Tragedy

While researching this Pompey Stevens paper, I have come across many quotidian tragedies that may not make it into the final paper. That's why I run this blog — so I can keep track of the stories I find in the archives and graveyards.

This Newport gravestone tells a doubly tragic tale. First, Peter, a boy enslaved by Aaron Lopez, drowned after falling out of a boat near Lopez' wharf. Second, his epitaph characterizes his death as a financial, as well as a familial loss. His epitaph is a testament to the violence and tragedy of a system that took children from their parents for the financial gain of others.

Peter Son of

Peter Cranston

& Phylis his

Wife was

Drowned Septr

7th 1771 to

ye loss of his

Parents & his

Mr. A. Lopez