pond, daughter of Phillip and Elizabeth Pond (♀ - †1833 Æ12 days)
• Admiral Albee Sr. (♂ - †1848 Æ68)
• Admiral Albee Jr. (♂ - †1849 Æ29)
• Althira ? (♀ - †18??)

East Holliston Cemetery

• Cyrus Marsh (♂ - †1873 Æ90)
• Thomas Honey (♂ - †1863 Æ59)
• Libert Ekensteen — “Born in Sweden” (♂)
• Arlow A.E. Giles (♂ - 1861-1907)
• Marietta G. Joslyn (♀ - 1845-1911)
• Lavinia Joslyn (♀ - 1815-1851)
• Lucius G.(?) Joslyn (♂ - 1843-1844)

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I added a dozen new photographs of headstones and memorial markers to A Miscellany of New England Iconography, a sort of online primer of the styles of 17th - 21st century gravestones.

Today’s additions mostly fit into the existing categories:

• Skulls, Angels, and Heads
• Urns
• Other Hand-carved Things
• Modern Graven Images

I’ll keep adding images as I come across really interesting stones.

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Last week, Lisa and I visited the Copps Hill Burying Ground near the Old North Church in Boston’s North End. I had walked by it a few times before but never gone in because it is sooo close to the end of the Freedom Trail, and our guests are usually ready for the long walk to be over. I had a tip (via the Internet) that some of my relatives are buried there, so we finally went in.

I will give you the full rundown of the cemetery itself soon, but you might be interested in my family’s particular connection to this country that was so new to many of the people buried in Copps Hill.

It starts with Richard Mather, the Puritan preacher of diminished means who came to Massachusetts Bay in 1635, fifteen years after the Mayflower arrived. The Puritans in America have their closest modern counterparts in the Ayatollahs of Iran, men who parlay religious authority into authoritarian political control. Richard’s son Increase Mather became one of the most influential men in New England. Increase’s son Cotton Mather carried on the family tradition, publishing prolifically on religious matters and is notoriously linked to the Salem witchcraft hysteria after giving expert testimony about how to identify “spectral evidence.” Increase is my tenth great-grand-uncle (once removed).

1. John Mather of Lowton, Winwich Parish, Lancashire County, England
2. Thomas Mather, Yeoman of Lowton
3. Rev. Richard Mather (1596-1669) — He emigrated to Dorchester, Massachusetts in 1635
4. Timothy Mather (1628-1684) — married Catherine Atherton. [1]
5. Atherton Mather (1663-1734) — married Rebecca Stoughton. [2]
6. William Mather (1698-1747)
7. Timothy Mather (1722-1802)
8. Timothy Mather (1757-1818) — married Hannah Church. [3]
9. Timothy Mather (1785-1858) — married Harriet Adams. [4]
10. John Adams Mather (1822-1875) — [5]
11. James Sherman Mather (1852-1933) — married Emma Elizabeth Fanning. [6]
12. Clarence Mather (1888-1975)
13. Richard Mather (1915-1979?)
14. Dennis Mather (1942- )
15. Me (1974- )

[1] — Catherine Atherton was the daughter of Major General Humphry Atherton, who purchased land from the Narragansett Indians under false pretenses. The Major’s grandson Humphry Atherton, Jr., apparently owned some fellow human beings, as well. (According to the probate record, Atherton left “Mentions Cuffee, a Negro Man £300″ to his heirs.)

[2] — Rebecca Stoughton was the granddaughter of Hon. William Stoughton, the Lord High Witch-Presser in the Salem Witch Trials. There’s a Stoughton, Mass., too.

[3] — Hannah Church was the daughter of John Church and Jemima Montague of Hadley, Mass. So, it’s likely that I’m related to the family that gave Montague, Mass. its name.

[4] — Harriet Adams is a descendant of John Alden, a Mayflower passenger. Her parents came from Milton and Braintree, so it’s almost certain that I’m also related to two American presidents, though I’m still working on the link.

Update: If you go four generations up the family tree from President John Adams (or five from President John Quincey Adams) you will find Henry Adams and Edith Squire. Their seventh son, Joseph, begat the presidential family line. A descendant of Joseph’s younger brother, Henry, married into the Mather family in 1812. It’s a very distant link.

My link to the common ancestor…

1. Henry Adams (1582/3 - 1646) m. Edith Squire (1587 - 1672/3)
2. Edward Adams (1629 - 1716)
3. John Adams (unknown)
4. Edward Adams (1682/3 - 1743)
5. John Adams, Dea. (1708/9 - 1790)
6. Edward Adams (1738/39 - 1825) m. Dorothy Spear (1743/4 - 1802)
7. Harriet Adams (1787 - 1828) m. Timothy Mather (1785 - 1858)

The presidents’ link to the common ancestor…

1. Henry Adams (1582/3 - 1646) m. Edith Squire (1587 - 1672/3)
2. Joseph Adams (1625/6 - 1694)
3. Joseph Adams, Jr. (1654 - 1736/7)
4. John Adams, Dea. (1690/1 - 1761)
5. John Adams, President (1735 - 1826)
6. John Q. Adams (1767 - 1848)

[5] — John Adams Mather was the guy who brought my family from New England to the Midwest. He first settled as a young man in western New York then moved his family to Wisconsin in 1857 and later to Minnesota.

[6] — Emma Fanning is a direct descendant of William Bradford, another Mayflower passenger and the second Colonial Governor of Massachusetts. I think we’re also related (indirectly) through her to the explorer Edmund Fanning.

(Click for larger image…)

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Today I finally got out and photographed a bit. How do I pick where to go? Usually I look somewhere west of me (about 1/2 of the Commonwealth) because I’m on a suburban/rural swing right now. I’ve been thinking, though, that I might be missing out when I just jump onto the turnpike.

So last night I got out my Metro Boston atlas — which includes 167 of the 351 cities and towns and roughly 4.3 million people — closed my eyes, flipped through the pages, and stopped at Dighton. I had never heard of this small town, known as Taunton’s “Southern Purchase” when it was founded in the 1690s. Nor was I aware of Norton, a northern neighbor of Taunton and another place I photographed today.

There are many, many cemeteries in Dighton, far more than one would expect for a town of 5,000 people. I visited two: Hathaway Cemetery and Dighton Cemetery, perhaps the oldest in town. Here are some highlights.

Hathaway Cemetery

Submit, Wife of Isaac Babbit
1799-1877

Victory and through victory Life

• Ardelia Hathaway (♀ - 1843-1921)
• Roxcy Hathaway (♀ - †1833 Æ26)
• Mercy Austin (♀ - 1821-1880)
• Almedia Wheeler (♀ - †1886 Æ53)
• Anjenette Pettis (♀ - †1898 Æ81)
• Benjamin P. Jones (♂ - †Jan.? 9, 1864 Æ49, Died at Bermuda Hundred, Virginia) [1]
• Adeline Woodward (♀ - †1864 Æ24)
• Gideon Walker (♂ - 1838-1907)
• M.J.H. (†1870), L.B.H (†1908), R.P.H (†1918), G.L.H. (†1958), B.M.H. (†1949)

Dighton Cemetery

In Memory of Mrs. Elizabeth Richmond, the Worthy Consort of Silvester Richmond Esq. who paid the Debt of Nature June the 23d Annodomini 1772 in the 65th year of her Age.

Sincerely lamented by her disconsolate Partner & Children

• Thomas King (♂ - †1713 Æ70)
• John Reed (♂ - †1720/21 Æ2 yrs)
• Mr. Matthew Briggs, “who died of the smallpox” (†1703 Æ58)
• J. Emmons Briggs, M.D. (♂ - †1867 in Burlington, Iowa, Æ25)
• Patience Ann Briggs (♀ - †1832 Æ15)
• Mercy Briggs (♀ - †1783 Æ30)
• Huldah Horton (♀ - †1884 Æ81)
• Nathaniel Bower (♂ - †1728 “Æ3 yrs & 3 mo. wanting 5 days”)
• Elizabeth Bowers (♀ - †1748 “Æ3 yrs & 9 mo. wanting 5 days”)
• Abigail Bowers (♀ - †1748 Æ30)
• Bathsheba Baylies (♀ - 1745-1822)
• Lusannah Turner (♀ - †1844 Æ31)

[1] - It’s likely that the date was actually May 9, 1864, not January 9, 1864.

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Lisa, her parents, and I went to DC earlier in the week, and we visited Mount Vernon while there. In addition to the restored planter’s paradise, there was the family burial plot. George Washington, Martha, assorted progenitors, and descendants all shared a rather large brick sarcophagus.

Nearby was a different sort of burying ground. Several dozen of the Washington family’s slave were buried in unmarked graves in a wooded spot on the edge of the current property. An oldish marker (whose text is printed here) was augmented with another more up-to-date marker (ca. 1985) and an interpretive sign (updated later). Throughout Mount Vernon, slavery is clearly an issue the “Ladies of Mount Vernon” have trouble addressing.

In memory of the many faithful colored servants of the Washington family buried at Mount Vernon from 1760 to 1860

Their unidentified graves surround this spot

1929

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Lisa and I went to Newton today to get ice cream visit a cemetery that we must have run, walked, and driven past thousands of time while we lived there. If only I had started visiting these fabulous places sooner. . . .

You might think that the Commonwealth’s cemeteries only have unusual names. But you don’t really want me to give you the plain Janes, Marys, Sarahs, Timothys, Johns, Williams, Abigails, and the like who make up 90% or more the names. This particular cemetery spans almost 300 years and has some of America’s earliest Anglo families: Winchester, Jackson, Stone, Park, Clark, Cheney, etc. (My progenitors are buried elsewhere.)

Mr. Samuel Hasting’s whole Remains are here interr’d
Departed this life the 13th of May AD 1776 Ætatis Suæ 65

I love the fact that “this life” implies a common shared life that all people share rather than “his life” or “her life.” Contrast this to common gravestone phrases like “the 75th year of his age,” (which is what “anno ætatis suæ” means) and you can see how intentionally inclusive it is. Of course, it’s also meant to signify “this earthly life” as compared to eternal life, but I love how the phrase binds anyone who is or has ever lived.

A MEMORIAL of unsurpassed Ministerial Fidelity, Hallowed Affections, Social Virtues, and Holy Perserverance
Erected by his many Friends

• Obadiah Curtis (♂ - †1811)
• “Mifs Patience Pigeon” (♀ - †1777 Æ24) [1]
• Deacon Ephraim Ward (♂ - †1772 Æ69
• Jemima Parker (♀ - †1779 Æ34)
• Mrs. Mindwell Fuller (♀ - †1777 Æ46)
• Mrs. Experience Dyke (♀ - †1749 Æ83)
• Mehitabel Meriam (♀ - †1770 Æ47)
• Mehetabel Kenrick (♀)
• Mehitable Seger (♀ - 1757-1844)
• Ebeneezer Seger (♂ - †1813 Æ63)
• Ebeneezer King (♂ - †1825 Æ53)
• Ebeneezer King (♂ - †1818 Æ13)
• Hester Curtis (♀ - †1802 Æ2yrs) daughter of Esther Curtis
• Cornet Norman Clark (♂ - †1787 Æ77)
• Sukey Mitchell (♀ - †1796 Æ3yrs)
• Ensign Richard Park (♂ - †1746 Æ32)
• John Fuller (♂ - †Jan. 21st, 1720/21 Æ75) [2]
• Mrs. Thankfull Ward (♀ - †1742 Æ75
• William Hide (♂ - †Feb. 9, 1754 Æ64)
• Deliverance Hide (♀ - †Feb. 15, 1754 Æ65)
• Job and Prudence Hyde (♂ - †1768, ♀ - †1795)
• Pastor Lyman Cutler (♂ - †1855 Æ28)
• Constantia Prince (♀ - †1853 Æ28)
• Sylvanus Burnham (♂ - †1855 Æ51)
• Rob Roy MacDonald (♂ - 1955-1974)
• Phinehas Johnson (♂ - †1850 Æ72)
• Hepsy Hastings (♀ - †1833 Æ51)
• Silas Fuller (♂ - †1844 Æ79)
• Edith O’Dowd (♀ - 1896-1935)
• Hilda O’Dowd (♀ - 1921-1935)
• Charles O’Dowd (♂ - 1935-1935)

[1] - It was common practice until around the turn of the 19th century to use an “f” when writing an “s”, efpecially in ligatures like “Mifs” = “Miss” or “confort” = “consort.” It does make deciphering names like “Grafton” rather tricky. Lisa informed today that “ye” was actually pronounced “the” even back in ye olden days, too; it was just written differently.

[2] - It’s unclear whether the death year was simply unknown on the memorial stone — wealthy families often added these showy markers years after burial — or if this imprecision reflects the change from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar. Perhaps both.

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Earlier in June, I finally got around to visiting a burying ground in Milford, the town where I live. Lisa came along; it’s always enjoyable having someone else point out the things I miss as I gawk at names. Milford has more ethnic and economic diversity than most of the neighboring communities, and the names reflect that fact. Around the turn of the century the house of Usher (John, Susan, Olivia, Walter, Byron, Alvin, and Agness) gave way to names like Kapatoes, Charzenski, Volz, MacFarlane, Thiebault, and Lucier.

This cemetery is still active, which makes me wonder: Who decides who can be buried in a two hundred year-old cemetery?

• Sturtevant — Father, Mother, Leon
• Gustaf Carlson (♂ - 1895-1984)
• Triphena Madden (♀ - †1810 Æ21)
• Parna Hancock (♀ - †1869 Æ62)
• Howland Tyler (♂ - †1872 Æ32)
• Eliphalet Bailey (♂)
• Cortes Cheney (♂ - †1869 Æ37)
• Perl LeRoy Sorty (♂ - 1883-1919)
• Laurensine Larson (♀ - 1862-1922)
• Rufus Cheney (♂ - †1872 Æ71)
• His first wife: Cynthia Alexander (†1825 Æ21)
• His second wife: Ruth Staples (†1845 Æ39)
• His third wife: Lucretia Burr (†1883 Æ73)
• Floyd A. Nezgoda (♂ - 1926-2000) & “His Sexy Wife” Janet F. Drobnica (1924- )
• Oremandel Quimby (♂ - 1832-1921) 19th Unattached Mass. Infantry
• Joliaett Cushman (1846-1900)
• Liberatore Schiappucci (♂ - 1916-1997)
• Kusta Anderson (♂ - 1869-1943)
• Hiram Miller (♂ - 1837-1920)
• Margaret Miller (♀ - 1843-1917)
• Lillian Mabel Miller (♀ - 1872-1872)
• Cora Maud Miller (♀ - 1876-1877)
• Emeline Bertha Miller (♀ - 1873-1877)
• Ida May Miller (♀ - 1866-1877)
• Baby Miller (♀ - 1881-1881)
• Susie T. Miller (♀ - 1870-1918)

Update - 5 August 2007: Lucretia Burr was Rufus Cheney’s third wife.

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Here in New England we have a lot of veterans, just like everywhere else. And as elsewhere, the graves are marked with flags on Memorial Day. This year a group has once again attached flags and the names of soldiers killed-in-action to utility poles along a half-dozen miles of Route 16 in Holliston and Milford. A couple years ago the group did the same thing for the first two years of the war; but this year I didn’t see any Spanish, British, Central European, or Latin American flags — just a few Canadian flags and a Danish one. (Of course, I was driving and surely missed something.)

I understand that some think what we’re doing is tremendously valuable for the world and noble — despite its incredible mismanagement — but to me the lives associated with the hundreds of names every 50 to 100 feet along Route 16 all seem to have been wasted.

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Today I had my first unexpected brush with post-mortem fame since Lisa, Sarah Danberg, and I found Medgar Evers grave in Arlington Cemetery back in 1999. There at the back of the small unnamed cemetery on Stony Brook Road in Great Barrington lies the grave for André F. Cournand, marked with a fine white stone, delicate script and a bas relief Nobel medal. Yes, I had discovered the final resting place of the winner of the 1956 Nobel Prize for Medicine. How unusual!

I love these little New England cemeteries. This one had a load of Comstocks and Harrises, too. I wonder if any of these folk are related to my Harris relatives in Iowa.

Lexi Rudnitsky (1972-2005)
Yet I love you more, having not loved you longer

• Ebenezer Townsend (♂ - †1862)
• Electa Townsend (♀ - †1864)
• Wealthey Townsend (♀ - †1859)
• Michael Ugo Stille (né Mikhail Kamenetzki, 1919-1995)
• Cornelius H. DeJong (♀ 1908-1995)
• Erika Kloz Olivier (†1970) & Anton Olivier (†1977)
• Harmony A. Bills (♀ - †1912)
• Lancaster Comstock (♂ - †1842)
• Abel Benedict (♂ - †1819)
• Prudence Ray (♀ - †1817)
• Maj. Artemas Ray (♂ - †1829)
• Selona Turner (♀ - †1818)
• Mix Turner (♂ - †1879)
• Zebulon Chapman (♂ - †1804)
• Phineas Atwood (♂ - †July 19, 1836 Æ 33)
• Phineas Atwood (♂ - †August 13, 1836 Æ 70)
• Erastus Martin (†1838) son of Uli and Silance Martin
• Permelia Harris (♀ - †1835)

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I went back to Holliston again, lured by the name on the map: “Indian Cemetery.” No Native Americans or Indians from the 19th century as far as I can tell. I can’t say for certain, but I think this cemetery and the nearby “Indian Ridge” follow the New England / suburban pattern of naming things after what the newcomers recently displaced.

For those of you who have never seen a New England cemetery, the dominant fact is stone. The Massachusetts soil is thin; some say the easiest thing to grow on a Bay State farm are rocks. These rocks make good walls if not good neighbors. They also denote sacred ground here, much as they have for millennia. (The Greeks used rock to outline temple boundaries.)

The rock here is hard, and the words on headstones are chiseled in fine script that somehow is still legible after two centuries. This burying ground also had small, squat, inscrutable stones — barely recognizable as important objects — that mark people forever unknown to us. This part of Holliston’s hinterland was clearly a poor part of town, and many people are remembered by initials only.

Here are some of the more interesting names and stones:

Mr. William Gallot
died Nov. 9, 1838, Æt 44

The Lord has call’d our frind [sic] away,
Relentless death hath stain.
We trust our loss has prov’d to be
His everlasting gain.

Beloved Auntie Doe
Doris B. Gallot, 1912-1992

Here lies the dust of an infant. Daughter of Samuel and Polly Nichols.
She died Dec. 24, 1805

• Achsah Whittemore (♂ - †1867)
• Ellen Faustina (♀ - †Sep. 3, 1844 Æt 1 year, 3 mos. & 16 days)
• Clementine F. – Wife of John Whitaker †May 12, 1851 Æ 32
• Patience Lamb (♀ - †1841 Æ 58)
• Samuel Nichols (♂ - †1808 XXXVIII)
• Sarah Rider (♀ - †Dec. 8, 1832 Æ 1 day)
• Nancy Rider (♀ - †Dec. 8, 1832 Æ 1 day)
• Kezia Bullard (♀ - †1821 Æ 49)
• Eliazer Bullard (♂ - †1824 Æ 60)
• Haziah Bullard (♀ - †1831 Æ 61)
• Algernon Heine (♂ 1926-1994)
• Jesse Haven (†1813 Æ 68), Betsey Haven (†1821 Æ 42), Mr. B. Haven, Mrs. C. Haven, Dea. J. Haven
• Miss Nabbe Cozzens (†1806 Æ 19)
• Mr. Hopestil Eames (†1821 Æ 77)

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Cemeteries not only show who lived and died in a place at a given time. They also show what those people thought about their futures. The Green Hollow Cemetery in very rural Oakham has forty-two graves, although there is space for at least five times as many, easily. But times change, as has where we live and bury our dead.

I won’t list all of the names, mostly Crawfords by birth or marriage. Also Goodales, Fullers, Hubbards, and Forbeses. As I walked around the cemetery, roosters a couple houses over called, and children played in an adjacent yard while their father raked crunching leaves.

• Lucena Crawford (♂ - 1828-1904)
• Hubert A. Fuller (♂ - 1865-1868)
• Lavandar S. Clifford, Apprentice Seaman (†1920)

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