Find-A-Grave Listing (see individual before and after photos)
Location: 43.91451, -71.00396
This cemetery is on the southeast corner of Bush Road and Brownfield Road. It has previously been attributed to Brownfield but is definitely in the town of Eaton, NH.
Historical Information: The area around the cemetery belonged to Henry M. Hart, the son of John Hart, who lived to the east near the state line. Henry and Mary J. (Ayers) married in 1840 and had at least six children, including their youngest, Francis M. (Frank). Frank married three times: first to Addie (Glidden), second to Lila F. (Anderson), and third to Maud E. (Hildreth). With Addie he had his only child who survived to adulthood: Henry Hart.
Henry M. Hart died in 1872. His wife Mary (Ayers) later married Joseph Burbank 2/10/1880 but when she died she was listed as the wife of Henry M. Hart.
Henry M. and Mary (Ayers) Hart and their daughter-in-law Lila (Anderson) all have inscribed stones in the cemetery. A grave depression next to Lila on the south most likely contains her husband Frank M. Hart. He appears to have died some time after marrying Maud in 1893 and before the 1900 census. The grave depression to the north is most likely for Frank’s son Henry, who died in 1909 and whose death record lists “Hart” as the burial location.
There are also four other grave depressions, two on either side of Henry M. and Mary. A couple possibilities could be their daughter Charlotte and her daughter Mary A. Meserve. Charlotte was born around 1844 and married Jonathan E. Meserve on 2/16/1865. Their daughter Mary A. Meserve was born in 1867 and on the 1870 census she was living with her grandmother Mary (Ayers) Hart Burbank. Charlotte and Jonathan could not be found on the census. It is possible that Charlotte died between 1867 and 1870 and was buried in her parent’s cemetery. A family tree on Ancestry.com lists her death as 1869, though there is no source listed. Mary A. Meserve died in 1888 of blood poisoning. Her death record does not list a burial location, but it could be at this Hart Cemetery.
Henry M. and Mary (Ayers) also had a daughter named Elvira who married Elmer Hazelton. They had at least two sons that died young: Charles H. (1875-1886) and Henry (1883-1884). Although they died in Conway their burial places were not listed, so they could be at the Hart Cemetery.
Condition: On 5/6/2020, with the help of the landowner, volunteers cleaned the trees from this cemetery. Six additional graves were found at this time, two of which are marked with fieldstones. At that time only one stone (Lila F. Hart) was standing. Another stone (Mary J. Hart) was leaning against a tree and the stone for Henry M. Hart was lying on the ground, disintegrating. The slotted bases for both of their stones were broken. Footstones remained in place for all three burials, leaving no mystery as to where the headstones belonged.
On 8/9/2020, Jess Davis and Billy Angell reset the gravestones of Henry and Mary Hart. New slotted bases were cast in concrete to hold the stones. Only the bottom half of Henry’s stone could be reset. The disintegrating top half was reburied in front of the headstone. Both fieldstones were reset. The headstone for Lila Hart was left alone because it is only leaning slightly, not enough to be dangerous to itself.