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Notes:
Located on River Road in Manchester (about 1/4 to 1/8 of a mile from Webster Street) on property that was once part of the original farm/homestead of John Stark.
According to A Life of General John Stark of New Hampshire by Howard Parker Moore (1949), reprinted by Higginson Book Company, Salem, Massachusetts:
"In 1829 the family caused a modest shaft of Concord granite to be placed at the grave, marked simply 'M.G. John Stark.' [...] In 1876 Elizabeth B. and Augustus H. Stark, surviving children of John Stark 3rd, deeded to Manchester two acres containing the buriel [sic] plot, stipulating that $300 be spent annually in upkeep. [...] In January 1883, the city appropriated about $4,000 to beautify the grounds and build an iron fence around th large lot and later in the year (June 6 and 17) Strk Park was dedicated. (City Report, 1893)
"Violent official hands were laid on the family grave stones (except Stark's own shaft) and they, numbering 24, were all destroyed, or else, as may be surmised, were laid flat and covered up in the job of grading, filling in uneven spots. The work may have been secretly done as no immediate protests seem to have resulted. Molly Stark's stone may still be found by the usual expert soundings and a little experimental digging, but the D.A.R. has yet to act. As an indication of official blundering, as well as disregard for the feelings of General Stark and his immediate family, the large memorial or monument in the center of the plot wit the stately fence, perpetuates incorrect dates, such as those of Archibald Stark (1699-1750) and Eleanor Nichols his wife (1680-1740). After a lapse of 50 years investigation has proven fruitless as to 'who done it,' and now their identity will be forever shielded.
"Except for the despoiling of the old family grave yard the result, Stark Park, is wholly admirable. John Stark has as handsome and fitting a memorial as any of the country's great soldiers and patriots, the Generals of the Revolutionary War."
[pages 513-514]
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