Skip to main content

Topsfield, Mass

 On a recent visit to the Boston area, I took the opportunity to visit a new monument placed in the Pine Grove Cemetery in Topsfield, Massachusetts, by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as a memorial for some of the ancestors of Joseph Smith, the founder of my church.

It was a foggy, wet morning, fortunately not rainy. Topsfield seems like a quiet bedroom community for people who work in Boston. The cemetery is very old. I would have loved to walk around but there was snow and the ground was very wet and I had no boots. Fortunately I was able to get close enough to the monument to take some pictures.


These faraway stones were in the background. This section looked like it was one of the oldest in the cemetery if not the very oldest. The monument was close to the main road. It is not known where the actual graves of Samuel Smith II and his wife Priscilla Gould are--the cemetery is just too old. But it seems likely the monument is in the general area.

I took my grandson with me and he had a wonderful time seeking out all the biggest puddles.

After the cemetery I drove to 22 Boardman Lane to to see a marker for the house, now torn down, where Samuel Smith lived. I believe it was where Asael Smith, the grandfather of Joseph Smith, was born and lived. He is also my 4th great-grandfather through my great-grandmother Lorana Smith. 

I enjoyed my visit! It was not too cold, just wet. Here is a link to an article that tells more about it, which is how I originally learned about it::

https://www.thechurchnews.com/history-revisited/2020-12-07/joseph-smith-ancestors-topsfield-massachusetts-monument-president-ballard-198778

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Visiting Susquehanna: The Priesthood Restoration Site

On our way home from Palmyra, we decided to go a couple of hours out of our way to visit the recently opened Priesthood Restoration Site along the Susquehanna River.  This is where we believe that Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery received the keys of the Aaronic Priesthood from John the Baptist which gave them the authority to baptize.  This site also has the restored Isaac and Elizabeth Hale home where Joseph and Emma lived for a year as well as the home where Joseph and Emma lived on their own. We spent a couple of hours there and I wouldn't have minded a few more minutes but we had a long way to go that night.  It's a beautiful setting, very much in rural Pennsylvania.  However, on the day we were there, cars at a racetrack nearby were detracting from the peace and quiet.  I'm guessing that's not as big of a problem on weekdays. The Hale Family was quite well-off for their day so their home was probably nicely decorated with wallpaper and carpet. ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Book Review: Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper

This is a juvenile fiction book about a young girl named Melody with severe cerebral palsy.  Her body doesn't allow her to feed herself, speak, or do much at all.  She's very intelligent with a photographic memory but she can't really communicate.  Finally, in 5th grade, she gets a "Medi-Talker" which is a computer that speaks what she types in.  Finally she has a voice. This book explores what it is like to be severely physically disabled but not mentally disabled. It seems like one of the most frustrating of all scenarios.  She is completely aware of all the cruelty (subtle and otherwise) that her classmates inflict on her because they don't really want to include her in their activities.  One of the saddest moments in the book comes when she realizes that every one of her special ed classmates is kind, where the "normal" ones are not.  Who really has the worse disability? The book was a quick read and fairly enjoyable.  Wha...
Post a Comment
Read more

Do Dots Family System

The original post was written in January of 2015. I wrote an update at the bottom of this post in March 2021. A few months ago, a friend of mine told me about something she was doing in her family to help her family function better.  Her teenage autistic son had been struggling a lot so they had been working with behavior therapists to help him and this "Do Dots Family System" had been recommended.  As she described it, I was greatly intrigued since it sounded like something I wanted to implement at my own house. I looked into it and decided to purchase it right after Thanksgiving.  Here is my review of how it has worked for us over the last six weeks or so. The basic idea of the chart is that children need to take care of their responsibilities before they get any privileges.  It strongly reinforces the concept of "Work Before Play" .  The chart helps children see in a very visual way that, until they have completed their responsibilities, they are on Le...
Post a Comment
Read more