The Misadventures of Photographing the Headstone of Job PRINCE.

Submitted By Annette Blanchard and Kaila Mae Blanchard for genealogical purposes

Photos Courtesy of James P. Blanchard, photographer

Job PRINCE, (1752 – 30 Jan 1827), Revolutionary War Vet, is buried in Reynolds Corners Cemetery, Moreau, Saratoga County, NY. Reynolds Corners Cemetery is located on the corner of Route 335 and Reservoir Road. The last time I was there, the town of Moreau had taken over care of the cemetery, but it was privately owned. I believe the owner’s name is Edwards. His house is located around the corner from the cemetery.

I am very lucky as I have a terrific friend, Jennifer, who lives in Schenectady, who doesn’t mind going on our “ghost busting” trips, as my husband refers to my genealogy research, or letting us stay at her house. I’m also lucky that my husband has a sideline business, photography. Being married to a professional photographer has its advantages.

On our first visit, we located the cemetery. We could actually see some of the headstones from the road because we were searching intensely for them. We found the entrance off of the road, but it wasn’t the entrance to the cemetery itself. After pulling off the road, we saw the cemetery entrance. Initially, our hopes escalated as the first few graves showed signs of attention – it was mowed, there were flowers, etc. We were disappointed to learn it was only the family plot at the entrance that was receiving attention. The rest of the cemetery was in disarray.

The cemetery is fairly small with several hills and valleys. It is surrounded by trees and brush that obviously once marked the borders of the cemetery. It is barely visible from the road, but can be seen from the road if you know it is there and where to look.

Once we were past the half dozen or so graves that were being attended to by someone, the weeds and day lilies took over. My friend, Jennifer, searched the area at the entrance as she broke her ankle the previous year and did not want to risk breaking it again. My husband, Jim, headed straight back, and I started exploring to the left.

Exploring is the right word, as some of those day lilies were over 6 feet tall! Reaching carefully with my foot to insure I wouldn’t trip over an unseen headstone or other obstacle, I would “swim” through the weeds that were over my head, stepping carefully until I would find a headstone, attempt to read it, then move on to the next headstone. I finally eventually discovered a fallen tree, which had several headstones buried underneath it. None of them were broken off, but they were definitely under the tree.

“Swimming” through the day lilies was interesting, as it was late August. The weeds were at their peak. It had also rained the night before, but the day was nice. By the time I had found the fallen tree, I was SOAKED! My sneakers squished when I walked, my jeans were ringing wet! I was definitely glad we were in a rental car, as I wouldn’t have to worry about wet seats!

In the meantime, Jim had gone straight towards the back of the cemetery. I heard him whistle!

SUCCESS! He found Job’s headstone! It is in one of the last rows. There is enough room for there to be more graves without headstones next to him. We pulled the vines off and cleared away the weeds so Jim could take several pictures of the headstone.

After taking the photographs, we decided to explore the area outside the cemetery a little farther. We followed a path, realized we were on private property, turned back and left. As we were getting ready to leave, an elderly gentleman approached us. He had walked up the path we had just explored. He is the one who provided us information about ownership and maintenance. His only request is if you visit the cemetery, please let him know first so he knew who is back there and why.

This trip ended up being rather unsuccessful. The so called “professional” photographer FORGOT to load film into the camera! I got soaked from head to toe for almost NOTHING!

The next time I went back to visit my friend, I took the digital camera with me. Unfortunately, Jim couldn’t go with us on this trip, so it was just Jennifer and I making the trip to the cemetery. As before, Jennifer stayed by the cemetery entrance. I took several photos with the digital camera.

As I was prowling the cemetery to see if there were other Prince graves, or names I actually recognized, I saw that someone had placed flags for Memorial Day on the known graves of veterans. I took one from in front of a headstone, told the headstone “You can share,” and moved it in front of Job’s headstone. Yep, I’m one of those who talks to headstones and other inanimate objects!

When I returned home, the digital camera failed. I could look at the photos on the camera, but I couldn’t download them to the computer to print them out! I was beginning to think Job just did not want his picture taken!

This meant yet another trip to Jennifer’s, then down to Moreau. Maybe the third time was the charm! This time, it was Jennifer, Jim, our daughter Kaila Mae, and I who went to the cemetery. We stopped at the Edwards’ house, leaving a note as no one was home. We were surprised when we drove to the entrance to the cemetery to find a chain with a private property sign attached preventing people from driving off of the road into the cemetery. This time, Jennifer waited in the car, just in case someone stopped to investigate. We headed straight back, avoiding the overgrown day lilies. We noted the cemetery was showing signs of some care, as the fallen tree had been cleared away.

After clearing away the weeds from Job’s headstone, Jim took several pictures, including one of Kaila Mae with her arm around the headstone. I refer to this as the 8 generation picture, as Kaila is the 8^th generation. Kaila’s specific line is Job, Jonathan and Catherine, Charles, Arthur, Boyd, Evelyn, Annette, Kaila.

After asking several times if Jim had film in the camera, Jim proceeded to take several pictures. Note the day lilies in the photos. Those are short compared to the ones I was walking through the first time we were at the cemetery. As Jim was leaving, he would walk about 10 – 20 feet, then take another photo so people would have an idea of where and how far to look for the headstone.

Below are the photos taken at the cemetery by James P. Blanchard. This is what you might see as you look for Job’s headstone as you enter the cemetery.

Entering the cemetery 1

The first shot of Job's headstone. 1

Getting closer! 1

Close up of Job PRINCE headstone 1 Close up of Job PRINCE headstone 2

Close up of Job PRINCE headstone 3

Can you fill in the blanks?

Look from the ___________ in doleful slumber

______________ ___________ allowed the joy

___________ ___________ __________ _____________

Where shortly you must lie

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