52 GRAVESTONES IN 52 WEEKS 2: PHINEAS PRATT OF WEYMOUTH, MA.

For this week I'm returning to one of my favorite cemeteries, Cohasset Central Cemetery.
This family monument caught my eye:

It's a memorial to Phineas Pratt and some of his descendants. Here's a closer view
of the inscription:

And my transcription:

This stone erected to the memory of
the Pratt family by their descendants.

Phineas Pratt came over from England
with the Weston Colony in 1622, and
first settled at Weymouth. The Indians
threatening to destroy the colonies, he
traveled in the then wilderness with the
Indians threatening to destroy him.

He died at Charlestown April 19, 1680,
aged 90 years, and had a tombstone yet
to be seen. One of his sons, Aaron,
settled in this place, and died in 1735
aged 81 years. Aaron his son died in
1767 aged 77 years. Thomas, son of
Aaron 2 died 1818 aged 85 years.
Sarah his wife died 1806 aged 62
years.

It is hoped and believed that their
memory will be handed down to the
latest generations and that when this
stone has crumbled to dust, that our
descendants will erect another more
durable.

__________________
Time and weather having erased the
inscription on the reverse of this stone,
the descendants of Phineas Pratt have
placed here this more durable legend,
as the original charged us to do.

AD 2000
___________________
Underlines mark correction to original text


The story about Phineas Pratt can be found in many books on Plimouth Plantation.
Because I live in Abington, just south of Weymouth, I've also seen it mentioned in
a book about the history of Abington.

I think it's great that the family descendants added a more lasting copy of the inscription
as their ancestors wished.

And I think that bird is a red-tailed hawk.  

52 GRAVESTONES IN 52 WEEKS 1: URIAH BARTLETT OF KINGSTON, MA.

The Old Burial Ground is located in Kingston, Ma., the town just north of Plymouth. It's located
behind the First Congregationalist Church on Route 106 and has some very interesting headstones.
Some of them have quite a bit of information about the people buried there. Here's one for a gentleman named Uriah Bartlett:    

The stone reads:
            In Memory of
       URIAH BARTLETT  
       Born July 23, 1789,
       Died August 2, 1883,
          in his 95th year.
  He served in the War of 1812
and was a representative in the
General Court in 1813 and 1815.

   As a boy he had talked with the
venerable Ebenezer Cobb of this
town who was born in 1694 and
died in 1801, and who in his own
boyhood had known Peregrine White
who was born on the MAYFLOWER
in 1620 and died in 1704.
                 ________
    "Thou shall go to thy fathers in
peace, thou shall be buried in a
grand old age."           Genesis XV., 15.

It's amazing to think that a man who died in 1883 had spoken with a man who had known
Mayflower baby Peregrine White!
 

NEW YEAR, NEW LEAF

It's 2016 and like every New Year of the past few years I've made a resolution to write more
posts for this blog. If you look at the total posts for each year over on the right hand side of
the screen its obvious I haven't kept that resolution. To be honest this blog has always taken a
backseat  to my genealogy blog, and that won't change this year. But I'm adopting a new strategy
to help me do better here.

Two years ago Amy Johnson Crow of the No Story Too Small geneablog started  the 52 Ancestors
in 52 Weeks Challenge and it has been a big help in keeping me writing and researching. So I thought the same method might help me here, a sort of "52 Gravestones in 52 Weeks".

I live in Southeastern Massachusetts in Plymouth County, and the cemeteries here have gravestones
that tell interesting stories of Pilgrims, Revolutionary War and Civil War veterans, and sea captains who died far from home. I should have plenty of material for those 52 weeks.

Now all I have to do is write those 52 (or more) posts.