The Case of the Vanishing Headstone

If I were playing Randy Seaver's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun from last month, I would now be able to go back in in an unbroken chain of headstones to my 4th great-grandparents, Moses Quimby Bean and Elizabeth Kezar (pronounced Kee-zer with the emphasis on the first syllable). This cemetery, as I wrote about last week, sits on property set aside by Moses for this purpose and was called the Bean Burial Ground in some church records.

Moses Bean

DIED

Oct. 19, 1825

Ae 52 yrs 8 mo

Betsey Kezar

Wife of

Moses Beane

DIED

Oct. 25, 1830

Ae 54 yrs 7 mo

I may also have another set of 4th-great-grandparents buried here, but more research is needed to verify that. Of course, I had planned to photograph their headstones anyway since this cemetery isn't exactly around the corner from me. But when we got here, there were no signs of any headstones for Isaac Gordon and Mariam Wells.

They were listed on interment.net but my mother and I walked the thankfully small cemetery twice and had no luck finding them. Once home I logged onto the site and saw that the compiler had last updated this cemetery in 2004, so it was certainly possible given the age of the stones and the condition of some of those in the cemetery where repairs, sinking and leaning were evident, that Isaac and Mariam's headstone(s) had been lost to time.

Next I contacted Leslie Nutbrown, who had transcribed this cemetery, because I knew that he sometimes transcribed from photos, and I was in luck, he had a photo and sent it to me right away.

Used with permission of the photographer,

Leslie Nutbrown, who transcribed the stones in this cemetery in 2004.

Isaac Gordon

Died

Nov. 25, 1853

Aged 74 Yrs.

-----

Mariam Wells

His Wife

Died Mar 19, 1862

Aged 74 Yrs.

6 Mo. 4 Dys.

I still look at this photo and shake my head that a monument this seemingly sturdy could just disappear. But the property does lie on a busy road. In the time that we were there, many trucks flew past us hauling lumber and other cargo towards the border. I would imagine that kind of activity produces a lot of vibration that could be damaging to these monuments, and if it had been leaning like a similar family monument here, I guess it could very well have toppled over and broken apart.

Contacting the local historical society is near the top of my genealogy to do list. I hope they can help me learn about the cemetery and tell me who maintains it now.