On Wednesday evening, Hubs and I went out to eat and then to Southborough Library to meet Nick Noble, author of Fences of Stone. I "met" Nick on Facebook some months ago after buying his book.
After learning that there was history of Southborough written in 1990, I searched the Web site for my local library system and found a hardcover copy of the book. I reserved it, and after reading about half of it, I knew I needed my own copy to write in and highlight. The Southborough Historical Society had copies for sale and I bought one and had it sent to my mailbox.
I have since learned that I could have gone to the library, walked in and purchased one from them!
Nick's talk revolved around the history of the library (100 years at the present location), the librarians who have worked there (not as many in 100 years as you might think) and some about his book and his upcoming works.
It took him two years of steady research and writing to produce this book. Of course, before the talk, I asked him and the library director, about the cemetery records for the oldest cemetery that abuts the library. While the director went to get the records, Nick told me that the Hurricane of 1938, knocked over many stones in the cemetery and they were not replaced but he's been finding them used as flagstones all over town. Because it was the Great Depression, there was no money to replace or reset them. That was not what I wanted to hear. This means that I will not be able to find any gravestone earlier than Nathan Fay and his wife Lucy Bemas who are buried there near the fences of stone.
An odd coincidence did occur to me at that moment. Nick was telling me about the cemetery destruction on the anniversary of the day of the hurricane. There are so many of these moments in genealogy...
2 comments:
Great post and fun serendipity!
Sounds like you had a very nice time.
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