52 Ancestors Week 21: Tombstone

Week 21's theme is "Tombstone." I've always felt comfortable in cemeteries. I've always been fascinated with the stories scattered among the tombstones. Have any of your ancestors left an intriguing tombstone? Maybe you have a story of your search for where your ancestor is buried. (Any ancestors in Tombstone, Arizona? <g>

Great Scott!

I love Google stock images. Don't you? I could have put anything I wanted in that picture. I went with the "Back to the Future" reference because I had watched the entire saga on Netflix last week. I love the series. Then again I like science fiction to begin with and time travel is fun despite all the paradoxes and headaches along the way. Still, it was too good of an opportunity to pass up. And so is the topic of this week's blog!

You know...Some people take pics of behind the stone.
Just saying.

I woke up this morning intending to write about Jeremiah Felker and how his tombstone was in Walnut Cemetery in Haverhill.  I was going to discuss my plan to visit and perhaps spruce it up a bit. I've noticed that many Civil War veterans have fancy tombstones like this in place. On the stone you can see what company he was in and unit he was with. Interesting isn't it? I also liked the shield, too.

Stone designs have intrigued me for a while because you can have anything within reason. There's the standard tombstone and then there's the really emotional ones which give you so many emotions. I remember reading about a kid who died of cancer and loved the "Pokémon" series so much that his parents asked Nintendo if it was okay to put an image of him and his favorite Pokémon on the stone. Nintendo, of course, agreed. Why on Earth would they say "No"? Mario's house isn't heartless! More on this story from Kotaku if you'd like to read it: https://kotaku.com/wow-thats-an-awesome-tombstone-dont-know-if-it-was-wo-1441479010

I also wanted to see if there was anything on the back of the stone. Wouldn't you be curious? If it's anything like the stones for my grandparents, it probably has who he was buried with. I didn't take the pic in the blog. That was from his entry on Find A Grave. It's a good chance Jeremiah was buried with his wife, Elizabeth. But, that's just a hypothesis. A GOOD hypothesis. Hopefully, I find out more as my great-aunt on my mother's side offered to take me on a tour of the cemetery.

Getrude Stevens is in the center of the front row.

Yes. Things got derailed nicely when someone uploaded a picture of my 2x great-grandmother, Gertrude Stevens, her second husband, his parents and a few other relatives to FamilySearch. That's her in the front row, middle holding a baby and the more I look at her, the more I see my mother!

I bring this up because I've actually been on a hunt for several family members' tombstones. My great-aunt informed me that her parents, Austin and Henrietta are definitely buried in Walnut cemetery. It remains to be seen if they are within walking distance of Jeremiah's stone. It would be nice if they were. We just know for a fact that they are in there. Somewhere.

Gertrude's stone is another I would like to see. However, that would require a bit of a feat. She died in 1944 in Farmington, New Hampshire while she was living with her third husband, Charles Melvin Berry. I did my best "Google-fu" and tried to see what I could find.

Farmington, NH is sixty-seven miles north of me. It would take a while to get there. But, there's a problem. She may not BE buried there. What do you do then? Well, for starters you look up her death certificate or her obit and see where she might be buried. That should be the first thing to do before you head for upstate New Hampshire. I have found Charles's death certificate and in it it says he was buried in Pine Grove Cemetery in Farmington. That would be a place to start. However, it's not a sure thing. You never know. Getrude's second husband, Walter, was buried in Pine Grove Cemetery in Kingston, NH. She could be there, too. The best bet would be to find that death certificate!

Did I find Gertrude's death certificate? Yes. It lists her final resting place as in Farmington, New Hampshire. Okay so far. One issue, though. It doesn't list the actual cemetery. At least it's a place to start. It still would be a good idea to contact the officials and see what they can find.

It's important to follow a few steps before looking for the stone. You don't want to go look in every cemetery. That's what genealogists, LARPers and people who like cemeteries do. Best bet would be to look for an obit before anything else. Some day I'll find her stone. Some day.

Gertrude's grave, of course, isn't the only one I want to find. I'm still wondering where my 2x great-grandfather Antione Legault is buried. So far records have turned up empty. His death record isn't even online despite him dying in 1901. My great-aunt thinks he is also in Walnut cemetery with his daughter. Hmmm....

This definitely merits reconnaissance. I see a trip to that cemetery in my future to see if that is true. I've been to several other cemeteries in Haverhill. Namely St. Joseph's, St, Patrick's and Linwood. Couldn't hurt to check out Walnut, right? Right!

See ya next time!