Calvinist Baptist Cemetery, Marker #4

(1854-1881)

Melvin was born in Beaver River 10 Aug 1854 and died 21 June 1881, the son of William Stephens Raymond and Eunice Landers. His parents are also buried in the Calvinist Baptist Cemetery and named on the same grave marker, as are two sisters Joanna Dane (Raymond) Crosby and Eunice E (Raymond) Besser. The place and cause of Melvin’s death has not been found.

Melvin married 15 Sept 1877 Henrietta Piper about whom little is known. They had no known children. Henrietta was born about 1855 as she was 22 when she married and was living in Beaver River at the time. Her parents were Foster and Martha Piper. A brother, John Ambrose Piper, is buried in the Free Will Baptist Cemetery. We know nothing of Henrietta’s death nor her place of burial, nor whether she remarried.

Melvin is a Mayflower descendant, being descended, through his father, from Mayflower passengers, Isaac Allerton, John Billington, John Howland, John Tilley and Richard Warren.

One of Melvin’s ancestors, through his mother, may have been William Knowlton, whose grave marker in Shelburne is among the earliest for any English settler in Nova Scotia, it simply reads “William Knowlton, 1632.”

More information about Melvin, his parents and siblings may be found in the Old Stones Family Group Sheet Index.

Please leave a comment if you have information about Melvin, particularly the place and cause of his death at the age of 26. He was a mariner, was it related to his work?