Ingraham and Mary Rier. They were laid to rest in the Lubec Cemetery, not far from Grammy Rier’s home overlooking Johnson Bay. My paternal grandparents were Frank and Elizabeth Keegan Rier. Grandfather Frank’s parents were Burpee and Emma Batron Rier. My Great Great Grandparents, Ingraham and Mary Rier, had four children born between 1860 and 1868: Burpee, Bertha E, Alice A and Ida May. Ingraham and Mary were born in Nova Scotia as were their children. They immigrated to Lubec, Maine between 1868 (the date their last child Ida May was born) and 1876, the year Alice died in Lubec. Ida May died there in 1883.
When I arrived at the Bayview Cemetery in Lubec on a sunny day last week, I was not sure where the gravesite was located. I had memories of Dad driving by the cemetery when I was young, pointing to a tall grayish white obelisk-like stone beside a tree.
“That’s where my great grandfather Ingraham Rier is buried,” he would say. “He was the first Rier to come to Lubec.” In my memory, Dad never said where Ingraham came from and I don’t think he knew. It was a mystery.
I searched the cemetery in quadrants beginning at the far side toward downtown Lubec and toward the front, closest to Rte 189. Many gravestones were hard to read, if at all, but I noticed that there were large family plots. If I could read a few of the stones in a plot and see the family surname, I moved on. About one third of the way across the front of the cemetery, I was almost ready to give up and cover the rest on other days.
As I looked toward a towering tree beside the road, I wondered if my memory could possibly be accurate. Something or someone urged me on.
Then. There it was. The gravestone that Dad pointed out so often in bygone years, stood before me.
“I found it!” I shouted in the wind. I wondered if Dad heard me. I hoped so.
Ingraham E Rier
1840 – 1904
His wife, Mary
1842 – 1915
Bertha E
1862 – 1952
On the side of the stone closest to the tree, the names of their two daughters who died as teenagers were engraved.
ALICE A
DIED
May 14, 1876
13 yrs 2 mos
IDA M
DIED
Oct. 26, 1883
15 yrs 8 mos
Dau’s of I.E. and M. Rier
There is an inscription underneath that I cannot read. I will need to come back another day in different light.
There is a discrepancy in the age at death of Alice A. from the Maine death record which listed her year of birth as 1860. I can only guess that this was inaccurate since she was born in Nova Scotia and suspect that her parents knew exactly how old she was when she died, 13 yrs 2 months, not 16. The birth year for Bertha E on the stone (1862) doesn’t match her estimated year of birth from the 1880 census (1865) which recorded her age as 15. It is time to search vital records in Nova Scotia.
My great grandfather Burpee Rier is not here. Perhaps he is buried with his wife Emma Batron. It will take more research to find his grave. There is always more to discover!
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It had been a good day. Earlier, I had visited the Chapel Hill cemetery in nearby Trescott and located the gravestones of my great and GG grandfathers Keegan, Grammy Rier’s father and grandfather.
Related posts:
My Paternal Great Great Grandparents. Ingraham and Mary Rier. 1880 Census.
My Paternal Grandfather Frank Rier and the Rier Brothers from Germany.
Voices of Ancestors 