I Wanted to Know More and I Found a lot from a Great Cemetery Database

The title is a little misleading because the post is mostly about my efforts to find where David Mercer was buried and who he was. He married one of the five daughters of Annie Ward Poole Bartlett of Andover, Massachusetts. I knew where daughter Sarah Poole Bartlett was buried but where was the husband? When I discovered Sarah had married David Mercer, I soon discovered he was the son of Major-General Sir David Mercer (1864–1920), British Royal Marine officer. Now that I knew who he was, I had to find out where he was buried, since it wasn't next to his wife.

First step is always to turn to FindAGrave, and the screen shot shows just a name and dates, and he was buried in Brookdale Cemetery, established in 1880, with almost 3,000 interments in Dedham, Norfolk Co., Massachusetts. Any genealogists knows, that isn't enough information.

A quick google search of the cemetery name shown on FindAGrave brought me to a link done by the town. I was hopeful.

http://gis.dedham-ma.gov/cemeteryviewer_brookdale/

Below are screen shots to show how to use their outstanding site, there isn't a lot of reading to figure it out.

After I clicked ok, and entered the  surname in the upper left box, you'll see a map and the surname you entered.

I then received a listing of all individuals with that surname. Below, you'll see five people with Mercer in their name.

I clicked on my Mercer, David Dixon, and noted he was in Lot 0421S.

Below, is a listing of all the people in that Lot. Complete with death date and age. A map showing where the Lot is can be seen as well. (You can exit out of this listing of names, and will be able to see the entire cemetery.) This Brookdale Cemetery database in Dedham, Massachusetts can provide a huge amount of information. Unfortunately, I didn't see a marker photo for David Mercer, but if I went, it wouldn't be hard to locate the spot. UPDATE: July 12, 2016, see at the end of this post.

In this listing, you have two options. One is to click on the name, that will give you his Grave Record, shown below. If you click on the last option, that of View Lot Diagram, you'll where the individuals are placed and additional bits of information.

Grave Record above, and Lot Diagram below.

I'm showing an incomplete lineage of Annie Ward Poole and her husband Nathaniel Edward Bartlett. The subject of this post is shown by the red arrow. You can see that Sarah Poole Bartlett married twice, and I should have David listed first, then the second, but in my haste.

This post will be added to yesterdays post, You need to Know What You Have So You Can Share With Others Your Cemetery List

UPDATE: July 12, 2016
I received notification from David Mercer's granddaughter that she found a site with the photo of the cemetery stone at the above cemetery. Both David and his second wife are named on this stone. It had been posted on BillionGraves (a site I don't subscribe to, but may in the future). Please see: https://billiongraves.com/grave/Elinor-Baker-Mercer/8378394#