The remains of Thomas

Yesterday, finally, I learned the real state of the remains of Thomas. Or, let's say, we can use the observation of Samuel Pickering Gardner to establish some notion prior to the road work of the 1840s. Then, what might have happened post that bears some attention. To me, the least that we can do is build some type of 'virtual' view of Gardner Hill with its grave sites. To that, then, can be attached the large set of data points that will accrue to analysis.

For starters, we need to see overlays of old and new maps so that we can point out what might have happened over the period of the first raking off of the gravestones until now. Essentially, it is unclear how many gravestone were moved, whose bodies may have been re-interned, or just how many graves were left to be scraped by the road work or to be covered over by the progress of building. More research is to be done. Dr. Frank talked to George Augustus Gardner about, and read the, notes that George had that had been written by Samuel Pickering Gardner who had visited Gardner's Burial Ground sometime prior to the period of the road work and reported his observations.

You see, and I verified this yesterday, lots of references on-line mention words like 'graves moved' or 're-interned' or any other of the number of things that a civilized society does to its cemeteries (from my perspective which can be explained, as needed). On the other hand, after yesterday, I thought of the Salem Fire (retribution - after all, we're talking Salem) which came out of an industrial area related to shoes. The first desecration of the grave sites relate to the push for commerce in that industry. As such, by the time the roadwork was done in the 1840s, graves had already been disturbed with stones scattered about. 

Dr. Frank did see Samuel's notes and made a brief comment (see pages 17 and 18 of Gardner Memorial - 1933). That is a good place to start. In the meantime, here is a history of posts of the Thomas Gardner Society, Inc. devoted to the subject. 

• Where is Thomas? - (Oct, 2010) On a visit to Harmony Grove, we got familiar with the layout and found the graves of Ann's Gardner ancestors. Dr. Frank is buried in the same plot as her grandfather and great-grandfather. Also, we saw the area where people are directed. It didn't make sense. Later I called and heard 'graves were moved' (but there was no clear indication where Thomas' remains were). 
• Where is Thomas? II  - (May, 2011) Not hearing from anyone any story that made sense, I continued to search. Notice that there is an aerial view of the area where the stones were, supposedly. I did not see that myself. Too, in 2015, I noticed that Dr. Frank, in the 1933 book, does not mention 'move.'
• Where is Thomas? III - (Aug, 2015) Motivated by a Wikipedia edit, I did further looking. One addition was a map by Perley put next to a modern aerial view where landmarks can be identified. I noted that the 'burial issue' was open and needs to be resolved. In my mind, that involved, mainly, finding where bones may have been thrown in Harmony Grove and identifying this. 

But, now I see that it is going to be more involved. Yes, bones were cast to the wind, if you would. There are many things that could be done, so expect that we will continue this discussion. Today's purpose was merely to set the record straight.

We do not know the status of the remains of a whole lot of people. Too, stones were thrown about. Well, the argument is that they broke. Okay. At least, Seeth was given some notice. Also, Buffum is noted as having the earliest stone over grounds that do not contain his remains. 

Remarks: Modified: 02/22/2019

08/28/2018 -- After some research, the fact that the stones were moved arose. So, we added a page for this cemetery, now defunct, on findagrave. Also, we can plan several tasks related to important issues, such as who was buried there, what stones stand, how many were broken, etc. As well, we can model the area as of 1640s, to get an idea of the size.

01/04/2019 -- This topic will be followed more regularly this year (344th of 29 December 1674). We will initiate a discussion on WikiTree (see link in sidebar) in support of the research.

02/22/2019 -- Gardner's Beacon, Volume IX, Number 1 addresses the problem of "Where is Thomas?" that has been needing attention, now, for a couple of hundred years, almost.