Pages

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.

Sunday, January 14, 2018

Pomp Lovejoy, Died in Andover, MA, How Can you Find his Burial Site?


I've been wanting to post this since May 2016, because I "discovered" a grave marker for a 101-year-old slave who died in Andover. However, because of the sun, my photo didn't come out. I went back several times but always had the same problem. Even the person who took the FindAGrave photo had difficulty and had to lighten it considerably. So this post was put aside for many months.

Then, on August 31, 2017, Bill West of the West in New England blog, wrote in his post that he had Pomp Lovejoy named as "'Negroe servant' to my 7x great granduncle Captain William Lovejoy". That was my solution, and I told him I had a photo and would post it on my blog. But, I never thought it would take five months to write and share this, because, I still needed something else to go with this post.

Today, I remembered a former post in which I gave exact directions to find some relatives buried in the same South Church Cemetery where Pomp was buried, and I was able to find them immediately. I'm resharing the instructions, so if Bill West or anybody else wants to find a cemetery stone there, all they have to do is follow the below instructions.

Pomp Lovejoy, different visits (note flag missing.)
See the FindAGrave photo and compare to mine.
Lightened, but can't read. His wife, Rose was buried beside him.


Pomp and Rose Lovejoy are to the left on this row, the Coburns to the right, and below.
Same location, different years, the flag is missing.

On January 26, 2018, Jim Moore,  a reader, was able to lighten my image. This was a wonderful and thoughtful thing to do. Thanks, Jim.

South Church / South Parish Cemetery
Central Street, Andover, Massachusetts

How to find burial sites of those buried in the South Church Cemetery in Andover, Massachusetts.

Step 1
After I found Pomp Lovejoy on the FindAGrave site, I clicked on the link for the cemetery listed on Pomp's page. The link for South Church Cemetery was listed and I clicked on that. Then clicked on the tab Get to Know Us, and brings you to Cemetery Information, so easy. You are ready to search the Cemetery Database.

Step 2
The following steps are easy from here on out, just type in your surname, as I did below for Lovejoy, Pomp. You'll get the Lot number and Detail. Click on Detail, and you'll get a detailed report ... see my yellow reports below on Pomp Lovejoy. I've never seen anything like this in all the 150 or so different cemetery visits I've made.

I made a quick call to the church to see if they had maps, they did! The following morning, after printing out my names and writing their Lot numbers with Grid number (very important), I showed up at 9:30. Once you have the Grid, it is easy to find who you are looking for. Copy of map is below (reduced in size many times).

To recap, if you believe your individual is buried in this cemetery, you'll need to insert the surname, note the Lot number and Grid number (from the Detail information), then use the map. Example for Pomp Lovejoy are below.


Click on Show, under Detail, and you will find a complete report, like Pomp Lovejoy's below. The grid number in the report tells you where he was buried. Then go to the cemetery map and find that grid. With the grid and lot number, you should have an easier time finding the stone than if you didn't have this information.


Cemetery Map
The Church and Cemetery from Google Earth.