Gilkey Cemetery

Site: N09-19
Municipality: Plainfield, NH
Location: Stage Road
Site Type: Cemetery.

Gilkey Cemetery, located on a hill above Stage Road, was at one time on the Gilkey farm owned by Ellen Shipman. The graves are in three separate groups. The largest is near the tall pine trees. There are many unmarked mounds. The first dated stone reads "June 28, 1767, Sarah, daughter of Captain Benjamin and Jerman Chapman." Members of the Shipman family have recently been buried near the oldest stone.

The second group is surrounded by a tall wire fence on iron stakes. Graves in this lot date between 1803 and 1906. The third group lies on the east side of the graveyard. Within this lot are six lettered graves, some of native field stone, and some unmarked mounds. The earliest stone is that of Lieutenant Thomas Gallup, who died September 30, 1777, at fifty-two years old. Gallup had been town clerk at his death and was a notable citizen at the town's beginning. There is also a section in the cemetery reserved for the Avery family. Money for the cemetery comes from the town and private trust funds. According to Joseph Meyette, a former sexton, the last person buried in Gilkey Cemetery was Gerald Wilder.
(Source 165:270)