Grave Matters

The graveyard is small, with only six large headstones, four tiny markers bearing initials only and two mostly buried markers. Yet even this little burial ground presented the opportunity to unearth a ton of information, with the help of the Local History Department of the Berkshire Athenaeum in Pittsfield.
A great example is Maryett, wife of Eleazar Cady, who died Aug. 21, 1849, at 22 years old. Maryett represents a pattern I have seen many times: Although listed as the wife of someone, her headstone appears alone in the cemetery. Why is her husband not buried with her?
This time, I may have an answer. In the "Biographical Review of Leading Citizens of Berkshire County, Vol. XXXI," I found an entry for Edward Cady, son of Eleazar and Lucretia Kellogg Cady. The entry says Edward's
Advertisement

father was living in Windsor at the time of Edward's birth but that he was from Hinsdale. Edward was born in 1853, four years after Maryett's death.
From this, I surmise that Eleazar buried his first wife in Hinsdale but then remarried. My theory is that wherever Lucretia, who died in 1895 at the age of 80, is buried, Eleazar can also be found.
Although I couldn't find anything on Maryett, I did learn something about her in-laws. Maryett's grandfather-in-law, also named Eleazar Cady, was a private in the Revolutionary War. One of George Washington's most difficult challenges in leading the Continental Army was the fluid nature of the number of his forces, the members of which joined and left frequently. The senior Cady fits that mold: He saw 16 days of service as a private from July 11 to 27 in 1777 and then enlisted again for 26 days of service from Sept. 6 to Oct. 2, 1777.
The senior Eleazar Cady also typified another period in American history called the Second Great Awakening. This period, which began in the early 1800s in the East and spread westward to the frontier, saw a religious revival of great proportions. In "A History of the County of Berkshire, Massachusetts" published in 1829 and authored "By Gentlemen in the County, Clergymen and Laymen," Cady is credited with being one of the organizers of the Hinsdale Baptist Church and Society in 1797.
During this revival period, new denominations such as the Mormons were born, and Baptists and Methodists saw rapid growth in their congregations. The "History of the County" states that a religious revival in 1818 led to several new Baptist members. It goes on to say there was a second revival in 1821 and a third revival in 1827, "more general and powerful than either of the others." By Jan. 1, 1828, there were 78 members of the Hinsdale Baptist congregation, with 38 of those being Hinsdale residents.
Our Cady, Maryett, was part of yet another piece of American history. According to the Central Pacific Railroad Photographic History Museum (cprr.org/Museum/ RR_ Development.html), from 1830-1840, the number of miles of U.S. railroad lines increased from a mere 23 miles to an astonishing 2,808 miles. In "The Heritage of Hinsdale: An Anthology," Leonard F. Swift, editor, published in 2005, Swift explains that in the 1840s, railroad surveyors chose Hinsdale over South County as the way to extend the line from Springfield westward.
According to the anthology, railroading was not the only occupation in Hinsdale during this period. By the 1830s and '40s, "sheep raising supplemented the earlier subsistence farming." The quality wool was used to supply the mills.
Besides Maryett Cady, there are also a number of Moreys buried there, although I couldn't find the family connection between them. Nathaniel Morey, who died Feb. 16, 1843, at the incredible age of 91, had served as a sergeant in the "Massachusetts line" during the American Revolution and was given a pension for said service on June 30, 1818.
His wife, Susannah, lies next to him. She passed on Dec. 15, 1841, at the age of 92. Their daughter, whose name is spelled Susanna, is also there.
This spelling points out another common theme in my wanderings: misspellings on headstones. On daughter Susanna's stone, her mother's name is also spelled without the "h" at the end. The dates here indicate that Susannah the senior gave birth to her daughter when she was 38 -- an incredible age for the time.
The search for information about another Morey buried there -- Thomas, who died Feb. 17, 1869, at the age of 84 -- revealed some other information about the Hinsdale of the time. In the 1855 census, Thomas was listed as a farmer. Other occupations of Hinsdale residents included, of all things, a pauper, Eliza Roberts, age 37, as well as carpenters, cabinet- and boot-makers, laborers, a wool sorter, two doctors and a blacksmith, among others.
Before our departure from the Morey Cemetery, I will leave you with the mystery of Deacon Joel Redway, who died July 1, 1837, at 81, who lies next to his wife, Lucinda, who died Oct. 25, 1856, at age 75. Redway, it seems, was chosen as a deacon of the Lanesborough Baptist Church on July 13, 1822. The church was dedicated on Feb. 10, 1819, again smack-dab in the middle of the Second Great Awakening. But how did the Redways wind up in Hinsdale? I have no idea. If you find out, make sure to let me know.

E-mail comments to Advocate writer Judith Fairweather at
jfairweather@advocateweekly.com.