Hi again,   Just curious if there is a difference in the history and management of cemeteries and graveyards between California and New England, for example.   People were arriving in New England .to settle.  in 1620's,  and in some graveyards in coastal towns, I believe you can find a few gravestones from 1600's.    But, in towns farther in-land you wouldn't find too many from 1600's;  they only go back to early 1700's.     Part of the reason for that is that many people were buried on their own land / own farm.    And, as time went on, and .development.  might have covered over those stones, or they got deeper into the dirt.     And, if not on their own land,  many were buried on the land surrounding the "meetinghouse" or church.      In the town I currently live in, the "Forefathers Burial Ground" is directly beside the "tall, white church" in the center - with stones right up beside the building.     The same in other towns I've visited.   For 20 years, my main researchers were on the related  KIDDER and HUTCHINSON names. *   From 1720's there was a HUTCHINSON FARM in what is now Winchester, MA.   For 100 yrs. the Farm got larger and larger.    So, some family members were buried on the farm in the 1800's.    But, when a cemetery became more available in Winchester, the families moved those burial-sites from the Farm to the Cemetery.    It might have been in 1890's when the extended family became  "land rich and money poor"  and started selling off parts of the Farm.   Also, in regard to that cemetery in Winchester,  my great-grandmother  (who I lived with in 1940's),  Mrs. Louise (RICE) KIDDER, was buried there with her estranged husband. *   When her disabled son and his wife, were passing,  they went to the same burial-site.     But, my Great-Uncle and Aunt had only one child, a son who is a special-needs adult.    There is only one spot left in that burial-site.   So, they have a dilemma to make.    My cousin and his wife want to be buried together, but they can't if they want to be buried with his parents.     But, I went to the cemetery to ask questions,  and they allow at least 4 .cremations.  in the site.     So, my cousins could be buried there, but one would need to be cremated.   In the same cemetery is a burial-site for  2  HUTCHINSON siblings who died in 1930's.    There is room for 2 more burials.   BUT,  the cemetery and no relative knows who owns that burial site.   And the Manager will not allow anyone to be buried with them - without the permission of the owner.      :o(   Just an FYI for you !   Betty             (near Lowell, MA)   * Because I lived in the Hutchinson Farmhouse in 1940's,  I referred to her as Grandma Kidder, and I knew her until she passed in 1958.    But, ~1915  Grandpa Kidder had left his wife and kids to return to his hometown near Calais, Maine.    When he died at a State Hospital in 1943,  Grandma brought his body back to Winchester to be buried.    He was G. Sanford KIDDER, b1870 near Calais, ME.    They had met in Eastport, ME, where Grandma's father had been born in 1850.