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| Abigail Carlile, 1797, York, ME |
SACRED
to the memory of
MRS. ABIGAIL CARLILE,
wife of
Mr. John Carlile, &
daur of Mr. Henry Sewall,
born Jan. 11, 1758,
died July 17, 1797,
AEt. 40.
without issue.
A lively christian.
Near this stone are deposited the re-
mains of BENJAMIN and DANIEL,
infants, and children of
Daniel Sewall Esq.
"Of such is the kingdom of Heaven."
Daniel Sewall (1755-1842) was Abigail's older brother. He married Dorcas Bartlett (1759-1843) in 1780. Their sons, Benjamin (b. 9 Nov 1785, d. 15 Dec 1785) and Daniel (b. 1 Feb 1794, d. 21 Feb 1794) were buried in a family plot with their Aunt Abigail.
3 comments:
I don't know what the York cemetery is like, but based on the other stones you've seen there I wonder if you think this one may be somewhat backdated -- maybe by 10-20 years. There are many stones with nearly identical elements in central Mass., but they are generally after about 1810.
—RJO
Bob: This stone is 1 of about 75 I found carved by the same man, probably William G. Brazer (c1797-c1834). They are dated mostly 1820 through 1834. Brazer worked in Boston, almost always for other stonecutters (which makes finding probate payments to him for gravestones unlikely). His father Christopher was a gravestone carver who worked in the Geyer shop and Brazer was a partner to Boston carver William Bennett for a time, when both worked for Alpheus Cary. If you’ve found other stones like this further west and think they may be carved by the same man, I’d sure like to know about them.
Thanks for confirming my intuition about the date of this stone, Jim. I don't know that I have any stones that are necessarily from the very same carver, but several of the specific design details are certainly common in my central Mass. area: The starred-lozenge panels (as I call them), the fan corners, the wavy-drapery margin, the low-relief (or no relief) urn, etc. And that lettering style is certainly not one from the 1790s -- it's the much uglier style of early and mid 1800s, with very thick strokes; and the left-sloping italics in the last line are (perhaps for a purist) a barbarism of the 1800s. ;-)
—RJO
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