In my quest for genealogical information about our family, I learned that some of our early American ancestors were buried in East Dennis, Massachusetts. I made a trip down to Cape Cod to look for it– but that turned out to be more difficult than I anticipated.
(www.CapeCodGravestones.com image)
As you drive into East Dennis, you pass the Congregationalist Church on the right, with a huge adjacent cemetery. My ancestors were Congregationalists, so this seemed like a good place to start. However, the earliest graves here were from the mid 1700s, and none appeared to relate to my family.
Asking around, I learned that there was an old family cemetery at the corner of Route 6A and Airline Road. I drove around looking for it, but couldn’t find it. Finally, I stopped at the town library, where a helpful gentleman told me to park in the Conservation Area parking lot. “Just wander around on the paths, and you’ll find it,” he assured me.
By the time I had parked, it had begun to rain. Not to be dissuaded, I donned my jacket and made by way along narrow paths through thick underbrush. And I found the cemetery. But this was for the Sears family– no other family names were present.
Back to the drawing board. I drove through East Dennis finding no one who had any idea where my family’s cemetery was. Finally, in desperation, I stopped at the Catholic Thrift Store. I mean, who staffs a Catholic Thrift Store? Most often, women who have been in town since Noah landed his ark. And sure enough, I found someone who knew where the cemetery was (or pretty close). It was located near 6A and Sears Road. “It’s in someone’s back yard,” she told me.
I found the house, parked in their driveway, and knocked on the door. No answer.
About that time, a couple out for a walk in the rain approached me and asked what I was looking for. They directed me up an ancient road, and at the top of the hill was the Worden Winslow cemetery.
And sure enough, some of my ancestors were buried there.
Kenelm Winslow (1635 – 1715), son of Kenelm Winslow (1599-1672) who came to Plymouth in 1626.
Mercy (or Marcy) Worden Winslow (1640 – 1688), wife of the younger Kenelm, and daughter of Peter Worden (1609 – 1680) and Mary Magdalene Winslow (1610 – 1687). Mary was the sister of the elder Kenelm. (That’s right: the younger Kenelm married his first cousin. Some people think that explains a lot about our family…)
The amount of history available in New England is staggering– old homes, cemeteries, forts, and battlegrounds. But there’s something special about visiting the grave of an ancestor who died almost 250 years before I was born!
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