Lovewell (aka Nightingale) Cemetery

As I was speeding down Route 68 one day last week, going a little too fast and being tailgated by someone who wanted me to go faster, I spied a tiny cemetery off to my right.  I couldn't stop for fear of causing an accident so I made note to myself to look it up on the map when I got home.  The map said it was called "Nightingale Cemetery" which I thought sounded beautiful.   Just before going I was looking online at a list of cemeteries in Hubbardston and Nightingale was not listed.  Others were, including "Lovewell", which as it turns out, is the also known as for Nightingale Cemetery. 

I stopped a few days later.  The sign is gone, just two white posts standing near each other.  There is an aged white gate blocking entrance from vehicles since it is such a small cemetery and the typical New England stone wall around the edge.

The cemetery is inhabited by the Lovewells, Phillips, Freemans, Allens and others.  Even a couple of Underwoods (who are likely related to my earlier blog family, the Cobleighs).   There is the Deacon Allen family including his wife and his "consort".  Their daughters did not seem to live long, but their son lived to see 50.

The Lovewell Family Genealogy has been done extensively and there seems to be much online:  

This is from:  http://www.nh.searchroots.com/HillsboroughCo/Merrimack/familytrees7.html

"2. JOSEPH, born October 2, 1763; married in Templeton, April 10, 1796, Sarah Wilkinson, born, Needham, May 9, 1768, daughter of Ebenezer and Mary (Gay) Wilkinson. He removed to Hubbardston, Massachusetts. His descendants are numberous. He died November 21, 1814. She died August 29, 1847. Seven children."

What caught my eye about the Lovewell's was that the earliest stones in the burial ground were theirs and also the most recent from the later 20th Century.  I think that shows a strong connection running through the family that modern folks would want to be buried in an older (somewhat neglected) burial ground.  (It would be my choice, but then, I'm not so modern.)

Here are a few of the Lovewell Stones: 

Sarah Wilkenson, wife of Joseph Lovewell, 1767 to 1847

 Martha Lovewell, Died April 13, 1885, at the age of 63 years, 11 months and 7 days.

(every day important)

Joseph Lovewell, died Sept. 7, 1876  & his wife Jerusha, died Jan. 16, 1871  (both having lived into their seventies)

 Madeline Lovewell Freeman, daughter of Roger & Edith W. Lovewell, born Sept 3, 1926  (pre-need monument placement)

 Mildred Willis, daughter of Willis & Mattie Lovewell, died Feb. 8, 1971. (in keeping with the earlier tradition of counting days, she was 74 years, 9 days.

 The Lovewell family is primarily to the left side from front to back as you face the cemetery with some in the middle at the rear.  There are also some lovely slate stones here, with beautiful carvings and one in particular caught my eye.  Chandler Follett, died at the age of 20.  

His epitaph reads:  

"My very short and transcient stay

On Earth how soon it past away

My soul's Eternal fixed state

Is hid from you by solemn fate." 

Love well all.

And the story continues - Merlin C. & Irving V. Cobleigh

In 1865, at the time of the Massachusetts State Census, Irving V. Cobleigh was 4 months old living with his mother at the home of his grandparents in Hubbardston.  His father Merlin was not listed on this cenus - where had he gone?  We know he lives until 1872 from the family headstone.

In 1880, Irving, the only child of Merlin and Sarah born after the epidemic wiped out five of their children, was fifteen.  I don't have results on an 1890 Census.  Twenty years on, in 1900 we find the 35 year old living as a boarder in Pleasantville, Westchester, New York in the home of Martin V. Austin.  That same year on September 19, 1900, he married Elizabeth L. Cone, (born 1866) daughter of  Zachariah Cone and Eliza Parsons, in Norwich, New London, Connecticut.

Fast forward twenty years - 1920, we find him living as the head of the household, age 55, with his wife, Elizabeth Cobleigh, 54 and their two daughters, Helen and Ira, 17 and 16 respectively.  Much smaller families these days. 

What happened to Sarah Underwood's husband, Merlin between 1863 and his death in 1872?

In that same state Census in 1865, Merlin C. Cobleigh shows up in the town of Templeton, Worcester County Massachusetts - not terribly far away.  He is listed as a member of a household that (possibly an apartment building?) lists 30 to 40 people, including his son Amos, now 16.  The census lists Amos as a "Tin Worker".  Merlin, 45 years old, is listed as a "Tin Peddler".  Were there tin companies in Templeton, near Gardner (furniture capital of the world?)

It is possible that farming was not producing the income they needed.  Another baby arrived and Sarah and the baby moved in with her parents while Merlin and Amos went looking for work in town?  Templeton did not look to be a large urban or even growing urban area, like nearby Gardner.

So much changes and so much remains the same over time.  Sickness, economy, family.

There is probably more to this story in New Hampshire and New York.  Perhaps a roadtrip.

And that's the rest of the story...well, so far

I've had need to be driving both north and south along Route 68 between Gardner and Rutland, Massachusetts often during the past few weeks.  You often see things driving one way that you missed driving the other.  Between those two points is a town called Hubbardston, where along that street there are at least five cemeteries.  Warren Cemetery, tucked in under pine and oak trees at the corner of a private street and 68 (across from a flea market, currently closed for the winter - winter - it was 85 degrees this week), is a relatively small, mostly 19th Century burial ground where you find your feet sinking into the deep mossy ground in some spots and crunching over the acorn caps in others.

I stopped here a couple weeks ago and the stones that stood out to me were the family of Perez French as it didn't seem "early American" to me.  Today however, I took a closer look at a large granite stone  that seemed a little out of place to me.  Most of the stones in this burial ground are very severely weathered marble with a number of slates.  This was granite, not weathered, though a bit obscured by lichen.  I realized now that the stone was put up when the last member of the family died in 1916.  Had there been other stones for those that had gone before Sarah P. Underwood, wife of Merlin C. Cobleigh, they were gone and all were combined into this one.  And the information on it was a bit startling and sad but times were hard in the 1860's.

I did a little research when I got home.  There was not a lot I could uncover online.  Vital Records online has Merlin marrying Sarah (daughter of Josiah and Betsey Underwood) when he was 23 and she just 17 years old, May 1st, 1844.  The stone itself gives me the following information:

Based on the stone, they had their first child three years after they were married, in 1847, when Sarah was just twenty.  Baby Diana died sometime during her first year.

In 1851 they had a daughter, Ann.

In 1853, they had a daughter, Emma, who died the next year.

In 1856, they had a son, Myron.

In 1858, they had another son (?), Corin.

In 1860, they had had a third son, Irving.

In 1861, they had a daughter, Ella, who died the next year.

In 1863, they had another baby (sex unstated) who died in infancy

In 1863, Myron (now 7), Corin (5), Irving (3) and Ann (12) all also died. 

Two children died before they were one, and an infant and all the rest of their children gone in the same year.  Eight children over sixteen years.  By the time Merlin was 38 and Sarah, 36 - they had lost eight children.   To me this just felt so devasting for her to try and give her husband children, for him to build a family.  

What could have wiped out the brothers and sisters?  According to epidemic records there were outbreaks of small pox in Pennsylvania in 1860 and 61.  California in 1862-63 and in Boston, PA, NY and the surrounding areas in 1865 to 1873.  Seems likely to me they were victims of this, though I can't find that information for certain.  How difficult to watch your children die one by one until all were gone. Or were they?

I falsely assumed the family ended there.  Merlin died at the fairly young age of 51 and Sarah, according to the stone, lived to nearly 90 years old.  I assumed alone.  Then I realized that if she died in 1916, she must show on some census records.  Indeed, she did. 

The 1880 census shows her as the head of the household in Hubbardston, occupation "Keeping House" and living with her son, Irving, who was 15 years old.  He must have been born after the epidemic in 1865.  In 1880, his occupation was listed as "working on the farm".

The 1910 census shows her in Hillsborough, New Hampshire, her relationship to the Head of the Household, Mr. William H. Hall, was Mother-in-Law!  She did have other children, at least one before the epidemic, Helen, born in 1848, who married William H. Hall April 15, 1866

Helen, was mostly likely the one that brought her mother "home" to Hubbardston to be buried with her husband and eight children, when, according to New Hampshire death records, she died on April 25, 1916.  She had been, according to her death certificate a resident of Brookline in Hillsborough, NH for 17 years, having remained in Hubbardston until 1899.  She died of complications from Arteriol Sclerosis.  Her death certificate was signed by Alpha A. Hall (grandchild?) 

And, since there were more search results, I keep looking.  In the 1850 Census, they were living in Gardner Ma, just up the street from the cemetery.  There was a Massachusetts State Census in 1855 that found the family living in Templeton, Worcester County, MA.  Wow.... guess what? Even more children who had survived the epidemic- Sarah Elizabeth has been born in 1845 (date approx.),  Helen M. (later Hellen Hall) born 1848 (age 7) and Amos J., 5, born in 1850 (approx.).  

So total...at least 12 children, possibly 13!

I was hoping to get a look at the 1870 Census to see if anything else was to be found, but I suspect Irving was the only child born after the epidemic. 

I do find some solace now, knowing that there were children who survived married, carried on and took care of Sarah P. in her later years.  Children's graves are the hardest to see.  And I have to remind myself, I am never seeing the whole picture in any one cemetery.  It takes looking further in census records in particular to delve deeper and further on.

Just to recap:

• On Feb. 12, 1845, they had a daughter, Sarah Elizabeth. (birth records confirm date)
• In 1847, they had a daughter, Diana, who died sometime during her first year. (birth not on record)
• On April 30, 1848, they had a daughter, Helen M. (birth records do not indicate a first name)
• On Oct. 7, 1849, they had a son, Amos Josiah.  (various records reflect date)
• In 1851 they had a daughter, Ann Mary. (Mary from census record, no birth records found)
• On Oct. 3, 1853, they had a daughter, Emma Amelia, who died the next year.  (birth records confirmed)
• On Oct. 17, 1856, they had a son, Myron, in Templeton. (no first name indicated for the male)
• On March 25, 1858, they had another son, Corrin Vasa. (birth records confirmed)
• In 1860, they had had a third son, Irving.  (no record of birth unless he is this next one and the headstone has the wrong birth date on it?)  On Oct. 15,1861, they had a male child - no name indicated on records
• In 1861, daughter, Ella, who died the next year.  (no birth records to confirm)
• On May 12, 1863, they had another baby (a female according to birth records) who died in infancy. 
• In 1863, Myron (now 7), Corin (5), Irving (3) and Ann (12) all also died.
• In 1865, they had a son, Irving.
•  Another son pops up in Marraige records. Merlin E. Cobleigh, born in either 1854 or 1855, married Abby Swinington, on Dec. 25, 1883 (she was born in 1861) in New Hampshire. 

I may just have to go hunting for the Irving and Merlin Cobleighs and the Halls of New Hampshire.  And Sarah Elizabeth...I wonder to whom she was married?

She Sits and She Waits

Generally it seems that when people invest in a headstone and really invest in statuary, it tends towards the saintly stuff - Jesus, Mary, Saints.  At St. Michaels Cemetery in Jamaica Plain (near Forest Hills - exit onto and cross WalkHill Street into St. Michaels) there is quite a large number of saints and angels. Many reaching to heaven, gazing at heaven, holding massive amounts of sorrow in their stone eyes.  And among them, this lovely woman:

 

 She sits, quite calm and patient, arms and legs crossed almost as she had when she sat waiting for the MBTA bus to come along.  In the winter someone embellishes her with a green wreath each year.   I would have to check my records, but I believe I've seen her with a rosary and also a wreath of flowers.  

What I like about her is she feels like someone I could sit with for a while and chat.  And even if her mind wandered a bit, I know she would listen like a kindly old aunt.  And had someone thought to make a place for them, she'd offer cookies and milk.