| Cemetery Number | LN024 |
| Town | LINCOLN |
| Cemetery Name | AUSTIN/THAYER/GORTON LOT |
| Find A Grave (Opens in New Tab) |
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| Graves List | Display Graves List |
| Location | SPRAGUE AVENUE |
| State | RI |
| Direction | S |
| Pole Number | 3 |
| Distance | 10 |
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| Page Number | |
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| Size in Feet | 90 |
| Size in Feet | 150 |
| Burials | 100 |
| Inscriptions | 57 |
| Fieldstones | 15 |
| Tombs | |
| Exist? | YES |
| Last seen date? | 2013 |
| Newest | 1920 |
| Oldest | 1710 |
| Vandalism | Y |
| Veteran | 2 |
| Pole | G |
| Comment | This cemetery is located next to #39 Sprague Ave. This is 230 feet in from River Road.
Transcribed by Charles & Martha Benns who recorded it as Lot #244 and
described it as follows: "Dexter & Sprague families - Arnold Estate in Lonsdale"
Their transcription can be found in volume II pages 241-242.
James N Arnold recorded stones in this lot and described it as follows: "On the Asa Clark Farm, beside road, a burial yard of Dexters and other
families, lot fenced, some neglected." His transcription can be found in Volume 15 pages 58-71
Grace G Tillinghast also transcribed lot in August 1932. Her transcription
can be found in Volume 15, pages 150-151.
Frank T Calef transcribed lot and assigned it Lot #6, he described lot as
follows:"North of Prospect Hill, Lonsdale on the East side of the road." His transcription can be found on pages 14-23.
Ethel M White transcribed lot in the 1930's and referred to it as the "Old
Sprague Cemetery"
Transcribed by Roger Beaudry on April 22, 1995. Lot is in generally good
condition except for bicycle path through it. Some stones have been moved
to accomidate this path. Other stones have just obviously been moved.
Example are a head and footstone set up in a line, or two half of the same
stone set into the ground in different areas. The most disturbing part of
this lot is that virtually all members of the Keene & Whipple families
mentioned in earlier surveys have their stones missing from the current
survey. Their whereabouts are unknown at this time.
UPDATE May 2018: LINCOLN – One local mystery involving disappearing headstones has been settled: Grave markers belonging to the Whipple and Keene families, previously reported missing from a Lincoln cemetery, have turned up in Central Falls.
On April 22, 1995, Rhode Island Historical Cemetery Commission volunteer Roger Beaudry visited Lincoln’s Historic Cemetery No. 24. He wrote, “The most disturbing part of this lot is that virtually all members of the Keane (sic) and Whipple families mentioned in earlier surveys have their stones missing from current surveys. Their whereabouts are unknown at this time.”
Their whereabouts remained unknown to the commission until this week. Having read The Breeze’s recent reporting on the cemetery, Mark Keene, a descendent of the families believed to have been buried there, reached out with information about his distant relatives. He said he believed their remains might have been exhumed in the late 1800s and moved to Moshassuck Cemetery in Central Falls, where a Keene/Whipple headstone exists.
Alerted to the tip, Blackstone Valley Historical Society Cemetery Coordinator Ken Postle reached out to George Boardman, caretaker of the Moshassuck Cemetery and past president of the Rhode Island Cemetery Association, for help.
Boardman unearthed a copy of a receipt dated Dec. 7, 1928, confirming that 20 bodies had been moved from Old River Road in Lincoln to Moshassuck for $200. The payment was charged to Charles S. Keene, a wealthy tobacco executive living at 111 Fifth Ave., New York, New York. Some of the bodies moved belonged to his immediate family members, including his parents, William and Amey, and several siblings.
One of the exhumed bodies was Mark Keene’s great-great-great grandfather John Keene and his wife Lavina, whose names are engraved on the stone.
“I’m really not sure why they would have moved those bodies,” said Keene of his ancestors, who he said lived on Great Road.
“The question remains on why the bodies were moved and how many were left behind,” said Postle. “You don’t just move bodies.”
Many possible reasons have been presented by family members, neighbors and history buffs, ranging from the Sprague Avenue lot at Great Road falling into disrepair to family members fearing future developments.
In the meantime, archeologists last week identified one potential burial site adjacent to Lincoln Cemetery No. 24, uncovered while construction crews began preparing the land to develop a residential home on the property. Construction was halted when part of a headstone was unearthed within the boundaries of the development. Rhode Island state law bars excavation within 25 feet of a historic cemetery.
Charlotte Taylor, of the Rhode Island Historic Preservation Commission, said the state is waiting on a report from the archeologists involved with the project, Cultural Resource Specialists of New England. The state will use the report, expected to come out this week, to consult with the town on possible courses of action if a burial site is confirmed.
Transcribed by Ron Farrar who described it as follows:
"Sprague Street, off River Road" |
| Condition | good |
| Enclosure | granite posts |
| Gate | no gate |
| Growth | grass-well kept |
| Terrain | level |
| Cemetery Location |
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| Cemetery Burial Map |
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