When it is too cold to work IN the cemetery, I work ON the cemetery. I sit with my I pad on my lap and scan Gloucester vital records, page by page, looking for burials that are not recorded in Find a Grave. I have not finished, but have some observations to report.
Clark’s Yard was the place to bury babies. Parents must have been able to purchase a readily available burial plot at an affordable price. Sometimes I find the parents in Clark, but frequently I don’t. I wonder if there are certain sections that were set aside and if so, where? I also wonder why these little angels were not already in Find a Grave. If the entries were based on DPS records, then babies must not be in there. If entries were based on photos, then we would have very few people.
I enjoy the challenge of figuring out a bit of each person’s history. Sometimes I have to do some serious research just to figure out some impossible-to-read names. Checking siblings’ records often gives me help in decoding some difficult cursive. I then search to get the parents’ names (including the mother’s maiden name) and the date of birth of the deceased.
Right now there are 555 folks, although there are a few duplicates. 600 doesn’t seem to be an unreasonable estimate. We definitely need some ground penetrating radar.
