New England Cemeteries are gorgeous in the fall.

Leaves cover the ground, trees light with color and old trees stand as they have for hundreds of years…well, at least they look as if they have.

I have strolled through so many times. I have visited headstones more times than I can count, but that was years ago and before I started formally recording my family information. Now, armed with only a phone, I visited with the purpose of photographing what resting places I could find.

I have only started my work in Cemeteries. Here, in Abington,Massachusetts, I know that my Maternal > Paternal line, Balentine/Whitman rest here. I come from William L. Balentine who passed in 1941.

I found the Headstone of my Great Uncle Gilbert and his wife, which was nice. I didn’t know they were buried here.

William’s wife, Laura Whitman Balentine, she died of TB as a young mother. Verbal history states that there was no money for a gravesite, so her sister Blanch, married to a Wyatt, offered a spot in their plot.Interestingly, no one ever marked the spot and it has remained unmarked every since.

At near the other end of the cemetery, I did find the Wyatt section. Laura’s father, Alfred Whitman was also buried in the Wyatt plot, originally unmarked.I was happy to see a ground stone now placed there. I wonder where Alfred’s wife Mary is buried.

The Wyatt headstone is the one in the middle of the two bushes. Alfred rests where the flowers are sitting and Laura rests behind him.

Verbal history tells us that there was a request to move Laura to join her husband. They were told that too many years had passed and such a move would be impossible. Still, no one marked Laura’s gravesite. At least her father is now marked and we know that Laura rests behind him.

If you want to visit them, I took photos to help with directions. William Balentine and sons are buried at the Pearl Street end of the cemetery on a road entitled Hawthorn Rd. They rest immediately behind the Hawthorne sign.

To help find the Wyatts, I stood in front of their plot, looked to my left and saw the large tomb building. I thought that a good landmark. So find that first and mimic this photo.

Once what you see looks like this picture, you are standing in front of them. Alfred Whitman has a ground stone.

Laura rests in the empty space immediately behind him. It’s nice to know she rests with her father. I do still wonder where her mother lays. And Laura needs a stone to mark her grave. Investigation continues.

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Here is a snippet from Wikipedia, Roger Conant (c. 1592 – 1679) arrived in Plymouth Colony from London early in 1623/24 with the profession of salter. Early in his colonial life, he became associated with those opposed to the Puritan authorities in Plymouth and led the settlement to outlying areas, particularly in the Salem area, which he is credited with founding. He was the first governor of English settlers in Salem from 1626 to 1628.

My descent from Roger is through his son Lot Conant.Lot married the daughter of the Marblehead’s first minister, Rev. William Walton. Lot and Elizabeth then moved to Bridgewater, Mass. and build a homestead there at a time when there were only a dozen families building there. Their family line continues and married into the Whitman family and that line takes me to my Grandfather, Alfred Balentine’s Mother, Laura Whitman.

So my Grandfather who claimed he had no one important in his past, descended from Roger Conant, the founder of Salem and first governor…..(Grampy, check your facts first!…Hahah).

Salem has a statue of Roger at the town green. I wanted my picture taken in front of the statue. After all, he is my ancestral Grandfather. The challenge is the the statue is in the middle of the road. And there is traffic everywhere. It was hard for my friend to get a proper picture without car rooftops covering me up. Help arrived.  A tractor trailer beeped at us, stopped and signaled my friend to go ahead and step into the road. Amazingly all other cars stopped as well. (Was that you Grammy??) With all cars stopped. It was fun and we were quick. My friend stepped into the middle of the road and got a good shot of me. Anything for family history!!!

Here I am standing on the triangle of land upon which the statue rests. My friend is standing in the road to get this shot. It looks deserted here but trust me, cars are constantly streaming through.

My friend stepped further back to get a better shot of the whole statue base and me, clinging to the railing so I don’t get run over. I should have put my nice shoes on. I was wearing my running shoes for cemetery climbs, traffic dodging, etc.

Being the awesome assistant, Paul knew to get a photograph of the sign in close up. And he was quick, we didn’t make the willing traffic wait for more then a minute or two.

Here is my line to Roger Conant.

Myself > Ruth Balentine >Alfred Balentine > Laura Whitman b.1896 > Alfred W. Whitman b.1871> Alfred A. Whitman b.1848 > Charles Stockbridge Whitman b. 1784 >Elijah Whitman b. 1762  >Nicholas Whitman b.1731 > Mary Conant b.1694 > William Conant b.1666 > Lot Conant b.1624 > Roger Conant b.1592

Here is the GPS link to his statue, he stands at the green in front of the Salem Witch Museum.

Roger Conant is my Great, Great, Great, Great, Great, Great, Great, Great, Great, Great, Grandfather.

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Exploring Bridgewater history, I read that the Whitman family built and owned the Whitman mill. It may be still standing.It’s fun to find a grandparents home but even more fun to find a business or landmark. As the Whitman men married woman from the same town, I can also investigate their lines and see how many old homes and places I can photograph that are of ancestral importance.

Bridgewater always felt like home to me, maybe this is why. I just might have the most ancestors from there than any other town.

In researching I’m lucky in the fact that my ancestors did not really travel so much. They came from England, mostly and stayed pretty much where they landed, often in the same county. Moving to Vermont, I have traveled the most, at least within these Unites States.

Me> Ruth Balentine>Alfred Balentine>Laura Whitman>Charles Whitman>Elijah Whitman> Nicholas Whitman> Nicholas Whitman> Thomas Whitman> John Whitman (the immigrant).

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