Oldest Gravestone at Valley Cemetery, Manchester, NH

Here is a photo to what I believe is the oldest gravestone in Valley Cemetery which dates from September 18th, 1748:

Oldest Gravestone at Valley Cemetery, Manchester, NH

The inscription reads: "Here lyes the body of Jenii Riddel wife to John Riddel She died Sept 18th 1748 Aged 30 years"

Civil War Veterans at Valley Cemetery, Manchester, NH

The following is a list of Civil War Veterans at Valley Cemetery in Manchester and the inscripions on their gravestones.  This list represents what was taken from 3,400 photos of all of the gravestones in the cemetery.  There are about a dozen that have not been listed because they are illegible and need to be investigated further.
One interesting thing I noticed was that Henry Hayward and Joseph Moore died on the same day and in the same battle in Virginia but their graves are far from each other.  If anyone would like a map of these graves, just contact me. 

Oldest Gravestone at Hillside Cemetery, Goffstown, NH

Hillside Cemetery in Goffstown, NH was established in 1768.  Here is the oldest gravestone that I found at Hillside which dates from June, 5th 1768.  Possibly the first grave in the cemetery?

Oldest Gravestone in Hillside Cemetery

Mapping Valley Cemetery

The mapping of Valley Cemetery is now complete.  All 1,300 family burial sites have been documented with photos and the inscriptions on every gravestone.  Approximately half of the photos have been transcribed and entered into our GIS (Geographic Information System).  However, the focus is on further data collection at other cemeteries before they are covered in snow.  Valley Cemetery is on the National Register of Historic Places so there are quite a few interesting graves to be found here.

How We Transcribe Gravestones

Here is a brief description of how we record the location of all gravestones in a cemetery as well as the data contained in the inscriptions:  
  1. Using professional GPS equipment we record the exact location of each family or individual burial site. 
  2. Photos are taken of every inscription on the gravestone(s) that are located at a particular burial site. 
  3.  The photos of the inscriptions are then transcribed by a team of individuals who enter the data into a database.

Progress...Almost done!

Data collection for the entire center section of Pine Grove is now complete.  The transcriptions are also nearly complete with only about a week to go until we have a complete set of data with 7,000 photographs which I estimate will represent approximately 12,000 burials.  The data includes surname, first name, birth date, death date, relation (if indicated in the inscription), any affiliations such as Masonic symbols and most importantly, the exact location of each and every burial site!

How is Gravestone Data Collected?

Here is a brief description of how we record the location of all gravestones in a cemetery as well as the data contained in the inscriptions:  
  1. Using a laser rangefinder and high accuracy GPS equipment, we record the exact location of each family or individual burial site.  This information is stored in a GIS (Geographic Information System) which allows us to analyze and categorize the data. 
  2. Photos are taken of every inscription on the gravestone(s) that are located at a particular burial site. 
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