Tombstone Tuesday Case in Point: Capt. Nathan Barber
Cemetery Exists and is recorded, but is neglected
(4th great grand uncle, Revolutionary War Veteran)
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| Fallen Gravestone of Capt. Nathan Barber Photo by Midge Frazel, 2007 |
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| RI Historic Cemetery Westerly #5, photo by Midge Frazel, 30 May 2007 |
When we arrived on the Shore Road, I asked her for the name of the street. This is my photo of the house across the street. Maybe it belonged to my Saunders or Peckham ancestors?
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| House across the street from the land of the cemetery Photo by Midge Frazel |
We didn't have great resources and online maps then so I took a photo of the house behind me. She pointed down to the field below road level. We, carefully, stepped down the side of the hill. The graveyard was a sorry sight. Broken stones and almost underground. I took this photo of the sign and worried about ever trying to find it again. The light was too bright. All I can do now is confirm that these headstones are actually there.
When we returned to her house she pulled out her book copy of Westerly & Its Witnesses and together we found the cemetery in it. Barber Ground #1, p. 276 (I had to piece this screen shot together.)
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| Westerly & its Witnesses by Rev. Frederic Denison, out of copyright |
Checking Find-a-Grave, I find that it is called Nathan Barber Lot. (Keeping track? That's three names for one small graveyard.) Two gravestones show there and it looks like a farm fence surrounds the plot. I have no memory of that fence.
These are my previous posts:
Blog Post: Nathan Barber, Sr.
Blog post: Nathan Barber, Jr.
Blog Post: Thankful Maxson
3 comments:
Amazing that you were able to locate the cemetery & stone!
This weekend I found two barber cemeteries. One of Moses barber family. Both small on the side of the road. Exciting finds. The first one we went looking for, the second one was on the way home from queens river baptist church where a lot more barbers are buried. We passed it and I told my husband to go back just on case and found war memorial for another Moses Barber. I took lots of photos all barber headstones in 5-6 cemeteries here in RI.
Renee rd_2003colo@yahoo.com
My husband's family lived in that house across the street. They ran the Winnapaug Day Camp for over 50 years and the cemetery was actually in the middle of the camp. I worked at the camp and remember the campers would tell stories of the "ghost of Sally Barber". My husband's grandmother always made sure the cemetery was taken care of, but they donated the land to the Westerly Land Trust in the 90's.
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