Yesterday I was in central Massachusetts with a few hours to kill, so I went to Conway MA, which is where Mom’s grandfather was from. Mom’s aunt researched that side of the family years ago so she could join the DAR, so I had basic information. I was going to have a look around and take pictures of the family tombstones, maybe walk around downtown and look at the historic buildings.
I found Conway without problem–it’s a pretty little former mill town strung out along the South River. And I knew from my great-aunt’s research that our family (Maynard) was buried in the Conway cemetery.
Or rather, cemeteries. There are at least four. Fortunately Find A Grave had information about which one I wanted–Pine Grove, not Howland. Unfortunately because Conway is so spread out, I couldn’t just go out one street and turn left. It was out this street, turn onto another street, turn on another that heads back towards town, then turn into the hills again. I stumbled across Howland Cemetery by accident, but the only Maynard there is not on of our Maynards.
But Howland isn’t too far from Pine Grove, so I took a couple of pictures and moved on. Did I mention there was very little cell service back in the trees and deep little valleys? I wound up back in the center of town.
So I tried again, and this time I found the cemetery. The road appeared to end at a horse farm where an older gentleman had just finished loading some horses into a trailer. I asked him about the cemetery, he said I was on the right road and wished me luck.
Another mile down a gravel road, I finally found the cemetery.
Find a Grave had told me that treat-great-however-many-greats grandfather Daniel’s grave was “at the back in the third row from the fountain,” so I changed into my walking shoes and headed back. I figured a fountain would be pretty easy to find–except it doesn’t appear to be there any more. Just a small manmade hill with a blank area at the top where the fountain probably used to be. But Daniel Maynard is there in the third row where he was supposed to be.
As you can see, the carving is barely legible beneath the lichen, but from what I can make out it’s not for the right Daniel Maynard. The dates don’t match.
And then the joke on me: when I got home and looked at my notes, I had scrambled a couple of names. Our Daniel Maynard is buried in my home town :p I wanted Timothy Maynard, who is in fact buried in…Howland Cemetery.
Lesson learned: this genealogy stuff is harder than it looks.
