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| Findagrave.com photo by member Cathy |
My kids can visit the gravestone of their tenth great grandfather in Plymouth, Massachusetts. The gravestone of Edward Gray (1629-1681) is still there and still readable. It reads:
Here Lyeth ye Body of EDWARD GRAY Gent Aged About 52 years & Departed this life ye Last of June 1681
The records show his gravestone to be the only Pilgrim whose gravestone is still standing and readable at Plymouth's Pilgrim burial ground, Burial Hill.
His personal story is pretty interesting even without the fact he's the last Pilgrim with a memorial to read. He was put on his Uncle's boat by his brother to be deprived of his inheritance yet rose to wealth nonetheless.
Edward was from my kids' mother side with a clear, provable line to their grandfather Chet. Edward's daughter Susanna married a Cole (also Pilgrim ties), generations later a Cole married a Quance, and then Rachel Quance married Barney Disselbrett, Chet's parents. The migration was generations in Massachusetts and Rhode Island then to Minnesota in 1857 with no stops in between.
So, I say to my kids, "It's not only pretty cool that you have a Pilgrim forefather but also that you can still visit his gravestone. Road trip?"
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