Thursday, October 15, 2009

New Hampshire & Massachusetts

My earlier experience with New Hampshire on this trip lasted about 45 minutes – traversing it to get from Vermont to Maine.

Rather than simply adding it to the list of states I've been in, I figured it would be nice if I spent more than an hour there but I didn't really have the time to spare. At least I drove through it again. The weather was pleasant – sunshine and blue skies - and it was mostly a nice drive. I spent the night in Concord. The next morning, Thursday (October 8th), was also a very nice day for traveling although there was quite a bit of traffic and congestion through Dover, Manchester, and Nashua.

By noon I was in Massachusetts and, 30 minutes later, at Pine Grove Cemetery in Leominster, where Joseph and Sarah (Tarbell) Joslin and his grandfather Peter Joslin are buried. Joseph and Sarah are (probably, most likely) my 6th great-grandparents which would make Peter my 8th great-grandfather. Photographs of their tombstones are posted on find-a-grave but I wanted to visit their graves myself.

Pine Grove Cemetery, established in 1742, is the oldest of the four cemeteries in Leominster. It was closed to burials in 1937 and is on the National Register of Historic Places – there are nearly 100 veterans of the Revolutionary War buried there. It took me about half an hour to locate the Joslin gravesites. It was a pleasant walk through history. I recognized other surnames that had married into the Joslin line – Wilder, Whitcomb, Gardner – undoubtedly some very distant relatives. But how they were related I knew not. I haven't done enough research on those lines to make the determination.

Did I mention that black slate tombstones are really, really hard to photograph! Particularly when they are in the shade.

That's me at the gravesites of Joseph and Sarah (Tarbell) Joslin.

In memory of
Lieut. Joseph Joslin
who died
August. 18. 1829
Aet. 86

In memory of
Mrs. SARAH JOSLIN
wife of
Lieut. JOSEPH JOSLIN
who died 28 Aug. 1810
aged 69

Inscription at bottom of Sarah's stone:
The happy soul that conquers sin;
Shall everlasting glory win.
Shall see the end of war & pain.
And with the King of glory reign.

By far the oldest tombstone of an ancestor (or probable ancestor) that I have personally photographed is that of Peter Joslin/Joslyn (below). I was delighted to find that it was out in the sun. The lighting was perfect!

In Memory of Capt.
PETER JOSLYN
who Died April. ye
18th Domini 1759
Aged 94 Years.

O Death Thoust conquered me
by thy Dart am Slain.
But CHRIST has conquered thee
And I shall rise again.

6 comments:

Jasia said...

Wow, how awesome to see such old gravestones in such good shape. They a are beautiful stones. And it's very cool that you were able to visit the graves of ancestors so many generations back. You just don't find this sort of thing in Europe where all my ancestors are buried.

I'm so enjoying reading about your travels. Thanks for sharing them with us Becky!

Harriet said...

I've really enjoyed your post about your trip.
You have been taking me on a trip down memory lane. We lived in Leominster,Mass for a year when we first married and then two years at Ft. Devens,Mass.
You are so lucky to find the graves and the markers in such good condition.

Bill West said...

Great pictures, Becky! It's wonderful that the
tombstones are in such good condition. Could
the shade be helping to protect them?

I'm really enjoying your posts!

Anonymous said...

Getting to that cemetary is on my "bucket" list, so it's nice to see what the tombstones that I'll be looking for look like. This is probably in your next post, but I also want to see the marker of the town founders which includes Peter Joslin that is supposed to be in downtown Leominster. Babs

Charley "Apple" Grabowski said...

It's amazing that the stones are still so legible. Your pictures are great! Another instance of patience pays off?

Anonymous said...

If you are related to the distinguished Tarbell family of early Massachusetts through your 6th great-grandmother, Sarah Tarbell Joslin, you must be related to the artist Edmund C. Tarbell (1862-1938), among others. You have impressive genes.