I'd planned to visit 5 cemeteries in the Amherst area and was able to visit and photograph four, Amherst Cemetery, The Old Burying Ground in West Amherst, Fenwick Cemetery, and Michael Fortune Cemetery in Maccan. The Harrison Orchard Cemetery eluded me. It's on private property in someone's back yard and visiting requires permission, disabling electric fences and moving cattle. I couldn't even find the road it's supposed to be on.
I'd done quite a bit of preparation prior to my visit and knew who was buried in which cemetery and which stones I wanted to photograph. I even had maps of where the graves were located in four of the cemeteries, thanks to Susan Hill's excellent book. I thought it would be a snap. We dropped in to the Cumberland County Genealogical Society just in time to make poor Susan give up most of her lunch hour. She quickly drew a map of how to find the cemeteries and looked up the location of Robert Salter Ripley's grave in Amherst Cemetery (Block C) in their database.
There are over 3000 graves in Amherst Cemetery and we might have seen them all. An hour later we were still wandering around trying to find Robert Salter Ripley's grave in Section C. It wasn't exactly where it was supposed to be so we'd started hunting and eventually ended up in Section C of the Catholic Cemetery which we didn't realize is adjacent to the Amherst Cemetery. And I don't think we were the only folks having trouble locating graves. As we walked through the cemetery we saw the same cars going up and down each lane either out for a peculiar outing on a 30-degree day or also searching for graves.
Despite the fact that I already had a photo of the grave and knew it had a triangle shaped top and displayed the Ripley coat of arms, we were unable to find it. We flagged down a mower who said he'd definitely seen the stone but couldn't remember where. Finally a caretaker by the name of Joe Holland took pity on us and came over to help. He looked up the location of Robert Salter's grave and led us right to it. The stone is visible from the road but the inscription is facing the other way. Robert's wife Hannah Elizabeth and their daughter Nellie who'd died in childbirth were buried in the same area and share the headstone. Joe stepped back, looked at the ground with a practiced eye, and told us who was buried where. He also pointed out a tag on the back of the stone near the bottom and said the stone had likely been placed about 1965. This meant the original stone or stones had been replaced. The monument company closed down several years ago and their records were destroyed so we may never know who actually designed the stone and decided to put the Ripley coat of arms on it. This is significant because we're not sure about the parentage of Robert Salter Ripley's father Andrew C. Ripley. We saw many other Ripley stones in our wanderings but only photographed one other, Jonathan Vickery Ripley. Lesson #1: in a large cemetery just go find the caretaker. Lesson #2: if you take photos of a shiny stone on a sunny day you'll be reflected in the photos.
Next we visited The Old Burying Ground in West Amherst where the Ripley progenitors, my 4th great grandparents, Robert Ripley and Isabella Beane and some of their descendants are buried. This is a smaller cemetery and it only took about 5 minutes to find their graves up on the hill. The headstones are made of sandstone, badly weathered, and covered with splotches of lichen but the names "Robert Ripley" and "Isabella" are still visible. Lesson #3: it's even harder to photograph old weathered stones than it is to photograph shiny newer ones. I took a moment to introduce myself, thank them for their brave decision to come to Canada in 1774, and how I planned one day to relate their story to my granddaughter Alexa.
After photographing the stones of their daughter Jane and her husband Robert Coates, we located a group of 3 stones that held an intriguing mystery. This group consists of Robert and Isabella's son Henry, his wife Mary Fawcett, and their daughter-in-law Matilda Riley. On every tree I've seen, Mary's death date is given as 1817 age 60 which can't be true as she was alive to inherit 100 pounds from her father in 1829 and Henry's estate in 1835. I was especially interested in seeing her stone to determine if the date was correct in which case the grave is not Mary Fawcett's. Unfortunately the stone was completely unreadable. However, I do think it's Mary Fawcett. Her stone is the same shape as Henry's but taller. Isabella's stone is also taller than Robert's and Jane's is taller than Robert's which might have been the fashion of the time. So, mystery not solved but I'll get Susan on it later.
The biggest surprise in The Old Burying Ground turned out to be the grave of John P. Ripley who died at the age of 23. When I first encountered the entry for John P. Ripley in Susan's book I was astonished. She had noted that John P. was the son of Andrew C. Ripley and Elizabeth Ripley, my second great grandparents. This was a person that Gordon Ripley and I (and apparently even Ernest Coates) had never seen before on any family tree. I was most curious to discover how she'd come to the conclusion that John P. was Andrew and Elizabeth's son. Well, it says son of Andrew C. and Elizabeth Ripley right on the stone. And John P. is buried right next to his maternal grandparents John Parkinson Ripley, for whom John P. was likely named, and Hannah Lake Smith. Welcome back to the family, John P.
Michael Fortune Cemetery is in a very shady grove right next to Hwy 302 in Maccan. Robert Ripley and Rebecca Vickery, my 3rd great grandparents, were easy to find. Susan had told me that Robert's headstone was lying face down on the ground so I was prepared for disappointment. Although it's still lying in two pieces on the ground, someone has kindly turned it face up and the name, dates, and verse inscribed are all readable. The top of Rebecca's stone has cracked off but the bottom is still standing and readable. Robert and Rebecca and buried side by side. Robert's brother James Coates Ripley is buried next to Robert and Rebecca's sister Rachel is buried next to Rebecca. This arrangement of stones confirmed what I'd only suspected before; that the James and Rachan (sic) living with Rebecca after Robert's early death on the 1871 census were her brother-in-law and sister. Robert's brother Thomas is buried on the left of James Coates so it was very interesting to see these three sons of William Coates Ripley and Hannah Smith buried all together. It seemed that half the graves in the tiny cemetery were Ripleys and we were able to photograph many of them but somehow I missed Esther and Phoebe.
On the way to Fenwick Cemetery we spotted a cheerfully-painted Ripley mailbox and I resisted the temptation to knock on their door. It's hard to explain why Fenwick Cemetery was our favourite, but it had a very peaceful feeling. It's also extremely well cared-for and it looks like relatives still place artificial flowers in little wire hanging baskets near the graves. Many of the older stones have been replaced by newer ones. Andrew C. Ripley, my 2nd great grandfather, was the first person buried in this cemetery. The year of death on his stone is 1890 but he was alive on the 1891 census and the cemetery was not established until 1892. Presumably he was buried elsewhere at first and then moved to the cemetery when it opened. Andrew is buried with his wife Elizabeth, one of the next three burials in 1893. From their headstone, I learned that her middle initial was B., which I had not known previously. I wish I had re-read Myrtle Chappell's chapter on the Fenwick cemetery just before visiting because I forgot to intentionally photograph some of the distinctive features such as the perimeter road and gates that were part of the original cemetery plan though they do show up in the background of some photos. I did remember to photograph Rufus Webb Ripley and Sarah Ripley. They're Gordon Ripley's people and Rufus was one of the original trustees responsible for establishing the cemetery. Sarah was the sister of my great grandfather Robert Salter Ripley. Like my grandparents, Rufus and Sarah were also Ripley cousins who married each other. I also photographed Crane Ripley who was an original trustee and furnished the one acre lot for the cemetery for the price of $30.
For a person whose family is scattered across North America and still has no idea where she should be buried, it was a very sobering experience to see so many generations who remained together. Rest in peace, Ripleys.