Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Tombstone Tuesday - Grizel Holmes

These head and foot stones are located at Forest Hill Cemetery, Derry, New Hampshire.


ERECTED
IN MRMORY OF
Mrs. GRIZEL HOLMES
wife of
Eldr. JOHN HOLMES
who departed this life
Febr. Ye 25th 1788
Aged 78 years
Retire my friends, dry up your tears
all life when Christ appears


Grizel Givean was the wife of Elder John Holmes of Londonderry, New Hampshire.  She was born about 1712 in Northern Ireland.  John Holmes was born in Aghadowey, Londonderry, Northern Ireland about 1709 and he died on 7 December 1777.  He signed the Association Test in Londonderry, New Hampshire in 1776.  This was written by the New Hampshire Committee of Safety, and required that all adult males take up arms against the British, and to collect the names of those who refused to sign.

On page 277 of Rev. E. L. Parker's History of Londonderry, 1851 (in the genealogy section of the book there is a chapter on Abraham Holmes, father of John Holmes).

"His son, John, who was ten years old when he came to this county, was also an elder in the same church, during the long ministry of the Rev. Mr. Davidson.  He settled on the farm now owned and occupied by William M. Holmes, in Londonderry.  He married Grizel Givean.  They had nine children, three sons and six daughters; namely, Sarah, Margaret, Abraham, Eleanor, Robert, Mary, Thomas, Mary Ann, and Martha..."

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To Cite/Link to this blog post: Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Tombstone Tuesday - Grizel Holmes", Nutfield Genealogy, posted October 10, 2012, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2012/01/tombstone-tuesday-grizel-holmes.html: accessed [access date]). 

1 comment:

  1. I always think Grizel is such an unusual name for a female. When we were in Colonial Williamsburg a few years ago there was a re-enacter whose name was Grizel. She explained that she had been given her name because of her color when she was born - greyish. I suppose of the ancestors could hear them, they might wonder about some of the "new" names children are given these days.

    Grizel's stone is very handsome and her epitaph beautiful.

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