Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Also His Wife's Arm

carving by John Bull, Newport Common Burying Ground, Newport, RI
It's been a while. Between dissertation-babies and actual babies, I have sort of abandoned this blog lately. But now that the weather's getting better, I'm hoping to get back out on the road with the camera and update this space with more odds and ends of memorial culture.

So help me, I will find a way to mention this gravestone in my dissertation:

WAIT daughtr. of
WILLIAM and
DESIRE TRIPP
died April 24th
1780 Aged 10
Mo. 10 days.
Also WILLIAM 
their Son
died March
17th 1784 Aged
22 Mo.
Also his Wife's
Arm Amputated Feby. 20th 1786.

Carved by John Bull — runaway apprentice, mutineer, and innovative carver — of Newport, RI.

4 comments:

Roy said...

Heh, heh! When I first saw this one in Luti, I had to go find it. Bull definitely was a character, and apparently so were some of his clients! It's things like this that make me miss living in Newport in particular and New England in general. Here in Central PA (where I moved in October of 2010 out of economic necessity) there's nothing nearly so colorful, and there's nowhere near the artistry involved in the stonecarving. Oh well...

Anonymous said...

Thank you. What a great stone. I like to imagine a delicate little arm sized coffin.

-Larry

Unknown said...

You probably already know this, but you 101 euphemisms for death was featured on 22 words today: http://twentytwowords.com/2013/04/23/poetic-euphemisms-for-death-on-early-american-gravestones-20-pictures/

And they linked to their post (which links to yours) on FB. :D

I knew right away that it would lead to this blog, but I'm very glad to think that others are being pointed in this direction, too. :)

Anonymous said...

Welcome back, congratulations on dem babies and good luck.