Life From The Roots: Oct 13, 2015

The Life From The Roots blog topics have changed several times since I began this blog in 2009. I initially wrote only about the family history I had been working on for 20 years. Years later, I was into visiting gardens, historical homes, churches, libraries that had genealogical collections, historical societies, war memorials, and travel/tourism places. I also enjoy posting autographs and photos of famous people I've met or have seen.

Along with my New England roots, other areas include New York, New Jersey, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, and the Eastern Townships of Quebec, Canada.

Please check out the labels on the right side for topics (please note, they need work). Below the labels and pageviews is a listing of my top nine posts, according to Google. Four of them pertain to Lowell, MA. These posts change often because they are based on what people are reading.

Tuesday, October 13, 2015

Mary Prentice Balch, and Prentice Siblings -- Tombstone Tuesday

On July 4th, 2015, I went to the Old Burying Ground in Harvard Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts for two reasons. First, to locate stones of my newly discovered ancestors, William Manning and his wife Dorothy, and to find the stone for Mary Prentice Balch. I was able to locate both, because of photos I had as a guide.

Mary Prentice was my 6th great-grandmother. Unfortunately, I don't know where her husband, Benjamin Balch was buried (his date death and location are still unknown). However, Mary's parents, Solomon Prentice and Hephzibah Dunton were both buried in this same cemetery. I took their photos in 1999, 16 years before their daughter.

If I don't know where somebody is buried, the first thing I do is go to www.FindAGrave.com and put in the persons name and other data, if known. Often there will be a photo. In the below picture on the FindAGrave site, you can see a rather tall stone on the back right (behind Mary's stone). This clue made my search rather easy. You need to remember, they can look different, depending if the photographer is sitting, kneeling or standing.