Boston asks for help restoring historic gravestones to appropriate burying grounds

 

Edward Lillie, Sr., died 12/27/1688 in Boston

Boston historians are asking for help reuniting several centuries old gravestones with the appropriate graves in the city's historic burying grounds. Historic Burying Grounds Initiative said it is asking historians, researchers and genealogists to check their records and help determine where the individuals were originally interred. 

During the 20th century, gravestones and pieces of stones were removed from various cemeteries for preservation purposes. Sometimes they were removed to prevent theft, with the full intention of restoring and replacing them at a future date.

Please take a look at the 9 photos provided on site and see if you can help  identify where each stone belongs. 

A Kind World: A Story About One Man's Passion for Genealogy

"Joel Obermayer, of Arlington, has recently come to see his father in new light — and he learned that one of his father’s projects helped connect a web of people all over the world."  
[Source: Erika Lantz in a radio series called Kind World at WBUR (NPR in Boston)]

This story is about a man obsessed with genealogy named Arthur Obermayer. He created an award for German non-Jews who preserved Jewish history, which helped people from around the world learn about their ancestors and connect over a shared passion for genealogy and Jewish culture.

You can listen to it or read the transcript of the interview at Kind World #21: Not Just Some History

Arthur passed away on Sunday. He knew he didn’t have long to live when he interviewed for this story, making it all the more meaningful.

Paul Revere's 1795 Time Capsule Found

Workers investigating a water leak in the Massachusetts State House in Boston, were surprised to stumble on a time capsule buried in 1795 by Paul Revere and Samuel Adams.

Hatchford holds Time Capsule Box

Pamela Hatchfield, the head of object conservation at Boston's Museum of Fine Arts, was called in to carefully chip away the plaster around the small box so it could be removed.

Staff will be X-raying the box and studying it before deciding what the next step will be. They hope to open it safely and do whatever is necessary to preserve the contents. The contents are not known although there is some evidence indicating there might be coins, a plate and a plaque inside.

Historians know that the box was opened in 1855 and the contents treated with acid so there is concern that there could be deterioration. Once the contents are examined and treated, the decision will be made as to what the box's future will be.

Credit: Still shot from video online at http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/11/us/boston-time-capsule-paul-revere-sam-adams/index.html?c=us

Missing Friends from Boston Pilot 1830-1840

The Missing Friends Project has added another set of extracts from Newspapers.

The recent set is from the Boston Pilot, published in Boston Massachusetts. From October 1831 to October 1921, the Boston Pilot newspaper printed a Missing Friends (Information Wanted) column with advertisements from people looking for lost friends and relatives who had emigrated from Ireland to the United States & Canada. Many travelling to Canadian ports went on to USA, but others remained in Canada. This project is extracting the names and other details of those who sailed into Quebec and other Canadian Ports of Arrival.

This dataset of Missing Friends from the Boston Pilot is for those who were known to have arrived or settled in Quebec. Since ships passenger lists to Canada did not have to be archvived before 1865, these extractions will form an important piece in the gap in surviving ships passenger lists.

Challenges in Searching Boston Ship Passenger Lists

The problem with the Boston arrivals is there is an 8 1/2 year gap on M277 (which is titled Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at Boston MA 1820-1891) The gap is from a April 1874 to 31 Dec 1882.

That is because there are no Federal records of any kind prior to 1883 (due to fire) and State Department copies were used in their place. BUT State Departments copies and abstracts only covered up to end of March 1874.

However the good news is that there ARE records for the missing years. They are not available at NARA, only at the Massachusetts State Archives

There is an index on M625 which *does* cover those "missing" years. Finding an ancestor on that index in those missing years means you have to then write to the Mass. State Archives for a copy of the passenger list page with your ancestor on it.

Search for ancestors on Ships Passenger Lists to USA