Sometimes you Need to Make a Second Trip to a Cemetery, Thanks to the Sun!

Rowley Burial Ground, Main Street
Rowley, Essex Co., Massachusetts

The above photo was taken on my first visit to the Cemetery, which was in combination with my Library visit in October 2018. The parking lot is for the Town Hall, Library, and Cemetery, which makes it very convenient to visit all places, especially for a researcher. I had no idea the cemetery was as large as the Google map below indicates. Wow, I felt I needed directions to get to where my Kilborn was buried, so I was pretty glad to discover that the Town Clerk has plenty of records. I love that this is a flat cemetery, made for easy walking. The red arrow points to the Rowley Library. My post yesterday was about my visit to the Town Clerk's office.

Main Street, Rowley, Massachusetts

1630     1930

ROWLEY BURIAL GROUND

_______

The Burial Ground set apart

at the settlement of the

town of Rowley in 1630. Here

are buried Ezekiel Rogers,

Samuel Phillips, Samuel

Shepard, Edward Payson and

Jedediah Jewett. The earliest

ministers of the town, and

nearly all the original settlers.

Massachusetts Bay Colony  Tercentenary Commission

On this trip, we knew where the stones were and hoped we could see them. The first photo is the before and after for Joseph Kilborn.

On our first visit (May 2019), we could see the flat stone for Joseph Kilborn but it was impossible to read (see above). So, we returned to the Cemetery on August 10, 2019, and the sun was in our favor, even though it was hard to read.

Joseph Kilborn

Dorothy Kilborn

It really helped to have this listing so we could see a few words written in the stone.

The two stones are above and below. At least I have some landmarks to find them again.

On the second visit, I had a listing from the city clerk and this Google map. I had no idea the cemetery was this large.

If you want to follow this line, I'm sharing a part of my database on RootsMagic.

The All caps are my direct lines for Mary and John only.

The Joseph Kilborn below was who I was looking for.

Doing Research at the Rowley, Massachusetts Town Hall

 

Rowley Town Hall

139 Main Street

Rowley, MA 01969

(978) 948-2081

townclerk@townofrowley.org

I have a George Kilborn / Kilbourn born in 1611 in Wood Ditton, England, and he had six children born in Rowley, MA. The family left Connecticut sometime before 1649. This is not a direct line, but Thomas Kilborn, the father, was my 10th great-grandfather. So, as I mentioned, George had six children born in Rowley. One of the sons, Joseph had seven born in Rowley. One of Joseph's sons had six children born in Rowley! It was the third Joseph Kilborn's gravestone that I was able to find. He died in 1806. Because Rowley isn't too far from where I live, I was pretty excited to think George Kilborn traveled from Connecticut to Massachusetts, and I wanted to search for some clues searching for clues.

On May 9, 2019, my husband and I went to Rowley, MA specifically to speak with the Town Clerk, Susan G. Hazen. I am glad I made an appointment because she allocated a good deal of time for me. I had seen the cemetery the previous fall, so I knew it was huge. Note: Rowley is not a city it is a town.

When I walked in, there she was at the copy machine.

Two parts of the office. Look at the great Rowley books.

Births from 1925-1932.

The earlier binder has records from 1843-1908.

Their mapping system is pretty self-explanatory.

My Joseph Kilborn and his wife are listed on this page, and with the exact location in the cemetery, it made for a pretty easy find.

So, we strolled in the cemetery and couldn't find my couple because the sun was in the wrong direction. Darn, we knew we had to come back. And we did, on August 10th. (It was just a month later when we discovered Bill had brain cancer. A word to the wise, do all you can when you can.)

More records below

The Library is next door to the Town Hall, and both places share parking space behind the Town Hall. See a previous post, Rowley Public Library, posted on October 8, 2018.

This desk displayed some Rowley history-related items. I don't recall if they were free or not.

Rowley Public Library, Rowley, Massachusetts

Rowley Public Library

141 Main Street

Rowley, Essex Co., Massachusetts

978-948-2850

www.rowleylibrary.org

When I saw the sign, I knew I had to stop to see what the Library had to offer genealogists to help them with their research. I have been by the building many times, but on this sunny fall day, it called me in. I knew I had a Kilborn / Kilbourn line, who left Connecticut sometime before 1649 because six of his children were born in Rowley. This is not a direct line, but George Kilborn was my 9th great-granduncle.

The new-looking building replaced the old library about 15 years ago, but I thought this new location is perfect. It's on the main street, next to the city hall, and the large historic cemetery is next to the city hall.

There are two entrances, this view is from the front. There are two showcase exhibits, birds, and town artifacts.

Below is the view from the parking lot entrance.

After I did a quick tour, I returned to the desk and inquired about seeing the Local History Room, because I could see the door was locked. I mentioned my genealogy blog and said I only wanted to take photos, not research, but I still had to sign in. The librarian remained with me for a few minutes and opened the cabinets, which fortunately weren't under lock and key. I asked if there was a listing of those buried in the cemetery nearby, and she said I would get that from the city hall (next door). (Cemetery blog to follow, tomorrow.)

Entrance to the room, and several photos of the layout.

All the botton draws open.

Single sheet telling what is in the cabinets. Very useful. Glad I spotted it underneath a few other things on the large table.

Four photos of the library.

This room reminded me of the Freeport, Maine Library, where every room had large windows, it's beautiful in the fall. See my post, if interested (link above)..

Glad Google stopped by, and I found this online. The library is in the middle, the city hall to the right, then the cemetery far right. That car is going to a large parking lot for all three places.

For my list of 65 libraries I've visited, see: http://lifefromtheroots.blogspot.com/2018/09/list-of-64-library-visits-to-check-out.html

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