Sarah Linkorn, Attleboro, MA, 177[9?]
photo from the Farber Gravestone Collection
Aha! The humanities aren't usually predictive but I totally called this one.
Underneath are the
Remains of Sarah
Linkorn, Born April
12, 1743. New Born,
March 18, 1764 [Ex]
changed this for a
better Life March 5
177[9?]
That's a hair's breadth away from the three births I predicted back in #40.
Judging from the image (even without the epitaph), I would guess that Sara Linkorn belonged to a Methodist or charismatic Christian church. Since she converted in 1764, Sara may not have been a Methodist (Methodism reached New England a few years later). Does anyone know what other spiritual/charismatic/primitivist Christian sects were active on the MA/RI border in the 1760s?
Methodism had certainly reached Attleboro by the 1780s. Another gravestone in Attleboro (Marcy New, d. 1788) also features a face with raised hands, along with a Methodist hymn:
A guilty weak & helpless wormAlso of note — I've been looking for a "Linkorn" family in Attleboro, but have had no luck yet. There is, however, a large family named "Lincoln" . . .
on thy kind arms I fall:
Be thou my strength & righteousness
My Jesus & my all.
1 comment:
These are lovely examples. If you haven't picked a thesis project yet, this is just the sort of thing that might work. Benes' "Masks of Orthodoxy" tried to make a link between stonecarving and denominationalism, but I seem to recall thinking it was a bit of a stretch when I read it. But this case looks pretty clear cut.
I see that the carver's name was New -- perhaps he was the official Methodist carver for the region. And where did he pick up the design? Is it an import, or a local innovation?
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