Monday, January 31, 2011

Gravestone of the Day: Emim How

Emim How, 1705, Little Compton, RI

HERE LYETH Ye BODY
OF EMIM Ye DAVGHTER
OF NICHOLAS & ELINOR
HOW, SHE LIVED 6
YEARS & DYED IVLY
Ye 18TH 1705
Emim is a new one for me. It is the name of an obscure tribe mentioned briefly in the Bible.

Here is another example of colonial Americans using a collective name from the Bible as a personal name.

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Gravestone of the Day: John Jackson

John Jackson, 1691, Point of Graves, Portsmouth, NH

HERE
LYETH BURIED
Ye BODY OF
IOHN IACKSON
AGED 33 YEARS
DYED IANUARY
Ye 26 1690/1

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Tangible Things, ctd.

The Harvard Crimson profiles our exhibit.

Gravestone of the Day: Mary Harres

Mary Harres, 1670, Granary Burying Ground, Boston

MARY HARRES
DAUGHTER TO
JAMES & SARAH
HARRES AGED
15 MONTHS
DYED SEPR
Ye 25 1670

Monday, January 24, 2011

Gravestone of the Day: Abigail Sims

Abigail Sims, 1702, Little Compton, RI

Here lyeth ye
body of AbiGail
ye wife of Iohn
Sims & dauGhter
of Edward Rich
mond & Sarah his
wife dyed octobr
ye 4th in ye 19th
[year of her age]

Here is another stone with no year on it. I've said before that these stones make me think that they were erected soon after the death – certainly within a year, possibly within 3 months.

Abigail Richmond Sims died in 1702.

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Gravestone of the Day: James Russell

James Russel, 1773, Concord, MA

Memento mori
Here lies Buried
the Body of Mr:
James Russel, who
departed this Life
May the 5th: AD.
1773 Aged 77
Years 3 months
and 29 days.
No house of pleasure here 'bove ground
Do I expect to have;
My bed of rest for sleeping sound
I've made the silent grave.

I love the birds and baskets in the border.

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Gravestone of the Day: Thomas French

Thomas French, 1733, Deerfield, MA

Here lyeth the body
of Deacon Thomas
French who dyed
April ye 5th 1733
Aged 76 Years

Thomas French and his family were captured during the 1704 raid on Deerfield. He survived the ordeal and was ransomed in 1706, but was never able to put his family back together. His wife, Mary Catlin French, and the couple's 1-month-old son, John were killed during the raid. The other French children, Mary (17), Thomas (14), Freedom (11), Martha (8), and Abigail (6), survived the raid and the march to Canada. Mary and Thomas were ransomed along with their father, but the three younger girls never returned to New England. Freedom was given to a French merchant in Montreal and was re-named Marie Francoise. She remained in contact with her sister Martha — the two girls eventually married into the same French Canadian family. Abigail was adopted by a Mohawk family and lived out her life as a Mohawk woman.

Friday, January 21, 2011

Gravestone of the Day: Sarah Childs

Sarah Childs, 1752, Deerfield, MA

Mrs. SARAH
Wife of Deac
SAM'L CHILDS
Died March
21, 1752, In
ye 64 year
of her age.

Sorry about the lack of posting lately. In addition to the imminent start of the semester and my looming dissertation chapter deadline, Pete and I have decided to move to a new house. Also, there's the whole 3-month-old infant thing going on. So, I've been pretty busy. I hope that I'll be able to post some interesting things as I work on my chapter.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Gravestone of the Day: John & Abigail Hastings

John & Abigail Hastings, 1718, Grove Hill, Waltham, MA
Here Lyes ye 
Body of Mr
John Hastings,
Aged 65 Years
Who Deced
March ye 28th
1717/18

Here also Lyes ye
Body of Mrs.
Abigail Hastings;
Wife to Mr John
Hastings; Aged
63 Years Decd
April ye 7th 1717/18

Monday, January 17, 2011

Gravestone of the Day: Elizabeth Richmond

Elizabeth Richmond, 1705, Little Compton, RI
Here lyeth Eliz-
abeth ye dauGhtr of
Edwad Richmond
& of Sarah his wife
who dyed in ye 12th
year of her aGe
may ye 11th 1705

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Gravestone of the Day: Asa Kingsbury

I apologize for the awful picture. It was a wet, overcast day, and this was the best I could do.

Asa Kingsbury, 1775, Franklin Plain Cemetery, Franklin, CT
In memory of Lieut. Asa 
Kingsbury, who died at 
Pomfret on the 5th of Sept 
1775 In the 47th Year of 
his Age; Who was on the 
March to Roxbury to Join
the American Army &
was brought here by his 
Friends & Inter'd with that 
respect which was due 
from the Public to such 
characters.

Happy Birthday, Graham!

Graham was a big fan of Aladdin for a few years in the early '90s. Nice free-hand icing, mom!

Lookin' good.

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Tennessee Tea Party Demands the Teaching of Children's History

No, not really. But they have released a statement regarding their priorities for history education:
No portrayal of minority experience in the history which actually occurred shall obscure the experience or contributions of the Founding Fathers, or the majority of citizens, including those who reached positions of leadership.
According to the Memphis Commercial Appeal, the TN Tea Party believes that
Neglect and outright ill will have distorted the teaching of the history and character of the United States. We seek to compel the teaching of students in Tennessee the truth regarding the history of our nation and the nature of its government. 
So much to parse.

I'll leave the rest to others, but I was most struck by "the majority of citizens." We could quibble about who is and is not a "citizen," but I would say that this standard does not mean what they think it does.

Gravestone of the Day: Catharine Almy

Catharine Almy, 1743, God's Little Acre, NCBG, Newport, RI

Catharine Almy
wife of Hurrican
Dunbar died
Augst: ye 1st: 1743
Aged about
35 Years.

These stones never cease to astonish me with their concise encapsulation of the cruelties of slavery. Catharine was the wife of a man whose name she could not share. Instead, her surname was the name of the people who owned her. No one knew how old she was, which probably means that she was born in Africa and that Catharine was not the name given to her by her biological family.

See my statement on naming the enslaved here.

Friday, January 14, 2011

Gravestone of the Day: Subiner Clark

Subiner Clark, 1759, God's Little Acre, NCBG, Newport, RI

IN MEMORY of
SUBINER Daughter
of NERO CLARK
& PHILLIS his Wife
who died July
1759 in the 19th
Year of her Age.

Subiner is a name I haven't heard before and can't find in any source. Might it be a New England corruption of Sabina along the same lines as Annar and Marther?

I don't know whether Nero, Phillis, and Subiner/Sabina were free or enslaved.

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Gravestone of the Day: Amos Boardman

Amos Boardman, 1788, Wakefield, MA

IN
Memory of
MR. AMOS BOARDMAN,
who died Jan. 8, 1788:
in the 60 year
of his age.
Reader may this remind you
By the Grace of God
to prepare for a sudden Death.

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Gravestone of the Day: Henry Woods

Henry Woods, 1804, Pepperell, MA

ERECTED
in memory of
Gen. HENRY WOODS,
who died March 5th, 1804.
Aged 70 years.
He served his country in her contest for the
obtainment of freedom and independence and
has since sustained with honor several important
offices both civil and military. He was no less endear-
ed to his family and connections by his disposition
to disseminate kindness and promote the social
virtues than to the community by his public spirit
and charity.

See RJO's post mentioning Woods' involvement in Shays' Rebellion.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Tangible Things

This semester, I will be the head Teaching Fellow for a new GenEd course at Harvard called Tangible Things: Harvard Collections and World History (co-taught by Professors Laurel Ulrich and Ivan Gaskell).

The purpose of the course is to get students into the archives/museums and get them thinking about how the disciplinary categories arose (and how valid they are).

Along with regular lectures and sections, we have a fabulous exhibit that is open to the public. The core of the exhibit includes objects from many different collections and is on view at the Historical Scientific Instruments gallery in the Science Center through the end of May. We have also placed guest objects in museums and libraries all around campus.

See our write-up in Curated Magazine.

Gravestone of the Day: An Infant

Infant Silver, 1838, Little Compton, RI
An Infant,
daughter of
Abraham P. &
Lydia B. Silver
died Aug. 16,
1838.
AE. 8 D's.

More evidence that some babies were not named at birth.

Monday, January 10, 2011

Wikipedia Quote of the Day

From the entry on East Cambridge:

"Dorothea Lynde Dix became an advocate for the humane treatment of the mentally insane in the Antebellum era when she volunteered as a Sunday School teacher at East Cambridge, Massachusetts."

Saturday, January 8, 2011

Gravestone of the Day: Job Broune

Job Broune, 1678, Phipps St. Cemetery, Charlestown, MA

IOB . BROUNE
AGED . 3 . YEARS
DIED . AUGUST
Ye . 18TH . 1678

Friday, January 7, 2011

Gravestone of the Day: Abigail W. Wood

Abigail W. Wood, Nemasket Hill Cemetery, Middleboro, MA, 1854

Sacred to the memory of
ABIGAIL W.
Wife of Horatio G. Wood
& daughter of Thomas &
Abigail Weston.
Born Mar. 15. 1801.
Died Jan. 7. 1854.
AE. 52 y'rs 9 mo's & 22 days.
[verse illegible]

This stone has a very strange embellishment. I wonder whether this recess once held a photograph of Abigail Wood. I've seen photos on gravestones from the end of the 19th century, but never as early as the 1850s.

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Gravestone of the Day: Windsor Goulding

Windsor Goulding, 1702, Granary Burying Ground, Boston, MA

WINDSOR SON OF
WINDSOR AND
ELIZABETH GOULDING
AGED 13. MO. & 8.
DAYES DIED AUGUST
Ye 26. 1702

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Gravestone of the Day: Elizabeth Fenno

Elizabeth Fenno, 1713, Granary Burying Ground, Boston, MA
HERE LYES BURIED
THE BODY OF
ELIZABETH FENNO
WIFE TO EPHRAIM FENNO
AGED 29 YEARS 10 MO & 11 DS
DECED NOVR 22D 1713

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Gravestone of the Day: Samuel Young

Samuel Young, 1800, East Bridgewater, MA

To
Perpetuate the remembrance
of
Samuel Young,
son of Mr, Robert & Molley Young.
he died at sea Oct, 22d, 1800.
AEt, 23
of a wound received in his right
Breast in an action between the
Frigate Boston & the French Berceau.

Samuel Young was one of seven Americans killed when the USS Boston captured the French corvette Berceau in 1800. I do not know whether he is buried under his monument in East Bridgewater.

Monday, January 3, 2011

Gravestone of the Day: Parney Young

Parney Young, 1800, East Bridgewater, MA

To
Perpetuate the remembrance
of
Parney Daughter of
Mr. Robt, & Molley Young
who died March 10th, 1800
AEt, 19.

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Gravestone of the Day: Robert Ray

Robert Ray, 1784, Sheldonville, MA
IN
memory of
Mr. Robert 
Ray, who
died January
2d 1784.
Aged 66
years.

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Happy Janury!

Mary Brintall, 1688, Marblehead, MA