East Street Cemetery, Petersham

William Mann and many of his descendants are buried in the East Street Cemetery and a friend recently took photos of a few of the graves. View here.

William Mann (1809-1892) and Abigail Cook (1808–1890) had 7 children. Descendants recorded here (so far) are as follows:

• Daughter Mary Sanderson Mann Wilder, husband (Deacon) George Kirk Wilder and their descendants
• Son Horatio who committed suicide in Boston, his wife and at least 1 of his 2 unmarried daughters who were born, raised and remained in Boston
• Daughters Jane and Lydia (unmarried)
• Great granddaughter Rachael Ruth Mann Begor Coolidge

Family Dysfunction

Today is my Dad's birthday and I sent him the funniest card...
OUTSIDE: You know how every family has that one person who seems normal?
INSIDE: We need to get us one of those!

HA! It is my belief that every family has dysfunction--some are just better at hiding it than others. ;-) The Mann family definitely has a history--I won't go into details. But one thing I have noticed that I find quite odd is the fact that MANY (Ensign) Mann descendants never married or had kids. I'm no historian, but think this is a little bizarre. I've contemplated dysfunction and I've contemplated the fact that maybe there weren't a lot of options in the area. Maybe they weren't really into marrying their cousins? (Although some did. HA)

Then there were those who only had 1 or 2 children when my ancestors in Newfoundland were spitting them out by the dozen! And believe me, all the Newfies married cousins! HA

Poor ol' wealthy Wilson Mann of Orange...He only had one daughter, and when she died unmarried at the age of 31, he died of a broken heart walking home from visiting her grave.