Home Cemetery, Kennebunk, Maine

Home Cemetery in Kennebunk is nestled between the main road and a dense thicket of trees. The most prominent structure in the cemetery is the elaborate iron fence surrounding the White family plot. Unlike other family plots I have seen, it seems to have been planned out in advance - that is, I believe that the stones were already there, or were about to be put up, when the fence was put in place.

The fence itself indicates that it was built in 1863. It bears the name of the patriarch, Edward White.

In fact, Edward White, a veteran of the War of 1812, and his two wives - both named Eunice - are the only adults buried in the plot. There is also one child, James White, who died in 1831 at the age of 4. Edward died in 1863, Eunice I in 1825, and Eunice II in 1866. Yet all three adults have the same type of headstone. Was Eunice I's stone put up first, and the other two modeled after hers decades later? Or were all three stones erected at the same time?

Graves of Eunice, Edward, and Eunice White

 Here is one stone that commemorates both the first and second wife of Ebenezer Gooch. Was it created after the death of Hannah Gooch in 1843? Would that mean that Sally Gooch went more than a decade without a gravestone? Or was Sally's grave erected first, and Hannah's name added to it later?

Grave of Sally and Hannah Gooch

I was drawn to this stone for its bold graphic designs and for the unusual detail in the inscription: "Lizzie M., wife of Edgar B. Ramsdell, Dau. of Wm. M. Bryant of Kennebunk, died suddenly at Cambridge, Mass. Feb. 10, 1872, AE. 27 yrs. 6 mos." What was Lizzie Ramsdell doing in Cambridge? Did she live there? Why did her family choose to mention the suddenness of her death on her gravestone? Certainly a lot of people in the graveyard, especially those who died in their twenties, would have died suddenly.

Grave of Lizzie M. Ramsdell

Detail of the grave of Lizzie M. Ramsdell

The grave of Harriet Gooch is very inventively designed, with its curling mustache-shaped banner bearing her name, and the engraved background behind the rose. I love how the word "died" below the name follows the curve of the banner.

Grave of Harriet Gooch

Here are some more Gooches - a very popular name in Kennebunk. There is a beach nearby called Gooch's Beach.



I was able to locate one Revolutionary War veteran in the cemetery. Jabez Emery, born in Berwick, 1719, died in Kennebunk 1790. I had a hard time reading the inscription below his death date. "The ancestor of all ... name in his vitality?" In any case, he seems to have been one of the earliest settlers in the area. Furthermore the stone doesn't really look like it was made in 1796; I'm guessing it was erected by his descendants.

Grave of Jabez Emery

Here is one last view of the cemetery.