Gravestone of the Day: Daniel Guild

Daniel Guild, 1795, Wrentham, MA

Here lies Deposited

The remains of Mr

DANIEL GUILD

who Died June 22d. 1795

Atatis 58 who for 40 Years

was employ'd as a Saxon in

Commiting his fellow mortals

to the silent tomb.

Oh! Stranger

Contemplate that ere long

thy dust must mix with

mine -------------

Another epitaph cut short by an unfortunate preservation effort. Most of the old stones in Wrentham's Central Cemetery are embedded in concrete strips that keep them in straight, mowable lines. Sadly, many of the epitaphs were cut off when the stones were sunk into the concrete.

I think that Daniel Guild was probably a sexton, rather than a Saxon, but who am I to nitpick? I always love finding gravestones dedicated to carvers and others who made their livings creating the graveyards in which they were buried. It's interesting to see how they were memorialized. Daniel Guild (or his family) chose a winged skull that was decidedly old-fashioned by 1795. The Fisher/Farrington shop was still producing these stones in the 1790s, but they were not the height of fashion.

Some other stones dedicated to men in the mortuary industry:


Josiah Manning, 1806, Windham Center, CT

John Stevens, 1736, Newport, RI:

Josiah Manning

Josiah Manning, one of the most prolific gravestone carvers in eastern Connecticut during the 18th century, carved his own gravestone. It does not appear to be particularly special — there are more than a dozen stones in Windham Center cemetery that are very similar stylistically. If you did not know that Manning was a carver, you might walk by without noticing anything unusual unless you noticed the message on the back:

This Monument

I made in ye year

1800 in my 76th

year    JM

I'm not sure who carved the specifics on the front — perhaps one of Manning's sons or apprentices.

Josiah Manning also carved a stone for his wife, Mary, who died in 1796. Unlike Manning's own stone, Mary's stone is stylistically distinct from the bulk of Manning's work. The wings are feathered and point downward instead of the distinctive bat-like wings of other Manning stones. The face is different as well — it lacks the on-end hair and surprised eyes common on other Manning stones. It seems that Josiah may have been attempting to carve a portrait of his beloved wife.

Mary's is the only hand-carved stone in the graveyard (other than Josiah's own) that is carved on both sides:

 The LORD gave & ye LORD

hath taken away blessed be

ye name of the LORD, for

Lover & friend hast thou

put far from me & mine

acquaintance into darkness

In ye Cold mansions of ye 

silent Tomb, Oh how full ye

solitud[e] how deep ye gloom,

Here sleeps her dust,

unconscious, close Confin'd

but far far Distant Dwells

the Immortal Mind.

This is a mash-up of Job 1:21, Psalm 88:18, and an epitaph found all over New England ("In ye Cold mansions . . .").