Thursday, March 26, 2009

101 Ways, Part 78: Left It

For a brief intro to the "101 Ways to Say 'Died'" series, click here.


Desire Bull, d. 1791
Newport, Rhode Island
Sacred
to the Memory
of
Mrs. DESIRE relict of the late
Capt NATHAN BULL Senr
who after a faithful discharge
of the duty asigned her in
this state of labour & trial
left it on the 9th of July
1791 aged 76 years.

2 comments:

Robert J. said...

Very fine lettering indeed (with an elegant tail on the lowercase g). Is that a Stevens stone?

Caitlin GD Hopkins said...

Without a soul effigy, I can't be sure about the attribution, but I think this stone might have been carved by John Bull. According to Luti, Bull was still carving until the 1790s but John Stevens III trailed off and stopped carving interesting things. The lettering looks similar to the lettering on the Langley children stone, which was signed by Bull.

I'm not 100% sure, but I think Nathan Bull was John's brother, making Desire his sister-in-law. It makes sense that he might carve her gravestone even if his sight was in decline by 1791.

This stone also reminds me of the Christopher Ellery stone.