Ancient Tombstones Are Disappearing!

Please visit Cape Cod Gravestones where Robert Paine Carlson tells about saving the oldest gravestones in Barnstable Co, MA from further deterioration, or worse, disappearing altogether.

See also "A race against time to save history", Brian McQuarrie's article in the The Boston Globe about Mr. Carlson's efforts.

Why "a couple of bubbles off center"?...


In reference to a carpentry project, it means "not level or plumb", but when applied to people, it means "not normal"...or even a little crazy.

It's only natural then that the daughter, granddaughter and great-granddaughter of carpenters would think of those who braved an ocean to start life anew in a strange land as "a couple of bubbles off ".

Now that you're forewarned that I'm descended from people who were thinking wayyyy outside the miter box when they decided to leave everything familiar behind, you shouldn't be surprised that the posts in this blog don't follow the normal order.

For the sake of continuity, posts are in historically chronological order...in other words, oldest >> newest.

Inside St. Augustine's...

>> Saturday, January 23, 2010

Charles Edward "C.E." Banks implies in his Topographical Dictionary of 2885 English Emigrants to New England, 1620-1650 that John and Samuel were born in the West Monkton area of Somerset, where there was a significant Gatchell family presence at the correct time. A fire in the West Monkton parsonage destroyed the parish's records, therefore no definitive birth records exist proving the birth locality or parentage of John or Samuel. Consequently, their presumed births in the West Monkton area is based largely on circumstantial evidence.

High on a wall inside St. Augustine's (left) in West Monkton is a Gatchell family monument. Its location denotes they were prominent members of the community, although not titled.

In fact, the monument is so high on the wall that on my visit there in 2003, I couldn't make out what it said, even by (shhh...don't tell anyone) standing on the back of a pew.

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