Gravestone of the Day: Bezer Hill

Bezer Hill, 1821, East Bridgewater, MA

In Memory of

MR. BEZER HILL,

Who was killed by the

upsetting of a cart,

Sep. 20, 1821.

AEt. 29.

Adieu my friends, a long & sad farewell!

A scen more solemn than the passing bell:

I hope with God in glory I shall bloom,

Where sorrow, sickness, death, can never come.

Consoling thought! dear partner dry your tears,

Your friend has gone beyond your anxious fears;

Weep not for me, prepare without delay,

To meet that debt, you all must shortly pay.

B.L.

Can't blame this one on David Blood.

I thought that this might be an example of Beza + accent = Bezer, but there is actually an obscure Bezer in the Bible. Maybe it's even the other way around — there's no Beza in the Bible, so maybe someone like Beza Soule is really Bezer + accent = Beza? There is a Bezaleel, though, so who knows.

In any event, the biblical Bezer appears only once. Some of his brothers and cousins listed in adjacent verses would also make great additions to my Alphabet: Jephunneh, Pispah, Ulla, Zophah, Imna, etc.

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.

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.

Gravestone of the Day: Orinda Carpenter Hyde

Orinda Carpenter, 1812, East Bridgewater, MA

In Memory of 

ORINDA CARPENTER

Daught. of

Mr. Ephraim &

Mrs. Mary Hyde,

died Dec. 14, 1812;

Aged 7 Years

& 5 Months.

Orinda Carpenter Hyde was named for her maternal grandmother, Orinda (Carpenter) Dresser (b. 1738). Though little Orinda's mother bore the prosaic name of Mary, Orinda the elder had an ecclectic naming style – English, German, biblical, classical/literary, and puritan virtues. Her children were:

• Elfreda (b. 1759)
• Huldah (b. 1761)
• Serena (b. 1764)
• Esther (b. 1766)
• Thomas (b. 1767)
• Nathan (b. 1769)
• Mary (b. 1772)
• Abel (b. 1775)
• Comfort Carpenter (b. 1777) named for Orinda's father, Capt. Comfort Carpenter
• Sally (b. 1779)
• Jonathan (1782)

Orinda was the pseudonym of the 17th-century English poet Katharine Phillips. I do not know why an 18th-century New England family decided to name their daughter after a high-society, Anglican, pastoral poet whose work is best known for its celebration of passionate female friendships. Classical names were all the rage in 1800, but not so common in the 1730s.

Gravestone of the Day: Francis Davis Millet

Francis Davis Millet, 1912, East Bridgewater, MA

FRANCIS DAVIS MILLET

BORN AT MATTAPOISETT,

MASSACHUSETTS, ON THE

3RD OF NOVEMBER 1846,

AND DROWNED IN THE LOSS

OF THE SHIP "TITANIC"

ON THE 15TH OF APRIL, 1912,

Francis Davis Millet was a notable American painter.

This is a hop out of chronology for me, but I am fascinated by cenotaphs dedicated to people who died at sea. This is the rarest of gravestones: a gravestone that marks an actual grave for someone who died at sea. Millet's body was recovered from the debris in the aftermath of the sinking and was returned to Massachusetts.

Gravestone of the Day: Ezra Angier

Ezra Angier, 1747, East Bridgewater, MA

HERE LYES Ye BODY OF

EZRA ANGIER Ye SON

OF Ye Revd: Mr. JOHN

ANGIER & Mrs: MARY

HIS WIFE, WHO

DEPARTED THIS LIFE

JULY Ye 29th 1747

IN Ye 10th YEAR

OF HIS AGE ~

Reserved for a glorious

Resurrection

Gravestone of the Day: Ledyard Hide

Ledyard Hide, 1796, East Bridgewater, MA

In memory of

Ledyard son of Mr

Ephraim Hide & Mrs

Mary his wife he

died Nov, 20th 1796

Aged 6 weeks

Life is a dream, a morning flower

Cut down & witherd in an our:

Gravestone of the Day: Martha Angier

Martha Angier, 1747, East Bridgewater, MA

HERE LYES Ye BODY OF

MARTHA ANGIER, Ye

DAUGHTr: OF Ye Revd Mr

JOHN ANGIER & Mrs:

MARY HIS WIFE, WHO

DEPARTED THIS LIFE
JULY Ye 23d 1747

IN Ye 14th YEAR

OF HER AGE.

Gone but not lost

Gravestone of the Day: Samuel Bird

Samuel Bird, 1825, East Bridgewater, MA

SAMUEL

Son of William &

Joanna Bird

died May 13, 1825,

AEt. 15 Mos.

Closed is the eye of youthful mirth,

A parents fondest hopes are fled;

Scarce done rejoicing at his birth,

Ere we must place him with the dead.

B.L.

This epitaph caught my eye because it is so concerned with the parents' worldly grief. There is no talk of resurrection or comforting hope of heaven — just loss.

Gravestone of the Day: Baby Whitman

Baby Whitman, 1794, East Bridgewater, MA

In memory of

the son of

Mr. Jepthah Whitman

& Mrs. Betsey his wife,

who died Oct. 24 1794

aged 14 days

This one caught my eye because it implies that a 2-week-old child went unnamed. I am not surprised to find that stillborn or day-old babies often went unnamed, but two weeks seems like an awfully long time to me. Other gravestones indicate that 2-week-old infants were generally named.

Gravestone of the Day: Eunice Angier

Eunice Angier, 1771, East Bridgewater, MA

Here lies the Body of

Mrs. EUNICE ANGIER

Sister of the

Revd Mr. JOHN ANGIER

who departed this life

October 5th 1771

having a little before

compleated the 73d

year of her Age

This is an interesting epitaph because it defines the deceased — an elderly, seemingly unmarried woman — in terms of her relationship to her brother. Other women's stones generally call them the daughter or wife of so-and-so, but "sister of" is quite rare.

Gravestone of the Day: Sarah Cary

Sarah Cary, 1730, East Bridgewater, MA

SARAH CARY

Died; Iune . ye . 12 .

1730 . Aged . 28 .

Gravestone of the Day: John Angier

John Angier, 1787, East Bridgewater, MA

Erected

in memory of

the Revd. Mr. JOHN ANGIER

who died April 14th 1787

in the 86th year of his age,

and in the 63d year of

his ministry.

"Be thou faithful unto Death &

I will give thee a Crown of Life."

This stone was carved by Bildad Washburn (1762-1832). James Blachowicz includes a long description of Washburn's extensive carving practice in From Slate to Marble (pgs.227-237). According to Blachowicz, this depiction of Rev. Angier in his pulpit is one of only two portrait stones by Washburn. It is unusual among portrait stones because it embeds the portrait in a real-world landscape. Only a few portrait stones embellish the setting in this way.

Name of the Day: Polycarpus Snell

I found this name in East Bridgewater yesterday.

Gravestone of the Day: Ezra Alden

Ezra Alden, 1767, East Bridgewater, MA

Here lies Buried

Mr. EZRA ALDEN

Who Died

NOVEMBER 5th

1767 In ye 36th

year of his age.

There are several stones in the Old Grave Yard in East Bridgewater, MA carved by Nathan Hayward. Many of them have unusually deep relief carving like that found on the Ezra Alden stone.