GPS precision revolutionizes grave marking

As the oldest grandchild on both sides of my family, I recall more of the older relatives than my siblings and cousins do, and I know where they’re buried. Take the Dover Cemetery on Vaughn Street in Dover-Foxcroft, for instance, where the Roberts relatives are.

Go in the second driveway, not the first. Go down and hang a left, and pretty soon you’ll see Grampy and Grammy Roberts’ stone on the right, and Uncle Herbert’s buried there, too. On the other side of the driveway are Aunt Hazel and Uncle Eddie. Keep going on this road to where the second part of the cemetery begins, and Aunt Elsie is on the right toward the back, in the Berry lot with her second husband. Continue to the end of the road and bear right. All the Dyers are buried on a little rise, so that’s where Aunt Marion and Uncle Ford are. And just beyond the Dyer lot, which is a pretty good size, you’ll find Grammy Roberts’ brother, Uncle Ernest Eldridge.

Now, I ask you, if one of my descendants finds these directions 50 or 60 years from now, will they be helpful? Somewhat.

I could do maps, but if the cemetery is more filled in – or even expanded – by then, a map may be misleading.

So I made a recent visit to the Dover Cemetery in the company of Magellan – a hand-held Global Positioning System device. Turn it on, give it a minute to tune in to a few satellites way above Earth, push a button and read the latitude and longitude for each burial spot.

I remember from my school years that the 45th parallel – latitude – goes through Dexter, so I expect to find coordinates not too far from that. Latitude and longitude are measured in degrees, minutes and seconds. So here’s what I found, and will record for future generations:

ROBERTS, Stanley and Etta; Herbert and Susan, 45 degrees 10 minutes 54 seconds north, 069 degrees 12 minutes 46 seconds west.

IRELAND, Edwin and Hazel, 45 degrees 10 minutes 55 seconds north, 069 degrees 12 minutes 46 seconds west.

BERRY, Elsie, 45 degrees 10 minutes 52 seconds north, 069 degrees 12 minutes 40 seconds west.

DYER, Marion and Caleb, 45 degrees 10 minutes 53 seconds north, 069 degrees 12 minutes 37 seconds west.

ELDRIDGE, Ernest, 45 degrees 10 minutes 53 seconds north, 069 degrees 12 minutes 37 seconds west.

(My GPS device also measures in minutes and thousandths of a minute, which is a little more accurate, but I chose minutes and seconds because that measurement is better-known to most of us.)

As it happens, each of these lots does have a monument on it, but as we know, footstones often sink a little and can get grown over with grass. And trees or other landmarks that we use to guide us in cemeteries today may disappear with time. GPS markings are more reliable.

Recently I visited the grave of Revolutionary War veteran and Maine surveyor Park Holland at Mount Hope Cemetery in Bangor. I have my own “directions” to his grave in my head. I go to the highest point in Mount Hope – the top of the hill – and walk around in a circle until I find it.

Frances Dighton Williams Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, marked the grave some years ago – but the marker is no longer there.

So I used the GPS to determine, with the help of satellites, that Holland’s monument is at 44 degrees 49 minutes 18 seconds north, 068 degrees 43 minutes 34 seconds west.

As a child in Sangerville, I used to search the night sky with my dad in hopes of seeing one of the early satellites, a slow-moving “star” that symbolized what science could accomplish. Look how far we’ve come.

One of these days, I’ll take my Magellan to the cemetery in Abbot, and quick as a wink, a whole group of satellites will help me mark my dad’s burial place.

The Penobscot County Genealogical Society will meet at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 19, in the Bangor Room at Bangor Public Library.

Dale Mower will present “Oh, the e-Places You’ll Go,” an interactive demonstration of some great Internet sites worth visiting. He’ll also show you how easy it is to post a gravestone photo online.

The Bangor Room is on the third floor of the library. An elevator is available from the ground level in the children’s department.

Send genealogy queries to Family Ties, Bangor Daily News, P.O. Box 1329, Bangor, ME 04402; or familyti@bangordailynews.net.