So back at the beginning of August my sister Cheryl and I made
a trip to Maine to meet up with Aunt Dot, her daughter Diana,
Diana's husband Gary and Gary's Mom Peg. We were going to
attend the Ellingwood Family Reunion for the first time on Aug
8. My dad's grandmother was Clara Ellingwood.
One of the sidetrips we made the day before the reunion was
to the small roadside cemetery where my 3x great grandfather
John Cutter West and some of the family are buried.
Top left is his gravestone. He died in Jul 1862, possibly worn
out by grief. He'd lost three children, three grandchildren and
his daughter in law to a diphtheria outbreak earlier that year.
Top right is the broken gravestone of John's daughter Arvilla
Electa West, 17 years old when she died on 6Feb 1862.
Bottom left is the shared gravestone of Ruth Ellen West, died
26Jan 1862 at age 10, and David Pingree 8 years old when he
died 17Jan 1862 .
Finally, bottom right is the gravestone of Orpha Viette
(Reynolds) West, first wife of my 2x great grandfather Jonathan
Phelps West. She was 20 years old when she died on 31Dec 1861.
They'd been married only two months.
