Tuesday, April 12, 2016

Tombstone Tuesday ~ Plummer Hadley, Revolutionary War Veteran, and his wife, Goffstown, New Hampshire

These tombstones were photographed at the Hillside Cemetery in Goffstown, New Hampshire


In Memory
of Mr.
PLUMMER HADLEY
who died
Sept. 12, 1814
AE. 77
                                       REV [stenciled in paint]



Mrs. Mehetabel Hadley
consort of
Mr. Plummer Hadley
died Feb. 26th 1804
AEtat. 65

Halt Passenger as you pass by,
Remember death is always nigh,
Therefore prepare to meet your God,
That you may rest in his abode.
                                                    50 [stenciled in paint]


Plummer Hadley was born 1738 in Hampstead, New Hampshire, the son of George Hadley and Elizabeth Plummer.  He married first on 1 October 1765 in Methuen, Massachusetts to Mehetabel Messer, and married second on 1 April 1805 in Goffstown to Abigail Stevens, daughter of Benjamin Stevens and Abigail Johnson.

Again, these are more Goffstown tombstones defaced with stencils in black paint.  "REV" for a Revolutionary war soldier.  I have no idea why Mehetabel's tombstone is stenciled with "50".  Any ideas? 

Children of Plummer Hadley and Mehetabel Messer:
1.  Betsey, born 1766 married John Orr.
2.  Sally, born 1769, married John Messer of Nottingham, New Hampshire
3. Plummer, Jr., born 1771
4. Richard, born 1775
5. Nathaniel, born 1777
6. Mehetabel, born 1779, married Thomas Towne.

For the truly curious:

History of the Town of Goffstown, 1733 – 1920, by George Plummer Hadley,  1924, page 190. 

A PDF file of the 57 Revolutionary War soldiers buried at Hillside Cemetery in Goffstown:
http://www.gotopinardville.com/Revolutionary%20War%20Soldiers%20Hillside%20Cemetery.pdf


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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Tombstone Tuesday ~ Plummer Hadley, Revolutionary War Veteran, and his wife, Goffstown, New Hampshire", Nutfield Genealogy, posted April 12, 2016, ( http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2016/04/tombstone-tuesday-plummer-hadley.html: accessed [access date]). 

11 comments:

  1. I'd consider this vandalism. By doing what they've done, it has taken away from the historical significance of the headstones. The other thing I find interesting is that they say Plummer was a Revolutionary War soldier. If you do a search on the DAR website, there is no listing for him. I wonder how they came up with him being a soldier.

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    Replies
    1. The only soldiers listed on the DAR patriot's list are those whose descendants have applied for membership in the DAR.

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    2. I'm not sure about the others on the list but I do know that the man listed in the article is not listed in the DAR database. Why would anyone, especially a cemetery do what they have done here ? It's absolutely ridiculous. They could have placed some other sort of marker or sign next to the headstone.

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    3. Yes, I agree! See the flag in the Rev. War holder? That is the usual marker for veterans.

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  2. Greg, the DAR web site does not list all people who were involved as patriots in the American Revolution, but ONLY those patriots whose descendants joined the DAR. There are lots of verified patriots who are not listed (I have several that I just have not gotten around to filling out the paperwork for).

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    Replies
    1. Yes, I am aware of that. I've done an extensive search of records looking for a Plummer Hadley and have come up with nothing. My question is how and who found that this man was a patriot ?

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  3. I found a grandfather that was a patriot, but not recognized by DAR or SAR. I ordered the documents from MA archives showing his patriot service and submitted those, along with my lineage paperwork, to SAR. I'm trying to get my sister to join DAR using his name. The interesting thing is that he lived his entire life in Nova Scotia and took great personal risks returning escaped colonial soldiers to MA, from N.S.

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  4. I found a grandfather that was a patriot, but not recognized by DAR or SAR. I ordered the documents from MA archives showing his patriot service and submitted those, along with my lineage paperwork, to SAR. I'm trying to get my sister to join DAR using his name. The interesting thing is that he lived his entire life in Nova Scotia and took great personal risks returning escaped colonial soldiers to MA, from N.S.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for your message, Moe! I have CROSBY ancestors who lived in Nova Scotia, too. Jonathan Crosby (1705 - 1782) and his wife Hannah Hamblin left Harwich on Cape Cod and went to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. I descend from their son Ebenezer Crosby who married Elizabeth Robinson, and grand daughter Rebecca Crosby who married Comfort Haley.

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  5. Hi Heather- Thank you for the information that DAR only lists those Revolutionary Soldiers that people have applied for. Before your posting, I found my 5x great grandfather listed in the DAR but not his son. His son is documented in the Maine Veterans Cemetery list and he has a flag holder next to his stone. He was only 13 when he enlisted and served as a matross. I hadn't made a decision to join DAR, but when I found my 4x ggf served at such a young age, I decided to honor his service by applying. Thanks again for all the interesting information you pass on to us. --Betsy Chervenak

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    1. Hi Betsy! Thanks for your message about your ancestor. As a mother, I just can't imagine a 13 year old enlisting in the war, but I know they did things like that. My ancestor Andrew Munroe was only 11 years old in Lexington when the battle on the town green occurred. He was a Major by the end of the war, so he must have enlisted at a young age, too. I haven't found any records of his first enlistment, but I know he received bounty land New Hampshire where two of his children were born in N. Grafton.

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