Tombstone Tuesday - Henry & Lucile Anderson

Pine Hill Cemetery is the eternal resting place for many of my ancestors. Among them are Henry G. R. & Lucile (Garfield) Anderson, my great-great grandparents. 

Born in Easton, Massachusetts, Henry Gustav Robert was the son of the late August Robert and Hedvig Olivia (Eden) Anderson. August and Hedvig were natives of Sweden, making Henry the first generation of Anderson's to be born in America. Henry went on to marry Lucile Rebecca Garfield, a friend of the family. 

Lucile was the daughter of the late Edward Alton and Mary Louise (Antoine) Garfield. She was born on July 1, 1916 in Medford, Massachusetts. 

Henry and Lucile married on October 16, 1936 at the home of Henry's sister, Lillian Johnson. They moved to Brockton, Mass went on to have three children together, Frederic Robert, David Warren, and a third known as Baby Anderson. Baby Anderson was born prematurely in 1943 and only lived for two minutes. 

Lucile passed away on July 5, 1953 from stomach cancer. Henry remarried a couple years later to a woman named Barbara DeLoid and they both moved to Wareham, Mass. Barbara passed away in 1979 and Henry passed away a few years later on January 4, 1983. 

2 Sep 2011 , Pine Hill Cemetery, West Bridgewater, Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA

2 Sep 2011 , Pine Hill Cemetery, West Bridgewater, Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA

Tombstone Tuesday - Mary Louise Garfield (1879 - 1957)

Pine Hill Cemetery, West Bridgewater, Massachusetts (2011)

Born in Plattsburgh, New York, Mary Louise Garfield (nee Antoine), my great-great grandmother, was the wife of the late Edward Alton Garfield and mother of the late Henry A. Garfield, Jennie Glover, Mabel Carlson, Edith Clifford, and Lucile Anderson (my great-grandmother). 

Mary was a seamstress. She resided in Brockton, Massachusetts for most of her life.

Her husband, Edward, passed away in 1918 and is buried in West Dennis Cemetery, West Dennis, Massachusetts. Mary was unable to be buried with him because their children could not afford it so they placed her in Pine Hill Cemetery instead. 

Tombstone Tuesday - One Grave; Eleven Burials (Updated)

I already posted this grave before for Tombstone Tuesday but since then, I've gone back to the cemetery and taken new photos which I like far better. 


Martin and Augusta Anderson were my 3rd great grandparents. Charles, Amando, and Ottelina Anderson were three of their children. Selma Gustafson was Charle's wife and Ethel and Sigrid were their daughters. Carl Peterson was Sigrid's husband and Arnold was their son. Nils Pearson was Ottelina's husband.

August 2011 - South Easton Cemetery

Martin Anderson (1842 - 1915)
Augusta His Wife (1849 - 1903)
Amanda (1877 - 1908)
Charles Anderson (1870 - 1952)
Selma His Wife (1870 - 1946)
Ethel (1897 - 1908)
Carl Peterson (1891 - 1952)
Sigrid His Wife (1893 - 1988)
Arnold Peterson (1919 - 1919)
Nils Pearson (1882 - 1913)
Ottelina His Wife (1886 - 1932)

World War I Marker - Believed to be Carl Peterson's.

Tombstone Tuesday - Monroe's in South Easton Cemetery

For many years, I had been searching for the grave of my great-grandmother, Maude M. McRae. All I knew about her was that she had passed away in November of 1988  in Brockton, Mass after being institutionalized for many years. I didn't have her obituary to tell me where she was buried nor did any family member know. 

So imagine my luck and surprise when I went to South Easton Cemetery on August 4th, to retake some pictures of another grave as well as search for a couple others, and stumbled upon this! I was shocked and incredibly pleased. And I was even more pleased when I saw that she was buried with her parents! 

I've always said that I usually stumble across the most important things I need by accident. And that day was proof!

Tombstone Tuesday - Mary L. Garfield's Grave

Many of my ancestors are buried in Pine Hill Cemetery, located in West Bridgewater, Massachusetts. Among them is my great-great grandmother, Mary L. Garfield (née Antoine). Mary was born in Plattsburgh, New York. She married Edward Alton Garfield and they had five children together. Edward died in 1918. 

Mary was a seamstress. She lived in Brockton, Massachusetts for the remainder of her life and passed away in 1957, four years after the death of her youngest child, (my great grandmother) Lucile Anderson.

For some unknown reason, Edward is not buried in Pine Hill Cemetery. Edward's grave can be found in West Dennis Cemetery in West Dennis, Massachusetts.

Tombstone Tuesday - One Grave; Eleven Burials

Located in South Easton Cemetery of South Easton, Massachusetts is the Anderson Family Grave, which is the eternal resting place for my 3rd-great grandparents, Martin and Augusta Anderson, as well as nine other family members. Buried along side Martin and Augusta are (in order): 

- Their daughter, Amando (misspelled as Amanda)

- Their son, Charles Anderson 

- Charles' wife, Selma Gustafson.

- Charles and Selma's daughter, Ethel (died as a result of accidental drowning).

- Carl Peterson, Sigrid's husband.

- Sigrid Peterson, Charles and Selma's daughter.

- Arnold Peterson, Carl and Sigrid's son.

- Nils Pearson, Ottelina's husband.

- Ottelina Pearson, Martin and Augusta's daughter.

Martin Anderson (1842-1915)
Augusta Anderson (1849-1903)
Amando (1877-1905)
Charles Anderson (1870-1952)
Selma Anderson (1870-1946)
Ethel (1897-1908)
Carl Peterson (1891-1952)
Sigrid Peterson (1893-1988)
Arnold Peterson (1919-1919)
Nils Pearson (1882-1913)
Ottelina Pearson (1885-1932)

Tombstone Tuesday - Swedish Grave

The grave of my 3rd great grandparents, Lars Gustaf Eden and Sofia Blom, located in Naglums Churchyard in Sweden. Lars was born in 1844 and passed away in 1934. Sofia was born in 1846 and passed away a year before Lars. Both of them were lifelong residents of Sweden.

Tombstone Tuesday - There's More Than Meets The Eye in Calvary Cemetery

The city of Brockton, Massachusetts has many cemeteries and if I look around hard enough, I can probably find someone of relation in each one. But the one that holds, how should I put this, the most distinction to me is Calvary Cemetery. Located on North Cary Street, Calvary Cemetery is the eternal resting place to many ancestors of mine.

Among the many ancestors laid to rest there, one of them was my great-grandfather, Fred McRae. Now finding his grave was tough when I first went looking for it a few years because there was a wreath covering the names. But once I found it, I saw that there were three other people buried with him: his sister, Mary McCormick, their boarder (Mary and Fred took in a lot of boarders), John Doherty, and Fred's adopted grandson, Kevin Newell.

Mary McCormick (1879 - 1958)
Fred J. McRae (1892 - 1951)
John E. Doherty (1897 - 1962)
Kevin F. Newell (1952 - 2001)

Now around the headstone where two in-ground stones. Towards the front right of his stone was a memorial commemorating Fred's time in the army during World War I. And towards the back left of the headstone was a little in-ground stone with one word on it, "MOTHER" (I'm going to save the story surrounding this stone for  Mystery Monday).

Marker commemorating Fred's time in the military during World War I.

So after all was said and done and I had copied down the information I needed and took pictures, I left, thinking nothing more of it.

Over the years, I continued my research and made some very interesting discoveries. After looking at the death certificate of Fred's father, James R. McRae, I found out Mary was actually a step-daughter to James (half-sister to Fred). On a 1900 U.S Census Record, I found the names Edward and Thomas McCormick (spelled McCormack on the census). Now I had originally assumed that Thomas or Edward was Mary's spouse and the other was a brother of said spouse.

But after reading the obituary of Fred's mother, I found out that Thomas and Edward were actually Mary's brothers (Fred's half-brothers). Also on the obituary was another child named Ben! I was quite suprised by this.

But now the big question for me was - what the heck happened to them all?!

One problem I had been having was not being able to find Mary's death date (She died in 1958; records at the library stopped around the 1940's and the records at the city hall were too much (there's a fee just to look).) So yesterday, I decided to call Calvary because I thought maybe they could give me her burial date. And wasn't it quite a shock when the man told me that the grave was actually a ten-person grave! I was stunned and even more so when the names he read off to me included Thomas McCormick (spelled McCormack on the records there), Edward McCormick, and Benjamin McRae!

Bingo! I found them!

But now, the one thing that puzzles me is why they are all buried there but only Mary, Fred, John, and Kevin's names appear on the headstone. Hmm . . . maybe, I should have saved this story for Mystery Monday as well.

Ben McRae                         (Burial June 10, 1932)

Thomas H. McCormack       (Burial December 4, 1941)

Child of mgt                         (Burial January 7, 1944)

Child of James Newell          (Burial September 3, 1946)

Edward McCormack             (Burial August 31, 1950)

Fred McRae                         (Burial March 2, 1951)

Mary McCormack                 (Burial November 15, 1958)

John E. Doherty                   (Burial December 14, 1962)

Kevin Newell                         (Cremation June 27, 2001)