I have a family history book written by Axel Hayford Reed in 1915. In this book he mentions many family members buried in this cemetery as well as some of the inscriptions on some of the tombstones. He says he visited this cemetery in 1875 on Aug. 22 and refers to it as "the Old Burying Ground". He list family names of Read (later changed to Reed), Sampson, Bisbee (named changed spelling from Besbedge), Ellis,. Hayford, Dunham, Hutchison, and Bicknell. Is this cemetery still known in the Hartford area? Has the cemetery been moved or destroyed? If one visited Maine would it be possible to visit it? The book is not always acurate, but I believe this cemetery may have existed or still exist as his inscription are all in quotes. A researcher in OR Karla

Any idea what town this cemetery is located in?

I wish one could edit their posts on this forum, but anyway...Sorry Karla, I just noticed where you said the Hartford area in your post.

Hi Ron, I went back into the book to see if I missed anything that might be more helpful. There are a couple of sentences that give some land marks concerning the location.
""Old Burying Ground," covering about two acres of land, slanting to the west and surrounded by a stone wall partly tumbled down, with many scrub trees grown up, consisting of cypress, willows, yellow birch. A pair of old bars leads in from the road on the north side about midway. Just above is the Read family burying lot, and I note the following graves marked by marble and slate slabs as follows:" If you are interested in these pages I would be more than happy to copy them for you and send them to you by snail mail if you send me your address. Are you possibly related to anyone buried there? Karla

I appreciate your offer Karla, but as far as I know I do not have any relatives living (or buried) in the Hartland area. I don't forsee visiting that area anytime in the near future as it is quite a ways from where I live. I will, however, keep this in mind in case I come across anyone familiar with the area.

Regards,
Ron

Sorry again...I typed Hartland but meant Hartford

Hi Karla,

I took the liberty of e-mailing the town clerk in Hartford to see if there is a Starboard Hill Cemetery in the area and here is the pertinent part of what she sent back to me:

--Begin--
I checked to see if we have a cemetary by that name and we do not. Sorry I could not be of help. The cemetaries that we do have I have listed below for you.

Parsons Cemetary
Oakes Thompson Cemetary
Sparrow Cemetary
Soule Cemetary
Glover Cemetary
Swan Cemetary
Hartford Center Cemetary
Meeting House Hill Cemetary
Blake Cemetary
Jackson Cemetary
Fuller Cemetary
Maple Grove Cemetary
Howard Ricker Cemetary
--End--

Now, I'm assuming that she is talking about just the town of Hartford. Starboard Hill Cemetery may be in one of the surrounding towns, but I've searched the MOCA, (Maine Old Cemeteries Assoc.) and found no listing in Oxford County for Starboard Hill Cemetery. I'll keep an eye out just in case I stumble onto something.

Regards,
Ron

Hi Ron, You have been so helpful. Would you like to correspond by e-mail? Mine is k'sgenealogy@yahoo.com. Would the MOCA like a list of names from this cemetery? How would I contact them? I suppose it is possible the cemetery has either been renamed, moved, over grown, or in the middle of a field somewhere, as the author last visited it in 1875 and described it as "old neglected" at that time. This book list 250 surnames and over 1100 individual names. I would like to know if there is any names I could help you with? A fellow researcher Karla

Karla,

I tried sending you a message at: k'sgenealogy@yahoo.com and it bounced. Check your email at: kbgenealogy1@yahoo.com as I just re-sent it to that address.