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New Hampshire -- Good Reading

© Christina Coruth

Historic Burial Grounds
of the New Hampshire Seacoast
Glenn A. Knoblock
Arcadia Publishing
1999
128 pages
0-7385-0108-5
$18.99 paperback

Who would want to go poking around in old cemeteries? Fortunately for anyone interested in genealogy, history, art, or an good book in general, the answer is Glenn A. Knoblock. Historic Burial Grounds of the New Hampshire Seacoast is a photographic tour of some of the oldest burial grounds in the state. Gravestones dating from as far back as the late 1600's reveal the culture of the people in the seacoast area. Knoblock's prose is concise as he fills in the fascinating details about the gravestones, the symbolism of the carvings, the stonecarvers, and the background of some of the people interred.

Some of the carvings represent the oldest folk art in the country. Many of the stones have elaborate carvings and beautifully done inscriptions created by the skilled stonecarvers of New England. Some are simple stones, crudely etched by family members. While carvings of skulls may seem morbid to us or cherubs may seem fanciful, Knoblock explains the symbolism represented by these and other pictures. Rooted in biblical beliefs, these symbols represented the spiritual center of life at the time. The photographs capture the essence of life in early America.

Interesting facts can be deduced from collating the information on the stones and we can at once be connected to our distant past. For instance, as Knoblock points out, it's possible to figure out which towns were hit hardest by the Throat Distemper Epidemic of the 1735 that claimed the lives of 94 children. The gravestones, some representing two or three siblings lost to the epidemic, show us that a parent's grief is the same now as it was then.

Knoblock lists the names of the Seacoast graveyards that contain graves of the famous and the prominent, as well as the average person. Portsmouth's North Burying Ground is the site of the graves of many Revolutionary era men, including General William Whipple, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and his slave Prince, who fought for his freedom in the war. Although not included in the photographs, this is an example of information in the book that is not only interesting, but also valuable to the researcher.

Genealogists will find a rich source of information. I opened the book and found myself staring at a familiar name. I immediately contacted a fellow genealogist to tell him of the find. Whether this turns out to be his family remains to be proven. However the listing of all the old Seacoast Cemeteries and their locations is a time saver. A great many gravestones are included in the book. Certainly enough to make it well worth the browsing.

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