In testimony whereof, I hereunto subscribe my name and affix the seal of said Court, this 29th day of November, (SEAL)

1893. H. FILLMORE LANKFORD, Clk.

William Hearne, the merchant, died Oct, 1691, and was buried on an elevated spot on his farm, that became a family burying ground, and has been nicely kept and preserved to the present time, 1907.  His wife, Mary, and sons, Thomas and Nehemiah, with many otber descendants, are buried there.^[1] In 1897 I had erected on a firm foundation a modest granite monument, the cut of which is shown on opposite page, with the inscription "HEARNE" at the base^[2], and on the face:

William Hearne, merchant, born 1627, and wife, Mary, born in London, England. Settled here in 1688. He died October, 1691. and she died after him.

"Thomas Hearne, son of William and Mary, born May 31, 1691 ; died March, 1762. His wife, Sally Wingate, died before him."

"Nehemiah Hearne, son of Thomas and Sally, died March, 1760. His wife, Bettie, died after him."

At the time of the erection of this monument I had a small granite tablet set at Greenville Episcopal Church, some ten miles east of Laurel, Delaware, with the following inscription: "Ebenezer Hearne, son of Thomas and Sally, born May 6. 1717 ; died April, 1785; and Priscilla, his wife, died April. 1796; buried 2 1/2 miles southeast." Greenville Episcopal Church is the same that the acre of ground for it was given by Cement Hearne. The Ebenezer Hearne homestead and burying ground is about 2 1/2 miles south-east of this point, where is buried also George Hearne, second son of Ebenezer, born September 2, 1758; killed in the American Army in New Jersey in 1778.

The writer has a feeling of gratification that cannot be expressed in words, in knowing that durable markers note the last resting piaces of all his paternal American ancestors in an unbroken line, that can be seen and known as they are visited by the present and all future generations of their descendants; that is, the one for William Heaarne (1691) and son Thomas (1762), near Delmar, but in Somerset County, Maryland; then of Ebenezer, at Greenville Protestant Episcopal Church in Sussex County, Delaware; and lastly, of Clement and Cannon Hearne, at Lexington, Kentucky, where also

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From the RR tracks in Delmar, take State Street (State Hwy 54) (main East/West thorofare) West to where road forks.  Right is DeLine Road, left is Hebron Road. Take left fork, Hebron Road and drive a few blocks to another fork;  Hebron Road (to right)  meanders along the Delaware/Maryland line southwest, Manson-Waller Road (to left) turns southwest.  Take left  - Manson-Waller Road.  Drive a few more blocks to first lane on left (field road - Hearne Lane - not marked on this end, but is marked on the other southeast end)  Take field road (bearing in mind this is private property!!)  Drive southeast and look to the northeast - a stand of trees and shrubs about 100 yards to northeast of lane in a field is Hearne/Freeny Cemetery.

(Charlotte Hearn Alexander)

[2] Modern day pictures of the site and the stone from Charlotte Hearn Alexander, taken in 1991:
 

The stone as it exists today.  (Click to enlarge)

Stone lies in the Hearne-Freeney cemetary, which is not currently well-cared for. (Click to enlarge)

The cemetary is in a field of corn or soybeans. (Click to enlarge)