Christine & Jack's Ancestral Places - Dad's Side



Explanation about the inscriptions for John and Abigail Dearborn

On 27 Oct 1987, I went to the North Hampton Cemetery right on the main road. With the inscription I was after in hand, I discovered the Dearborns within ten minutes. There were several clusters of old stones toward the front of the large modern burying ground and the Dearborns were in the first row. Most of the other stones were broken or toppled so I felt quite lucky. Without my crib sheet I could never have made out the complex inscription on John's gravestone. It was crumbling to the extent that I decided not to try to define the letters with a pencil.

These are the inscriptions copied from page 120 of Pierce's Batchelder Genealogy published in 1898.

HERE LYES BURIED YE
JOHN DEARBORN
WHO SERVED AS A DEACON IN YE CHURCH
AT HAMPTON FOR SEVERAL YEARS
AND TIL HIS DEATH IN Y CHURCH
AT NORTH HAMPTON
OF EXEMPLARY STRICTNESS AND STEDINES (sic)
IN EVERY PART OF RELIGION
A MAN OF PRAYER
HE RESIGNED HIMSELF TO GOD REJOYSG (sic)
IN YE HOPE OF GLORY
NOV 22, 1750 AE 84
BODY OF ABIGAIL WIFE OF DEA
CON JOHN DEARBORN
WHO DECEASED 14TH
OF NOV 1736
IN Y 69TH YEAR OF
HER AGE