Daughter

Daughter
Originally uploaded by midgefrazel

This is the back of the gravestone of:

Esther C. Holmes (1816-1891) wife of Benjamin Latham
daughter of Jeremiah HOLMES and Ann Borodell DENISON

This allowed me to place her with the right parents so I am glad they did not leave the back blank.

Esther C. HOLMES

Esther C. HOLMES
Originally uploaded by midgefrazel

Not to be deterred by foliage, I took this shot of the front of this gravestone hoping I could read the dates when I returned home. I also took the back of the gravestone. Taking a photo of all sides that have carvings on them is important.

Esther C. Holmes (1816-1891) wife of Benjamin Latham

Tombstone Tuesday: Thankful's Gravestone

Thankful Alletta Clift Holmes
Originally uploaded by midgefrazel

This past winter, I worked on a big project of the Hoxie/Clift family with another researcher. She, like me, enjoys a good gravestone adventure and has also inherited a large collection of photographs.

She shared this lovely photo of this woman named Thankful Alletta CLIFT who married Benjamin Holmes. She must have disliked being named after Thankful DENISON Clift, her ancestor for she did not use her first name.

I wasn't sure her name would be on her gravestone as Thankful so I was delighted to see that it was!

Do you think she resembled her ancestor?

Mrs. Holmes

T Aletta Clift Holmes
Originally uploaded by midgefrazel

While I was on vacation this week, my friend Robin sent me this photograph that she found in one of her family albums. It was one that was at least marked with a name. T. Aletta Clift Holmes. Robin visited my family tree at Ancestry.com and decided it might be of interest to me since there was a woman in the household of Waterman Clift named Aletta T. Clift.

I spent two days adding data into my tree to support the evidence that she was part of my extended family.

Stay tuned....

Jeremiah HOLMES

Jeremiah HOLMES
Originally uploaded by midgefrazel

Gravestone reads:

" In memory of Mr./ Jeremiah Holmes / who died march /8th 1791, in the 40th year of his age/ Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord"

This is the son of Cap't John HOLMES and his 3rd wife Hannah HULSE. Jeremiah was born 19 Nov 1751, bp. 2 Aug 1752 and died 8 March 1791. Wheeler's History of Stonington lists him incorrectly as Jedediah.

Jeremiah died at Mystic at age 39 on 8 March 1791.

Hannah HULSE

Hannah HULSE
Originally uploaded by midgefrazel

Gravestone reads:
"In memory of / Mrs. Hannah Holmes / 3rd wife of /Cap't John Holmes / who died / May 12, 1805 / in the 82d year / of her age"

This is Hannah HULSE, "of So. Hampton" [not Hannah HALSEY as incorrectly listed in Wheeler's History of Stonington] She was born abt 1724 and died at Stonington at 81 years.

This gravestone is mentioned in the article in The Register (NEHGS) mentioned in my blog entry for her husband.

It mentions her husband bought a farm from Samuel FISH who must be my ancestor Cap't Samuel FISH of Groton.

Cap't John HOLMES

Cap't John HOLMES
Originally uploaded by midgefrazel

Gravestone reads:
"Cap't / John Holmes /1703-1785"

However, in The Register (NEHGS) an article by White, Laundry and Hayward, titled "Joshua Holmes of Stonington, Connecticut 1678-1729)" Apr 1988 pps. 165-176 corrects several mistakes made in the Holmes family in Wheeler's History of Stonington.

Capt' John4 Holmes (Joshua3, Joshua2, Robert1) [page 168-168] lists his birth as 10 June 1702 and died in 1783. They mention this gravestone and state that it was erected at a later date after his death. John has three wives: Abigail FRINK, Mary SMITH and Hannah HULSE. He had children by his first and third wives.

The interesting verse on this stone reads:
"The hungry never went away without being fed, nor the different without being beloved."

Capt. Jeremiah Holmes

Capt. Jeremiah Holmes
Originally uploaded by midgefrazel

Capt. Jeremiah HOLMES, son of Jeremiah HOLMES and his wife Mary (Daniel4, Daniel3, John2, George1) DENISON, was a sea captain of many Mystic sloops and a hero of the Battle of Stonington in 1814. He married Ann Borodell DENISON (Isaac5, Daniel4, Daniel3, John2, George1) widow of John GALLUP, son of Col John GALLUP and his wife Hannah (Daniel4, Daniel3, John2, George1) DENISON, in 1809.
[Mary and Hannah DENISON were sisters.]
[There were no children from Ann's marriage to John GALLUP who died in 1804.]

Jeremiah and Ann had nine children and celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary with the whole village in 1859. Cannon were fired in the morning and they had guests in their home until late in the evening.
The Dension Genealogy says Capt. Holmes was born in North Stonington and at age 14 went to live in Norwich, NY with brother-in-law Thomas Crary,; shipped on schooner Four Sisters in 1800; he was thrown into a dungeon in Para, Brazil; for gallant service in the War of 1812 he won the title of "Hero of Stonington".

Their portraits done in 1865 hang in the Mystic Congregational Church and are reproduced in the book referenced below and there is an excellent article online with his signature and their picture.
"Captain/Jeremiah Holmes/Born Sept. 6, 1782/Died Sept. 14, 1872/His wife/Ann Borodel Holmes/Born Sept. 22, 1784, Died Dec. 6, 1873"

Source:
Images of America, Mystic, Mystic Historical Society Arcadia Press, 2004
Denison Genealogy, page 82 #1186 Ann Borodell DENISON; #1213 John D. GALLUP, Jeremiah Holmes #1203 page 42
Narrative of Capt. Jeremiah Holmes by Frederic Denison at Mystic Seaport [85 digitized handwritten pages]
Lossing's Field Book of the War of 1818 [online]. Capt. Jeremiah Holmes and wife Ann Holmes.