Cemetery Walk Ready!

Young Edmund HYDE, a photo by midgefrazel on Flickr.

I am ready to pull up the curtain on the special cemetery walk and talk that I am leading tomorrow. Please keep your fingers crossed that the weather is not rainy.

It is too bad that this stone of the young man Edmund HYDE at Southborough Rural Cemetery is not upright. it is so ornately carved.

Cemetery Walk

Southborough Rural Cemetery Sign, a photo by midgefrazel on Flickr.

Hyde Family Cemetery Walk

It will be a "silent as a grave" here at Granite-in-MY-Blood this week, as I prepare for a mini cemetery walk through two cemeteries with cousin Eleanor and her niece Mary Linda.

Eleanor, the family historian, who has helped so much with hubs family tree and with the sharing of her family photos, has never seen the gravestone of Abraham HYDE and his father Ebenezer HYDE buried in the Southborough Rural Cemetery in not-so-distant Southborough. Her family didn't have a car to take here her. It is about 25 miles from where she grew up!

It was decided that we would take her to see the gravestones at Maplewood Cemetery in Marlborough, MA first and then get back in the car and go to Southborough. She is a very young 89.

I have done extensive research for her because some of the gravestones in this multi-generational family are in Pine Grove Cemetery in Boylston, MA and older ones in Newton Center Cemetery and in Dodge Cemetery in Sutton, MA. Those photos have been taken by other people.

It will take me most of this week to be ready for being the tour guide. I hope my back and hip cooperate for this special event.

See you later.

Wordless Wednesday; Twins

Twins, a photo by midgefrazel on Flickr.

Norval and Lillian (Hyde) Lamprey's twin children, Clarence and Rachel. Don't you love the baby carriage?

Tombstone Tuesday: Lamprey Family

Tombstone Tuesday: Lamprey Family, a photo by midgefrazel on Flickr.

If you have been following along as I find the gravestones for my husband's family, you are probably trying to figure out how this family fits in.

Looking at these names you wouldn't easily see the connection to the people on the other side of this monument who are named Hyde.

The woman on this side who is the Hyde is named Lillian. Now you can see that she married the man named Norval LAMPREY (the "his wife" helps us out here) whose parents are listed above him.

That much I figured out before I took the photo (avoiding the poison ivy).

Lillian's middle initial is given as B. Her mother's maiden name is BRIGHAM. It is a big name in this area. A descendant of that Brigham family was Peter Bent Brigham who was associated with a hospital in Boston (in which my maternal grandfather died). Things just keep snapping into place and this isn't even my family.

Norval was a farmer. Notice that he died before his parents. Lillian was already dead as she died in 1898. So, who was Clarence? Most likely the infant son of Norval and Lillian, right?

On this gravestone, Clarence died in 1896. That is not correct. Clarence died in 1895. This makes me think this gravestone was erected by a Hyde-Lamprey descendant.

I really had to spend time with the Massachusetts Vital Record of Southborough to get a picture of this family. That's when I found out that Norval and Lillian had three children. Clarence had an older brother and a twin sister.

Poor Lillian. Her baby son, Clarence died (of "teething") and then consumption got her. Norval remarried to have a mother for the two remaining children and then, he died. This is a nightmare.

Just to make it creepier, his second wife was born on the same day, the same year in the same town as his first wife. They must have known each other. I hope they were friends because she had to raise the first wife's children.

New England cemetery work can be very sad.

Troublesome Spelling

LAMPREY, a photo by midgefrazel on Flickr.

Even without the poison ivy, I knew I was going to have to do a lot of work with this family. As soon as I saw this side of the gravestone, one thing was obvious.

This family name is LAMPREY, not LAMPHREY or LAMPHEY as they are identified in the family records of the Hyde family of Southborough.

I was working from the handwritten records of the family, typing away in my family tree. Well, I couldn't find this family in the vital records or in the census.

Clearly, something was wrong.

Sometimes, a gravestone can be a huge help with a simple problem. "There, I thought, Gotcha." Don't make spelling assumptions. I felt very smug.

So once I got the spelling in correctly, the records literally leapt off the monitor.

But, there was still problems ahead.

Lamprey

Lamprey, a photo by midgefrazel on Flickr.

Yikes! Poison Ivy at the base of this gravestone. No, I didn't get it. I saw it in time.

But, it just add to the "stay away" atmosphere of this gravestone.

It is taking longer than I expected to research this gravestone and tell you the story.

Please be patient. I will be back...

Tombstone Tuesday: Newton

Newton, a photo by midgefrazel on Flickr.

I took this photo of a Newton monument to remind me to pull out the folder of my hubby's Newton family to work on. Have I done it yet? No time like the present, I say. After all, that's what Tombstone Tuesday is for....

Odd Fellow Marker

Odd Fellow Marker, a photo by midgefrazel on Flickr.

Nestled between two white bronze (cast zinc) stones is this marker for the fraternal organization known as Odd Fellows.

Sheaf of Wheat

Wheat, a photo by midgefrazel on Flickr.

Catching my eye in the cemetery on this cast zinc gravestone is the symbol of a sheaf of wheat. Appropriate for the rural cemetery and for many of the farmers who lie resting here, wheat is a symbol for a person who has lived a long life.

Wordless Wednesday: Cemetery Office Sign

Cemetery Office, a photo by midgefrazel on Flickr.

This is the attractive granite marker on the side of the cemetery building at the Southborough Rural Cemetery.

Tombstone Tuesday: JENNISON

JENNISON, a photo by midgefrazel on Flickr.

This very large monument in the Southborough Rural Cemetery caught my eye because of the clasped hands inside the wreath and for the awful overgrowth of lichen.

This probably not part of my husband's family but I wanted you to see the lovely carving.

Southborough Rural Cemetery Sign

Southborough Rural Cemetery Sign, a photo by midgefrazel on Flickr.

There are two entrances off Rt. 85 for this cemetery. Both have this sign. Both have pillars at the entrance where there might have been a gate once a long time ago. Alongside the stone pillars, in front of this sign, there were flowers planted. It was lovely.

Note the posted rules.If you are taking gravestone photos, always take a photo of the sign.

Built by Students

Built by Students, a photo by midgefrazel on Flickr.

The cemetery office was built by the vocational students. Vocational schools (high school and some post high school) are popular in New England. The students learn both academics and "a trade".

Students planned this building and built it. As an educator, I am always glad to see this. People underestimate what teenagers can do. Could your child build a building?

Cemetery Office

Cemetery Office, a photo by midgefrazel on Flickr.

Located in Section 1 at the back of the cemetery is the cemetery office. This building is of significance because if you find a cemetery with a building and if it is during business hours this is where you will find the people who keep the records, maintain the grounds and perform the burials.

This cemetery is a public cemetery and falls under the Department of Public Works.

It has a men and women's restroom. This is very important. If you spend any time in a large cemetery like this one you will learn to appreciate the restrooms!

View of the Cemetery

View of the Cemetery, a photo by midgefrazel on Flickr.

Southborough Rural Cemetery is the second burial ground in Southborough. It is located on Route 85 at 147 Cordaville Road in Southborough.

Established in 1842 when the Old Burial Ground was deemed "full", this cemetery was set outside the town common area. It is considered a rural cemetery. Most of the gravestones are marble, granite or cast zinc ("white bronze". In Dec of 2004 when it was transcribed, there was 5, 910 graves with 4, 422 markers. Very few photographs are available at Find a Grave. (I was surprised!) Information about the cemetery and the people who transcribed it are found at this Web page. Many families are represented and of those large plots with the same surname, I know that there are still descendants living in this town.

I took this distance shot to show how well maintained it is and so you could see the "tower" in the distance. There are two large schools nearby and directly across the street is a golf course.

I took some gravestones that caught my fancy and some shots for placement of my husband's family plots.

I am going to show some of the photos I took that are not the ones I went seeking first so you can see what this cemetery is like, especially if you are not, dear reader, a New Englander.

Homework

Homework, a photo by midgefrazel on Flickr.

On one of the hottest days of the year, I went out with my "boneyard buddy" husband to Southborough Rural Cemetery to photograph more gravestones of his ancestors.

For nearly two weeks, I have been making my plan, adding the ancestors into my tree and figuring out the fastest way to finish this part of the project.

I am happy to say, my plan worked well. We used the map, and worked our way across the cemetery. I checked each transcriptions from the records online, took the photos and even visited the cemetery office. It was hot work.

I spent the afternoon backing up the photos, and starting to study them. This was my typed list that we used to check off each grave section.

It is great to really get this going. The next generation of gravestones is in Dodge Cemetery in Sutton, MA. I will wait for a sunny but not so hot day.

Revisiting a Cemetery

Steve with Ebenezer and Rebeckah HYDE, a photo by midgefrazel on Flickr.

Last November, we went in search of my husband's HYDE ancestor gravestones.

Today, we will return and take better photographs. This was the oldest stone in the HYDE section. It has been an interesting project for me.

Tombstone Tuesday: Uncarved Side

HYDE, a photo by midgefrazel on Flickr.

I am tempted to say, "Nothing to see here, move along, please." Except there is supposed to be something here. Having the list of person's buried here from cemetery records made me stop and feel this side of the monument.

Chances are good that if you see a blank side of a monument with a carved name at the bottom which is not the same as the carved name on the other side, you have reason to think that there are persons with that surname buried here.

We will come back to this monument later but I saw it as a "teaching moment".

Now, you may move along....

Stone Tower

Stone Tower, a photo by midgefrazel on Flickr.

This photo of a tower was taken on a rainy cold November day last fall when I was sick of unpacking and decided to go out and at least find the Southborough Rural Cemetery. Little did I know that I would be spending so much time, with so much success, finding the gravestone of my husband's ancestors.

I hope to go back to this cemetery this week as it is helping me identify the people in the Hyde Family Reunion photograph.

By the way, the day we went here, the guys were clearing the limbs cut from the trees and we were in the way. I snapped the important graves and left to get some hot coffee. Ironically, it is too hot to go there today.

The Hyde family of Newton, Marlborough and Southborough will be my focus for a while.

Cemetery Map

Cemetery Map
Originally uploaded by midgefrazel

In this simple file folder for Southborough Rural Cemetery, I have placed a copy of the map of the cemetery, a list of persons whose graves I am looking for, driving directions and a printout of the cemetery area from Google Maps. On the front (not seen in this photo), I have a "shipping label" Avery #8163 2" x 4" affixed information label with the basic information about the cemetery. Items are firmly stapled to the folder. I can always remove them with the staple puller later on if needed.

It didn't hurt that Find a Grave already had a page for this cemetery AND a great photo of the cemetery sign. Thanks to the volunteers for this page.

I used to assume that once I visited a cemetery, I was "done" with it. Wrong. I have never been to a cemetery just once. It is like genealogy itself; it is never complete. Now, I assume I am going back. Of course, this particular cemetery is only about 10 minutes from home, so since the "location" day [defined as the day where we just find the cemetery], was raining, I didn't do all of the research I needed since I WANT to go back.

This cemetery was easy to find. Google Maps is really getting better and placing the name of the cemetery on the map and if it is a large cemetery, the interior roads are visible. I felt that we could safely drive our car around inside even if it was raining too much to get out.  [Google Map of the area around this cemetery]

But, to make this folder, I spent quite a lot of time gathering as much as I could about the actual place. The Southborough Historical Society Web site made this very easy. I SO wish everything could be like this...

So, with a few names of my husband's ancestors, the file folder, the cemetery bag and my camera we set out to find it. I set our GPS to 11 Cordaville Road, Southborough, MA and noted the time we left.