On October 19, the Rochester Historical Society invited the public to join them on a tour of the historic Woodside Cemetery, peacefully situated next to the East Rochester Congregational Church on County Road.
The church is the headquarters for the society, having been acquired by the organization in 2003 for the princely sum of $1.
Historical Society President Malcolm Phinney said that he couldn’t bear to see the antique structure “get torn down or have a McMansion built here.”
The Historical Society uses the property as a museum, where a collection of everything from books to photographs to china tea cups bear witness to bygone days and may be viewed on Sundays, primarily during the summer months. Phinney said the church was built in 1857, but that the cemetery predates it by some 29 years.
As members of the society talked about the oldest graves, graves of ancestors, and shared family lore of those buried in the hallowed grounds, tiny tea lights flickered in the gloaming. Before it was known as the Woodside Cemetery, the parcel was called the Pierceville Church Cemetery and is referenced in Old Cemeteries of Southeastern Massachusetts by Charles Thatcher as well as being recorded by the Massachusetts Historical Commission as ROC805. Locals also remember the resting place as the Briggs Lane Cemetery. But those designations and recognitions will never mean more than the emotional attachment people hold for their ancestors, as evidenced by the society members giving the tour.
Barbara Bailey, Phinney’s sister, whose ancestors, the Gallts, are buried in the Woodside Cemetery, gave those in attendance a peek into their family’s background.
Bailey said the surname has many spellings and that in her research of the Gallt clan, there were simply too many Gallts, Gaults, Gauls, and Galts. At Woodside, there are several Gallt graves all related to Bailey and Phinney. There’s a John Gallt who fought in the Civil War and another who was involved in the War of 1812. Of the Civil War veteran, Bailey said that family oral history claims he suffered from what we would call today PTSD.
Bailey read from a letter written during the Civil War by a Ruffus King to Lucy Gallt which reads in part: “…heard gun fire … wounded men everywhere … such sights I hope to never see again … left Confederates where they fell…”
The assembled were led by Bailey towards a small, pure white marble headstone that marks the grave of a Gallt child, William Thomas Gallt. Born in 1873, William, or Willy as the family called him, contracted diphtheria in 1878 and died. Bailey said the child’s mother bemoaned his burial in this cemetery saying, “My poor Willy all alone up here…” She had wished he could be buried with his grandmother in Center Cemetery in Wareham. A mother’s sorrow could still be felt as it echoed down through the years.
Betty Beaulieu, local historian and member of the society, took the group to the gravesides of Morse family members. As she guided people along, she commented, “It’s too bad all these nice little poems are being lost.” Time and weather are eroding the loving sentiments etched into the headstones along with the names of the deceased.
Morse men also fought in the Civil War, Beaulieu pointed out, adding that there are three homes along County Road that were built by the family.
And anyone familiar with Rochester and Wareham would immediately recognize names that have filled the town records for more than a century. Names such as Beaton, Davis, Gurney, Briggs, Bump, and Maxim – they are all here with the Gallts and Morses. Many of these graves are marked with American flags denoting service in the Union Army.
Not to be forgotten is the Revolutionary soldier, Ben Gurney, who was laid to rest in 1828, the oldest grave at Woodside.
Bailey and other members of the Historical Society do their best to keep the cemetery grounds and the gravestones clean, but the task is daunting. While clearing some invasive vegetation, she discovered a marker. No one had known there was a grave beneath the years of bramble.
Beaulieu said that they have been able to identify 180 recorded burials at Woodside, but that only 150 graves have been found. Phinney noted that a large mounded area at the edge of the cemetery near County Road is most likely a group of unmarked graves.
If you are interested in becoming a member of the Rochester Historical Society, you may pick up an application at the Plumb Memorial Library or at Rochester Town Hall. Meetings are held on the third Wednesday of each month in the museum at 7:00 pm.
By Marilou Newell