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Archiver > GenMassachusetts > 2005-06 > 1120185759


From: Ruth Barton <>
Subject: Back Yard Burials?
Date: Thu, 30 Jun 2005 21:40:25 -0700


Kathy, More than likely they just moved the bones. After that long a time
that would be all that was left of him and the "pine box" would have long
since become a part of the earth. So he wouldn't take up much space by
that time. Ruth

PS: Great to hear from you, I was thinking about you just the other day.




Just a thought, I wonder how many times when cemeteries are relocated, that
only the stones are moved? I believe that happened to one of my ancestors
who died in the 1760's in southern Vermont, when they relocated his
"remains" in the mid 1900's from a small private burying ground in the woods
to the town cemetery. The new plot they buried him in was only about two or
three feet long. The stone is facing a rather large monument with barely
enough room to walk between the two, so either old Atherton shrunk, or he is
still in his original resting place. He had a nice stone anyway (G).
The man in charge of moving the bodies was known to do things only halfway,
but I still chuckle when I walk through the cemetery. My ancestor was
somewhat unconventional, and I think he would get a kick out of "hiding out"
in the woods, unmarked.
Anyway, whenever I hear of a cemetery being moved, I wonder how many of them
actually make the trip. Nowadays I'm sure everything is done by the book,
but I bet some of them took the easy way out in earlier days.
Kathy Lisai
--
Ruth Barton

Dummerston, VT

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