Through Death!

Recently, I found my Grandmothers resting place again, she is resting in the Edson Cemetery in Lowell Massachusetts!  I say again, because the last time I was there was 1968 when we laid to earth Edith Ruby Reynolds nee Heaney, I was about 12 years then.  What I didn't know was that Edith Ruby was buried in a family plot next to her father; William Heaney, her mother; Margaret J Caldwell and her son; E Arthur Reynolds and his wife; Daisy M. Reynolds nee Ritchotte.  Upon finding the resting place through the Edson Cemetery Management office, I was able to get copies of the plot records.  Nothing really out of the ordinary was found on the records, so I put them aside for future reference.  Shortly there after, a researcher for the Ritchotte posted an obit for Jeanne Reynolds, who was the daughter of Arthur and Daisy Reynolds.  While reading the obit a name popped up that I had just recently read on the plot record for William Heaney.  So, I started searching for a Wendi.  I found her in living in Lowell Massachusetts.  We started to correspond with each other about family history and just a reconnecting a lost family link.   Through our talks, finding my Great Mother Elizabeth Waters resting place is possible.  And a new mystery of  two unknown child who also buried the Heaney family plot.

Elizabeth was born in Nova Scotia Canada and came to this country in 1891.  I found Elizabeth and her family in St. Mary's River, Nova Scotia and again in the 1900 US census in Lowell MA, where she is a widow with three children. Her husband ,George Reynolds, apparently died between the years of 1894 and 1907.  I haven't found what happen to George as of yet.  But, in 1907 Elizabeth remarries to a James P McArdle of Lowell.  From there I loose her trail until now.   I hope to have the details of Elizabeth resting place later this week.

The children I didn't know about until Wendi asked me about them and she knew very little.  Not knowing, I again contacted the Edson Cemetery in hopes they had information.  Yesterday, I got a reply from their office.  The children, which there are three are; 

10/24/1876  Ann. J. Heaney    2years.7 months
11/30/1876 Walter Heaney     4 years 5 months
7/28/1980 Ellen May Heaney  2 months 16 days  Correction: 7/28/1880

What does this mean?  Well, it means more digging on who these children are and how the are connected to the Heaney family.  New stuff all the time.

And through death, a connection with lost family ties have started to reconnect.  I look forward to find more of the Reynolds family back east..  Thanks Wendi!

Did you know....

Do you know who Passaconaway is?  I bet the answer for most is no! Passconaway is an anglicized translation of Papisse Conewa which means Son of Bear.  He was the Sachem of the Pennacook tribe of the New Hampshire and the Massachusetts area back in the 1500's.  Passconaway is one of the most important Sachem in the Americas, but few have ever heard of him.  It was his people that kept the early Pilgrims from starvation and from being over run by the powerful Mohawks.  For some time, the Europeans and Pennacook lived in peace, traded goods and knowledge, until the Europeans started to get land greedy.  

Back in 1899, the Improved Order of Red Men of Massachusetts erected a bronze statue of this great sachem, which others theft upon.  My first introduction to the sachem was 1968 when we laid my grand mother, Edith Ruby Heaney Reynolds to earth.  I was a 12 year old at the time. My elders (aunts and uncles) told me about the sachem's statues, that stands in the same cemetery where my grand mother rests; Edson Cemetery, Lowell Massachusetts.  They said that we are related to the sachem through my Great Grandmother; Elizabeth Anna Waters Reynolds.  Thus far, I haven't been able to prove this link at all, but it is an interesting story and possibility.  The sachem's statue over the years has been vandalized; tomahawk, spear, hand and other parts carried off to no regard at all who he was and what he did in life.  I can only imagine that on some bookcase somewhere a green patina hand, or spear standing in a corner collecting dust. And no more a thought!


Provided by
Edson/Westlawn Cemetery
2010

The good news is that the statue of the Great Sachem, Passaconaway has been restored this year 2010.  Though an incorrect depiction of the a Pennacook of the time, it is still a good thing.  It's a good thing to remember our past and those who made it possible for the rest of us.