#152--A Scary Place

Halloween is this week and our genealogy theme is scary.  So what is more scary than a graveyard.  I have visited the graves of lots of my ancestors so I decided to use some of the pictures I had taken there.

Several years ago I visited Paris Illinois in Edgar County and went to the Hannah plot.  In the plot, I found the graves of my great great grandfather, James M. Hannah, and three of his daughters, Albertine, Mary Sayres, and Catherine.   The oblelisk is for James, and the three smaller headstones are for the daughters.  Albertine Hannah left money in her will for the plot, obelisk and headstones.






The Village Cemetery in Dedham, Massachusetts contains lots graves as well as some very old graves that are not marked.  The first picture is of the very old gravestones—the names on them are very hard to read.  The Richards graves tend to be located close to each other.

Old Gravestones 

Abiathar and Elizabeth Richards

In the row of gravestones to the right, my great great grandparents, Abiathar and Elizabeth Richards have the second and third stones.



Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn is a very large historic cemetery, in fact it is on the list of historic place.  My family actually has three plots in Greenwood—the Cochrane plot, the Hannah plot and the Richards plot.  My grandparents and parents are buried in that lot.  When I was growing up we lived fairly close to the cemetery, so we used to visit often.  We usually visited the Hannah plot first as it is very close to the entrance.  My grandparents and parents are buried in that lot.

Then we might drive over to see the Richards Lot, my great grand parents, Abiathar and Emma (Merrett) Richards are buried there along with my great uncles and their wives.


















Until several years ago, I did not know where the Cochrane lot was, but with the help of a very good map of the cemetery, I was able to find it in an older section of the cemetery.  My great grandparents, William and Emma (Merrett) Cochrane as well as several of their children are buried there.  The two little headstones in the front say Father and Mother.  I really like that lot, it is off the beaten path and in a very quiet spot.


I do not necessarily  find cemeteries scary, I just find them very interesting. I wonder about the lives of the people who are buried there, who they were, and what they would think of the world today.  .