A recent news article about disinterments at a Reno, NV cemetery (so the property could be commercially developed) was the source for an item (with links) that I posted today on my Civil War genealogy site, 3rdmaheavyartillery.weebly.com/. Check out the blog post there and find out why you need to know where your ancestors are buried. If you do not know, you can get a start on findagrave. You can locate the many unknown, tiny graveyards in Bristol County in the Bristol County Cemeteries Database online, and you might be able to find your specific ancestor, if he or she was buried in Dartmouth, in the book Burials and Burial Places in the Town of Dartmouth, Massachusetts (check WorldCat for a lending library.) For other cemeteries in SE MA, the Cape Cod Genealogical Society library catalog has a list of reference books, but it includes mainly Barnstable County. Search the Internet Archive using terms like "cemeteries Massachusetts" and you will get a hodgepodge of hits including old inscriptions, lists of interments, etc. The Middleboro library has a downloadable PDF of a manuscript of old Plymouth County cemeteries, including names of people interred there. (I have found it very useful, especially for Wareham.) These books are more useful than you might think. For one thing, they often indicate which stone is adjacent to which other stone, providing a clue as to relationship if none is stated. Individual gravestone photos typically do not show proximity. Also, the GSMD and other lineage societies accept only READABLE photos of contemporary gravestones (not the marker you erected to your ancestor last week) and time has taken its toll on the inscriptions. You can augment a blurry photos of your ancestor's stone with the entry in a cemetery census book made 100 years ago when the inscription was sharp and clear. Remember, lineage societies do NOT accept the write-ups on findagrave, only the photo of the stone.

As promised in her writeup in the Alden-Mullins section, I have posted the rest of the picture from which I took Priscilla's costumed photo. Alden Kindred owns the house now and it is open for tours apparently every day but when I am in Duxbury. Actually it's open June - October, Wednesdays - Saturdays, beginning at noon and with the last tour at 3:30. Not a very big window of opportunity but we can't complain.

The NEHGS is having a "save 10% now, get 10% back later" sale on Mayflower titles, and it ends on Sep. 23rd, so no time for dawdling. There is a coupon code, "MAYFLOWER916" to use at the checkout. Here is a link to their Mayflower items on sale: http://shop.americanancestors.org/collections/mayflower?pass-through=true. I'm seeing a puzzle, books, back issues, and GSMD silver books on sale. Might be a good time to start your Christmas shopping.

Yesterday I read an email from the author of two books related to Mayflower history. One was a practical guide for tourists and genealogists who want to check out this historic burial site in Plymouth in person. The title is A Guide to Plymouth's Historic Old Burial Hill: Stories from Behind the Gravestones (2006) and the first 97 pages are the "stories" but the last 29 pages are an index of names in the book plus a reference to known grave locations. The author  noted that it could be purchased on his web site, www.saltypilgrim.com or on amazon.com (and I would add: "or on smile.amazon.com, then designate your favorite Mayflower organization to receive a percentage of what you spend." Mine is Pilgrim Hall Museum, which houses the only portrait of a Mayflower pilgrim made during his/her lifetime, but you might pick the Mayflower Society or Plimoth Plantation, which owns the replica Mayflower II docked in Plymouth Harbor.) Amazon actually beats the author's site for price ($14.95 plus free 2-day shipping for Prime members vs. $15.95 and free shipping if you buy $49 worth of merchandise from the author.) Amazon also allows you the option of searching inside the book to see if it's what you really want. However, www.saltypilgrim.com is the only place where you can buy the e-book version, downloadable to your computer, laptop, iPad, iPhone, etc. - in other words, very useful if you are indeed traveling to New England to tromp around graveyards. It costs just $10 and obviously incurs no shipping charge. I saw, too, that www.saltypilgrim.com has other New England tourism/history books on shipwrecks, lighthouses, islands, pirates, and the no-doubt immensely practical How to Cook Bait: the Unlucky Fisherman's Cookbook.

Check out the Mystery/Fun Photos Section for a look at the 1903 reunion of the Alden Kindred of America. A group shot from 1902 is farther down on the page and an image cropped from a larger shot of Miss Priscilla Mullins Alden (really) at her spinning wheel is on the Alden page. All were taken at the Alden home in Duxbury, which you can still visit today. Don't miss the Winslow family picture from New Brunswick on the Mystery/Fun Photos page as well. Smaller family but probably just as fond of frivolity.