Click map to enlarge |
 
This cemetery is surrounded by a 20" wall of stones gathered from the adjoining fields; it lies 50 yds NW from the end of Worcester Road (TH-52), which dead-ends in a private dooryard.  It is a few hundred yards SE from the homestead of Rev. Leonard Worcester, on land owned by him at the time of the burials - hence the current name.  He deeded it to the town (Bk 9, Pg 291) on Sept 20 1841.  The homestead was later owned by the Hooker family and when transcribed (by order of the state) in 1919, the cemetery was referred to as "Hooker".
  
Most stones were well-carved on black schist, some were crudely-carved on rough, gray-granite.
  
In 1983 Meg Powden filed a gravestone map and name index of this cemetery with the town clerk.  This project adds as much of the inscriptions as can still be interpreted to her work; gs numbers assigned by Meg have been followed to avoid confusion.  To complicate the task, some stones are today not in the same position or location where Meg placed them on her map.
  
In 1919 the state legislature required [PublicAct No.92] that "the selectmen ... shall ... cause to be copied at the expense of the town ... the inscription on all gravestones in their town erected to the memory of any person who died prior to 1870 ..."; these cards were utilized, where necessary, to supplement my sketches and add to inscriptions which can no longer be read.
  
Today, this cemetery is well cared for; but, this was obviously not always so, as most stones are weathered almost beyond reading and, at least one footstone is across the cemetery from the matching headstone, several pieces of one headstone were found in the stonewall - and the biggest piece of it was being used to prop up someone else's headstone.
  
* In old style lettering, a "soft" "S" was written like an "f", without the crossbar - I have substituted an "f" - as modern computer fonts fail to provide this character.
 
* a slash "/" indicates the end of a line of engraving on the gravestone.
 
* blue Stone #s indicate gs sketched or photographed - click to view.
 
* DOBs followed by an "a" are calculated from the DOD on the gravestone minus the AGE on the gravestone.
 
* [bracketed italics] indicate the info is from other vital or town records; but was not actually on the stone (this info is added to identify the deceased when the info on the stone is illegible or insufficient).
StoneNum | LastName | FirstName | Maiden | DOB | DOD | Add'l Info | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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A1 | W | P |   |   |   | "P.W." | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
C1 | Calder | James |   | 1746a | 08/05/1809 | aet 63 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
C2 | Calder | Mary |   | 1746a | 12/20/1813 | aet. 67 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
C3 | Foster | Ephraim |   |   |   | footstone to C6; surname looks like: "Pofie" - may not be in its proper place | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
C4 | Buswell | Molly |   | 1734a | 05/07/1806 | "Molly / Wife of James / Buswell . . . / aet 71 ~ / / Memento"; b.Hopkinton, NH ab.1763, mentioned in "People of Peacham" who had a son, James, b.Pea 1793 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
C5 |   | blank |   |   |   | footstone in size - no markings | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
C6 foto | Foster |   | 1732a | 11/12/1803 | Surname and DOD partly flaked away, age from 1919 transcription | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
C7 | Foster | Ja |   |   |   | now very faint; dates, if any, not now visable; looked like "JaFofie" in 1983 & 2007; not transcribed in 1919; prob footstone for the "Mrs Jerusha Foster, wife of Mr Ephraim Foster (C6), aged 43 who d. of TB Mar 23 1813" per Rev Worcester's records [d.#224] - stone probably not in its proper place | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
C8 |   | blank |   |   |   | footstone in size - no markings | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
C9 foto | Worcester | Lydia |   | 08/23/1811a | 08/23/1811 | " In memory of two daughs / of Rev Leonard & Mrs. / Elizabeth Worcester. / . . . / aged 10 / months & / 21 days" | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
C9 foto | Worcester | Jerusha |   | 09/20/1802a | 03/15/1803 | "In memory of two daughs / of Rev Leonard & Mrs. / Elizabeth Worcester. / . . . / aged 3 / months & / 26 days" | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
C10 |   | blank |   |   |   | footstone in size - no markings | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
C11 foto | Guy | Mary |   |   |   | "memento / / In memory of / mrs. Mary Guy, / who died / " {rest missing}; this stone has disintegrated into pieces, which are leaning on, & stacked in, the stone wall behind her footstone - which also leans on the wall and may not be in its proper location.  Rev Worcester's records list: "d.#41: 1803 June 6 _ Mrs. Mary Guy wife of Dea. Jacob Guy, aged 63. Consumption"; "d.#116: 1809 Jan'y 7 _ Mrs. Mary Foster wife of Capt. Enoch Foster, aged 33 of Consumption" [refered to in the POP as 'Polly (Guy) Foster']; and "d.#236: 1813 June 23 _ Mrs. Mary Guy wife of James Guy, aged 66. Jaundice".  This stone was not recorded in 1919, but its designe leads one to think it is the wife of Capt. Enoch Foster; whose father was Capt. Ephraim Foster. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
C12 | Guy | Mary |   |   |   | footstone to C11; leaning against stone wall - may not be in its proper place | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
D1 | V | S |   |   |   | "S.V."; footstone to D3 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
D2 | B | M |   |   |   | "M.B."; prob footstone to C4 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
D3 | Varnum | Sarah | [Coburn] | 1753a | 01/09/1802 | "Remember / / In memory of / Mrs. Sarah Varnum / Wife of / Cap. William Varnum / who died Jany 9 1802 / aged 48" | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
D4 | Varnum | Wm (Capt) |   | 1746a | 08/15/1814 | "Died Capt / Wm Varnum / Aug 15, 1814 / AEt 68"; partly flaked away, DOD & age from 1919 transcription |