The Lost Grave of South Hadley

The Lost Grave of South Hadley

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The Bowdoin stone started at the Old South Hadley Cemetery. It was moved in 1902 during the move of that old cemetery. All the stones that were moved in 1902 were moved to Evergreen Cemetery except this Bowdoin stone. In Evergreen, they were moved to the back of that cemetery or to the family section of that cemetery. It was always rumored that a few stones were moved elsewhere. Families could have the burials from the Old South Hadley Cemetery moved to anywhere in the country but they would have had to pay for the move of the burials and the stone plus the new plot at the cemetery they would be placed into.

This Bowdoin stone is on the Professor Soule list of stones that were at the Old South Hadley Cemetery. (Soule’s list is available at the South Hadley History Room at the South Hadley Library.)

Henry Bowdoin one of the sons of the family died in 1904. That was the year of the move and the family plot would have now been in this cemetery. If one looks at the Soule list and subtracts off all names in the Jessie Lie book from 1976 (Lie’s book is about the stones in the back of Evergreen from the 1902 move), then one is left with about 20 family monuments. Looking through the main body of Evergreen, one finds all of these family stones but one. The one that is the lost one is this Bowdoin stone.

William Bowdoin – FINDAGRAVE

1 – Abby Allen Bowdoin (20 Sept 1828-8 Apr 1884)

2 – Laura White Gridley Bowdoin (24 Apr 1821- 28 Dec 1845)

3 – Laura White Gridley Bowdoin (1796-21 Apr 1822)

4 – Harriat Bowdoin (9 Nov 1861-1947)

5 – William Bowdoin (25 Oct 1786- 23 June 1856)

6 – Caleb Strong Bowdoin (26 March 1815-1840)

7 – infant son Bowdoin (b/d 10 Sept 1824)

8 – William Horace Bowdoin (16 Oct 1825-1 May 1869)

9 – Harriet Gridley Bowdoin (1833-8 Dec 1834)

10 – Birdaline Bowdoin (1870-1933)

11 – Harold Mortimer Bowdoin (23 Nov 1876-1949)

12 – Mabel Mason Bowdoin (1876-1946)

13 – Harriet Goodrich Bowdoin (22 May 1793-4 Dec 1868)

14 – Henry Augustine Bowdoin (24 July 1830-6 Aug 1904)

15 – Marian Waters Bowdoin (1837-1929)

The family tree chart that I have made is by design centered around William Bowdoin (d 1856). He was a lawyer and the first postmaster of the Canal Village Post Office.

Henry Bowdoin had his subset of a family buried here too with his father and mother.

One daughter of his is Harriatte Bowdoin. She was an Impressionist painter in New York City. ART WORK

Henry’s son William Goodrich Bowdoin was an art critic. WORK William Bowdoin wrote several books:

The Rise of the Book Plates LINK