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?