Rehoboth Cemetery

 There are dangers to getting lost, though you would not expect one of these to be finding what at first glace appears to be an old cemetery. As goes the old saying, looks can be deceiving. 

Having completed his mission to complete a full search of the cemetery where one of his great-aunts and her husband are buried in search of their markers (turns out they don't have markers - and there are two burials in their plot that are totally unexplained thus making for ANOTHER mystery to plague me - but that is a whole 'nother story for another time), Br'er was scampering off to another location by dead reckoning. 

Turns out his navigation was dead wrong. He wasn't precisely lost, mind you. But he found a really long way around to his destination. Out on a seriously 'out in the country' road he spied an interesting cemetery and decided to investigate it, if for no other reason than to stretch his legs a bit. This led to what that little girl experienced chasing a snowy bunny - a proverbial trip down the rabbit hole! What was to be a few minutes pause en route between destinations turned into a two day ordeal!

Any visit to a cemetery begins with pulling it up on Find A Grave to gather some basic information: How old is it? How many graves are recorded? Anyone famous or interesting? Any noted description or history? Any photo requests outstanding?

There is a photo request, so mental note taken to look for it (even though a problem has been flagged on the request). And there are some fairly old markers, so the brief stop is definitely going to stretch out a bit.

One of Br'er's many quirks is looking for military headstones. One of those is spotted straight off. But  either the marker has settled or the surrounding soil has risen over the years to obscure details at the bottom of the market. I could still see markings, but could not make out the details, nor determine what it said.

I usually pull up Find A Grave first and check it against the marker. Is something missing or in error? Is there a photo? GPS location?

In this case Find A Grave had only the name and cemetery. No birth and death dates. Was that what was at the buried bottom of the stone? Using a stout stick, I excavated to the base (the marker was set in a cement base) and revealed not only his unit but his birth and death dates. For whatever reason no one had made the effort to gather this data before.

Yes, yes. I added the data and photos to the Find A Grave memorial record.

There's at least one good deed for the day done!

But as I continued I started into a full audit of the cemetery. In the August heat and rain this was far from the wisest of choices. Especially as I came wholly unprepared for such an undertaking. I had brought none of the usual tools needed. No gloves, bug spray, pruning clippers, etc. 

What the hell. I am already started and daylight is burning. Let's do this!

Using a grid search I carefully pull up each marker in Find A Grave and insure that the facts are recorded, there is a photo of the marker(s), and the grave has its GPS location tagged at a minimum. This leads me to add several memorials that are not yet in Find A Grave. It also leads me to the realization that, all appearances to the contrary, this is very much an active cemetery. The last burial was about a year previous in 2019! Not at all what I expected.

Several hours later and several brier scratches to boot (not to mention the loss of a pound or two in water leaking from my skin) I am forced by nature to give up for the day. A light sprinkle, or even a short downpour, isn't enough to make old Br'er run for cover. But a torrential rain coupled with lightning will do the trick every time.

Just as well as I want to do some research on one grave. There is an infant marker with the surname of some of my ancestors from this area. Now I must learn if he is a relation or not.

I will leave off the hours spent on the search. The bottom line is that he is a 3rd cousin twice removed. And being the only one in the entire cemetery with that surname it makes for YAM (Yet Another Mystery). How did he come to be buried here of all possible locations? Alas, there is no way to every learn for certain.

All my research turns up something I wish I had had at the beginning: Someone make a detailed list of all the headstones and names back about 20 years previous organizing them in something of a Row and Column list. I had difficulties locating some graves that day. Having something giving me a better idea of who is next to who is a big help. So I bookmark the web page so I can reference it on site the next day.

Oh, yes. There has to be a second day. I am too committed to this now to quit before I have completed the audit.

Finding the previous list and returning paid dividends. First, I was able to locate one grave that was only ever marked by a funeral home "temporary" name plate in 1959. Knowing where the grave should be based on nearby marked graves I poked about a but and uncovered the nameplate. It had fallen over and been covered with leaves and weeds. I reset it as best I could and made certain to update the Find A Grave memorial with a photo and GPS coordinates. It may well be in a few years that that GPS tag is the only thing confirming where the grave is.

And I was able to find a marker for that photo request despite someone in the past saying there was no marker for the child (a distinct possibility for any child born in 1870 and dead by 1871). 

Another good deed accomplished. I think that clears my quota for those through 2025.

Add in identifying a couple of duplicate memorials and getting those corrected, adding about a dozen new memorials, and fully auditing a cemetery and you have a rather productive weekend!

A few random thoughts before closing: 

Another example where the previous list of graves and general locations paid off. This marker was totally covered by debris. Because I knew where it should be I was able to dig about a bit and uncover it. This is the first - and probably last - photo of it. I wish I had the time, skill, and wealth to restore markers like this.

Spotting bones in a cemetery is usually cause for alarm. Fortunately I could readily discern that these are not human.