Family cemeteries were common in the “olden days” but records were seldom kept of who was buried in them. Sometimes the old gravestones – if they had them – have deteriorated over time so they are unreadable. Often, a little cluster of fieldstones is all that’s left of a place where a family spent hours pondering their future and the unknown.
Historical societies sometimes have original lists and by taking that list and actually going to the cemetery and checking stones, missing people might be found – if the gravestone is not. The appeal and lure of removing gravestones seems particularly bizarre, but we’ve seen them used for steps, and on walking paths.
In the Chute Cemetery in South Windham, we compared a list made in 1910 with an actual headstone count done in 1985 and found two stones missing: Mary Ann Swett (wife of John), who died in 1888 and Josiah Chute Jr., son of a Revolutionary War soldier, who died in 1837.
Several people have asked about the separate little enclosure next to the Chute Cemetery. It is here that Hemon Cobb and his wife, Sarah, were buried. Hemon lived nearby on the road named for him – it was once his driveway.
He is remembered as an enthusiastic churchgoer whose loud “Amen” often disrupted the service – so much so that a Quaker man offered him a new pair of boots if Hemon would tone it down while in church. That worked for a while, but before the boots were presented, Hemon had had enough quiet and a particularly rousing sermon prompted him to shout “Boots or no boots – Amen!”
Old cemeteries have tales to be told – true ones.
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