BobBoston Fills a Findagrave Request for Joshua Tedd

Less than twenty-four hours is all it took for BobBoston of Findagrave.com to fulfill my request for a picture of the grave marker for Joshua Tedd. The original information on findagrave was limited. It showed: his birth as unknown, his death Sep. 15, 1678, buried in Phipps Street Burying Ground in Charlestown, Suffolk County, Massachusetts, USA, in plot 4L47, created by BobBoston, record added Apr. 15, 2010, findagrave memorial number 51164287.

I was not sure there would even be a marker from this long ago death. It is interesting that his death does not show up in the Charlestown Vital Records to 1850, but his wife Sarah's of Oct. 15, 1677 is there. His death is recorded in the church records for the town. At the time of their deaths the town was experiencing a small pox epidemic. Joshua was age 71 and Sarah was age 68 at the time of their deaths, so they lived lengthy lives. They died less than a year apart.

The marker is absolutely beautiful. BobBoston even provided me with a digital copy to include with this blog. There appears to be no marker for Sarah, but I am wondering if the marker for Joshua has sunken and perhaps her information is below the ground, invisible to the current viewer. Joshua is the only person of that surname listed as being buried in the cemetery.



It required using my photo software to be able to read the stone. I am amazed that this stone may be 334 years old. Someone is obviously maintaining this cemetery on a regular basis.

Now to share a little about BobBoston, who is an incredible findagrave contributor. He has been a member for just over five years. In that time he has added 12,240 Memorials, manages 11,991 Memorials, submitted 17,529 photos, and he has taken 6,583 volunteer photos. BobBoston has taken photos in France, Japan, Hong Kong, Australia, Easter Island, Saigon, Africa, Iceland, Greenland, and all over New England. He considers himself to be a retired old man with time on his hands and that this is a rather nice hobby, now that he is retired.

I for one am very grateful for the retired old man with time on his hands. Living in Oregon, my dream is to someday visit New England and some of the Tidd family sites, but for now I must rely on generous volunteers to provide access to these wonderful pictures. People are always amazed that I have never been to New England when that is my area of specialty for my AG credential. There is a great deal of information to be found online for the New England area, but sometimes finding someone local to the area is essential to doing full research. Thank you again to BobBoston and may you be blessed with many more such wonderful contributions. This truly was a serendipity moment for me, as I could hardly believe it when I saw the email reply early this morning.

Now back to reading the book Deference to Definace, Charlestown, Massachusetts 1629-1692.