Henry Jewell HYDE

Hyde_Young_Front, a photo by midgefrazel on Flickr.
Photos by Bruce Filgates (filgates@verizon.net) Used with permission 

HYDE-YOUNG monument
Pine Grove Cemetery, Bolyston, Worcester, MA

I hold my breath when I go looking for gravestones at Find-a-Grave! Sometimes, I can't believe what good luck I have finding exactly what I am looking for.

This is the front of the gravestone for Henry Jewell HYDE and his family. It is located in Section 3 of the Pine Grove Cemetery in Boylston, MA 

You will want to go click that link and take a look at the wonderful information listed for the cemetery! I'll wait here while you go look.

This photo (and the others I will be showing) were taken as part of a whole cemetery photographing project at the cemetery in cooperation with the Town of Boylston, MA. This was great news and I didn't have to move from my computer to take the photos.(I love going to cemeteries but not every day!)

Bruce Filgate responded almost immediately to my questions about the gravestones he took by calling me on the phone. I had a great chat with him about the photos and the cemetery project in general. He was very gracious to let me use any of his photos as long as I put his name credited as photographer. Please respect his work.

Mattie (Boss) CHAMPLIN

Mattie (Boss) CHAMPLIN
Originally uploaded by midgefrazel

Mattie A. BOSS headstone

Hannah's mother, Mattie A. BOSS, also has just the year of her birth and death inscribed on the monument. [1892-1935]

She was the wife of John A. CHAMPLIN

Of course, we have no draft cards to help us out with exact dates! She appears with her husband and daughters in the 1920 and 1930 census. As she died before her husband and left him behind in 1935, we won't find her in the 1940 census when it is released.

Mattie's parents, Albertie BOSS and his wife Robie A. PERRY are also buried here and by the kindness of a person, I have a photo of their gravestone.

Mattie is buried at Pine Grove Cemetery, Hopkinton, RI

John Almeron CHAMPLIN

John Almeron CHAMPLIN
Originally uploaded by midgefrazel

John A. Champlin's headstone

John Almeron CHAMPLIN's monument inscription simply gives the year of his birth and death. [1895-1966] so all we really know is that he was 70 years old at the time of his death.

Fortunately, his WWI and WWII draft cards give the full date of his birth and the location.

He was born in the Olneyville section of Providence on the 12th of August 1895. The 1900 census, taken when he was 4 years old lists his parents as Peleg G. CHAMPLIN and Hannah and in 1910 this is confirmed as he is 14 and with the same parents. Turning to the River Bend Cemetery records we find that the Champlin monument there gives us more about these parents.

The WWI draft card tells us he is living in Richmond, a small town in southern RI, where there were a lot of textile mills and he lists as his occupation as textile worker and he works for the Carolina Company. He is married, is age 21, and living in Alton, RI.

The draft card is not dated but it is in the range of 1917-1918 which sets his date of marriage within those years. His daughter, Hannah was born 3 July 1917. In the 1920 census, he and his wife and daughter are living with his wife's widowed mother and her daughter from her second marriage. They live on River Road in Alton, RI so I am assuming that the house must have belonged to his wife's family or been a "mill house" and belonged to the company. John is a "finisher" at the Richmond Lace Works and his mother-in-law is a "presser" at the Richmond Lace Works.

This location of work and home is significant to the story since my uncle's obituary lists his former employer as the Richmond Lace Works. Uncle Bill and Aunt Hannah lived in this house when I was a child and I remember it well. I think they met by working together.

In 1930, the mother-in-law is not living with them but her daughter is still living there. John and his wife have another daughter, Alberta. She must be named for her grandfather on her mother's side since his name was Albertie Boss! Alberta was born in 1928.

John's WWII draft card confirms the previous information and that he is still working at the lace factory. He has two tattoos; one on each arm. He is 5 foot seven inches, has brown eyes, grey hair and has a ruddy complexion. He is 47 years old and the year is 1942.

The SSDI lists him as dying on 10 Jan 1966 in Alton, RI. This means that it is possible that I have actually met him as he probably spent his last years living with his daughter!

John is buried in Pine Grove Cemetery in Hopkinton, Washington, RI

Shiny Surface

Champlin/Broadfoot Stone
Originally uploaded by midgefrazel

This close-up of the granite gravestone of Hannah T. Champlin's husband (my uncle) and parents demonstrates the challenge faced by gravestone photographers hoping to get a readable but visually pleasing photo.

Scott Bill Hirst did a great job even though he had not done this before and was using his first digital camera. [Applause]

Classically, this shows how an inscription added to an existing surface of polished granite can look different. When a date is added later to this stone even that will stand out further. This can help a genealogist determine in what order the stone was inscribed. As you know many people have monuments pre-inscribed with everything except the date of death.

The information added here matches the oral and written history I took many years ago from Hannah. She carefully recorded her name, place and dates and marriage for herself and for her husband.

Next, she recorded her parents names and dates. She wrote that her father's middle name was Almeron. I wondered if it was a family surname or a place but my research has yet to confirm any of these thoughts. She also told me she had a sister and gave me her name. She is a sharp cookie and was very interested in what I was doing and why. That was great for me to hear.

She even shared via snail mail a letter she received from a library in Scotland about the origin of the name Broadfoot. Women are not always interested in their husband's name even though they use it for many years beyond their birth surname! You can see why having a photo of her gravestone was important to me.

Tombstone Tuesday: Champlin-Broadfoot

Champlin/Broadfoot Stone
Originally uploaded by midgefrazel

Tombstone Tuesday 8 Dec 2009

The is the inscribed side of the granite monument for my Aunt Hannah and Uncle Bill. Hannah chose to have Uncle Bill buried with her parents in Pine Grove Cemetery in Hopkinton, RI. When the time comes she will rest here in this lovely, well kept cemetery in the town of Hopkinton, RI not far from where she grew up and lived with my Uncle Bill on River Road in Alton, RI

Uncle Bill's parents (my grandparents), brother (my father) and his two sisters are all buried in the Broadfoot plot in Section 60 at River Bend Cemetery in Westerly, RI.

I will blog more about these people in tomorrow's post.

Photo taken by Scott Bill Hirst of Ashaway, RI

Hannah T. CHAMPLIN

Hannah T. (Champlin) BROADFOOT
Originally uploaded by midgefrazel

This is the headstone which will mark the burial of my aunt Hannah. She is still living.

It is a good idea for people to plan their gravestones/headstones ahead of time if they will have few living descendants.

This headstone is at Pine Grove Cemetery in Hopkinton, RI. It is a large cemetery with two separate sections off two streets!

Photo taken by Scott Bill Hirst of Ashaway, RI

Pine Grove Cemetery Sign

Pine Grove Cemetery Sign
Originally uploaded by midgefrazel

For the next few days, I thought it would be nice to focus on the family of my only living aunt, Hannah T. CHAMPLIN, widow of William BROADFOOT. Aunt Hannah is still living and although she is no longer living independently she remains as sharp as she was when I was in my twenties and started to interview my father's family.

I designed my own interview form, handwritten on notebook paper and armed with pens and pencils gathered together my aunts and asked them to fill it out for themselves and my uncles. I still have those papers and have more than once gone back and examined what is written there.

I was unsure as to how to locate the cemetery where my uncle is buried so I enlisted the help of Scott Bill Hirst of Ashaway, RI. He found the gravesite and following my directions, photographed the cemetery sign and each grave in the plot. This was the first time he had done any gravestone photography and he did an excellent job. He also wrote directions on how to find the cemetery and the section.

This is where the story begins....