Another DURE Family Plot, but This Time with No Tombstone in Sight

When doing some research for George A. Dure, I visited the official Rose Hill Cemetery website to conduct a search. I plugged in the DURE surname and found something I did not expect. Adrienne Dure, George's mother, is also buried in Rose Hill. I guess I assumed she would've been in the Geo. A. Dure family plot I had already transcribed. Since she was not, I didn't think she was in Rose Hill at all. That, my friends, is what I get for assuming.

According to the Rose Hill site, Adrienne was buried in the Central Avenue district, Block 1, Lot 121. Using the map posted on the site, as well as my personally copied map, and the map posted at the cemetery entrance, I had a pretty good idea where this family plot was. I just found it odd that I did not recall seeing the DURE or MAUSSENET name in the area before. (Maussenet is the other name prominent in this plot.) Not that I know where every name can be found in Rose Hill, mind you, I just know I have walked that particular area many times before.

Armed with my new knowledge, I set out the other day to find the Dure-Maussenet family plot. It took me a little longer than expected, but I found it! It's a good thing that burial site was marked, or I would've never been sure of whether I had really found it or not. Why do I say this? Because there was not one tombstone in sight on that lot! The only marking was a stone with 'DURE' engraved in it.




If you look closely, you will see many brick-covered grave sites.


Not one tombstone seems quite strange. I know that Adrienne Dure was a property owner and, in 1860, she had a personal estate of $6,000. I know that her son-in-law, Edward Maussenet, was a jeweler and watch maker and seemed prominent in the community. Why no tombstones? Also buried in the plot are a couple of children of George and Julia Kendrick Dure.

I was reminded of a very important lesson when looking for the grave site of Adrienne Dure: just because you don't find a tombstone in a particular cemetery does not mean an individual was not buried there. And! Just because you transcribe all the stones in a cemetery doesn't mean you have recorded all of the burials. Of course, this is something I already knew, but it is always good to be reminded. Tombstones sometimes carry more information about a person, and they sometimes can even give you a "feel" for a person. However, burial records for a cemetery are just as important to the researcher who cannot locate a stone.

The transcriptions of the burial records for this lot are a little difficult to decipher, but here is what I can figure out. According to the Rose Hill Cemetery site, the following individuals were laid to rest in Block 1, Lot 121 of the Central Avenue District:

- Mary Daly
- Adrienne Baulard Dure - b. 5 Dec 1788, d. 31 Dec 1871, bur. 5 Jan 1872
- Jasper Dietz Dure [s/o Geo. & Julia K. Dure] - b. 29 Dec 1868, d. 3 May 1870, bur. 8 May 1870
- Julia I. Dure [d/o Geo. & Julia K. Dure] - b. 14 Aug 1866, d. 29 Oct 1868, bur. 3 Nov 1868
- Miss Hilda W. Humphries - bur. 23 Sep 1979
- Adrienne Maussenet - d. 2 Mar 1863, bur. 7 Mar 1863
- Edward Maussenet [son-in-law of Adrienne Dure] - d. 10 Jul 1866, bur. 15 Jul 1866
- George Maussenet
- Maria There[x?]se Delia Dure Maussenet [d/o Adrienne Dure, w/o Edward Maussenet] - b. 7 Dec 1823, d. 14 Apr 1863, bur. 19 Apr 1863 [I wonder if she died from complications from the birth of Adrienne Maussenet?]

I'm not sure of the plot owner, but I would imagine that either a child of Edward & Maria Maussenet or George & Julia Dure was the first burial.