FOREWORD 
 
 
     When I first started to gather information for this 
book, I was repeatedly asked why I wanted to undertake such a 
macabre subject.  I explained my position by offering two 
reasons-- history and genealogy. 
 
     During the past few years I have been involved in 
developing a family tree for the Jordan and Hall families.  
While getting vital information on ancestors, it became 
increasingly more evident that the only way to obtain some 
death information was from cemeteries.  But locating where a 
person was buried was almost as difficult as identifying 
ancestors.  To add to the problem was that almost no records 
were available in Gloucester to show cemeteries and persons 
buried there since 1865.  As a result valuable genealogical 
data was being overlooked or lost. 
 
     A tremendous amount of historical information can be  
collected at a cemetery.  An insight of life spans of our  
ancestors became evident.  The mortality rate of infants 
becomes obvious.  Inscriptions on graves gives an insight as 
to the closeness of families as well as to the craftmanship 
and patience of loved ones.  With the ever increasing 
complexity of the migration of persons within this country, 
the cemetery provides a small link to aid in the 
identification of that migration. 
 
     When a friend of mine was approached about the location 
of a certain cemetery the reply was--"That's no cemetery, 
it's a graveyard."  The reason was that this "graveyard" had 
been abandoned, vandalized and overgrown. Sadly, a lot of the 
cemeteries listed herein must be categorized as graveyards. A 
pity. 
 
     I sincerely hope that this book will interest and 
benefit, in some small way, the genealogist and historian 
trying to picture Gloucester of yesteryear.  I further hope 
that others will continue to record future data to assure up-
to-date historyand not just "lost graveyards".