By Strangers Honored and By Strangers Mourned

In her book, This Republic of Suffering, Drew Gilpin Faust argues that 19th-cntury Americans spent a lot of time worrying about the disruption of the "good death" during the Civil War. One of their principal concerns was that men regularly died far from home, away from the (often female) family members who should have witnessed their last words, observed the evidence of their salvation, and performed proper mortuary rituals. In many cases, nurses, doctors, and local civilians stood in for absent family members, performing the duties that mothers, wives, and sisters could not.

This same concern occupied the minds of maritime families in earlier decades. When men died at sea or in foreign ports, their family members hoped that they had been attended in their last moments and sometimes imagined attendants into being.

A good example of this concern can be found on a cenotaph in Plymouth, MA. Isaac Wethrell was 19 years old when he died in "Martinico" in January of 1803; his brother William was 22 when he died in St. Thomas two months later. The Wethrell brothers' parents commissioned a single cenotaph for their sons, choosing to honor them with a quotation from Alexander Pope:

By foreign hands, thy dying eyes were closd

By foreign hands, thy decent limbs composd

By foreign hands, they humble grave adornd

By strangers honoured, and by strangers mournd

Erected

to perpetuate the memory

of two sons

of Thomas & Sarah Wethrell

who died in the West Indies.

William Wethrell

Decd at St Thomas

March 23d 1803

Aged 22 years.

Isaac Wethrell

Decd at Martinico

January 23d 1803

Aged 19 years.

By foreign hands, thy dying eyes were closd

By foreign hands, thy decent limbs composd

By foreign hands, they humble grave adornd

By strangers honoured, and by strangers mournd

Field Trip!

Today, Professor Lepore and I took the undergrads into Boston to spend the day exploring the 18th-century city. They are beginning to write their papers for our American Revolution seminar, so it was important for them to kickstart their historical imaginations. It was a beautiful day and a very successful trip.

We started the morning on the Common, talking about the occupation and Bostonians' reactions to the presence of the soldiers. Then, it was on to the Granary Burying Ground and Kings Chapel, where Prof. Lepore generously allowed me to say a few words about gravestones and memorialization. In King's Chapel, I had a chance to sit in Ame and Elizabeth Cuming's pew (#36), which was a real treat. They had a window seat just a few boxes back from Governor Hutchinson.

John Brown

My parents are collectors. Every inch of wall and shelf space in their house is covered with knick knacks, paintings, framed textiles, antique tools, interesting bits of pottery, children's drawings, postcards, and every other type of object you could imagine.

Prominent among their decorations is their collection of Civil War antiques and memorabilia. They have several modern prints (mostly of the 28th Massachusetts), but the bulk of their collection is made up of antiques: cases of framed GAR medals, souvenirs from the 50th anniversary encampment at Gettysburg, a framed newspaper from the day after the Lincoln assassination, old tins and placards using Civil War images to sell whiskey and soap, framed covers of Harper's Weekly from the war years, and on and on. There are also books, movies, and music, but it's the walls that you notice first.

One of the objects that always drew my eye — and still does — is a black and white print of Thomas Hovenden's The Last Moments of John Brown (1884) that hangs in the living room.

I have probably spent a full week of my life contemplating this image over the years, but I still don't know what I think of John Brown. If I accept that the Civil War was ultimately righteous because of what it accomplished, how can I condemn Brown for his savagery? On the other hand, if I believe that domestic terrorism is repugnant, how can I celebrate him?

Autumn Flowers

Marshfield, MA

This has been a test of the new "X-Large" picture setting on Blogger.

Good Deed For the Day

A few years ago, I found a box of 100-150 WWII-era letters at a flea market. Most of the letters were from a woman in Maine to her son, Private Robert Cameron, who was away in the army. Along with the letters, there were several photographs, newspaper clippings, schoolwork, etc.

I always wondered about Robert Cameron's family and whether he had any descendants. Often, family papers end up in flea markets when someone dies without children or grandchildren, so I wasn't optimistic about finding anyone who would want these letters back.

Then, a few weeks ago, I was on Ancestry.com and, on a whim, looked for Robert Cameron — and found him! I emailed the person who had him in her family tree, who turned out to be his granddaughter. She was very excited to hear about these letters and told me that her grandmother is still alive and would love to have these back. I boxed up the letters and sent them off to her today.

And that is my good deed of the day.

Connecticut Zombies

 
The Hartford Courant goes there:

New Britain Cemetery Tour Will Resurrect City's History

To Act Thy Childhood O'er Again

I have only seen three gravestones that did not bear an individual's name (or identifying information). One is in Malden, MA, one is in the collection of the John Stevens Shop in Newport, RI, and one is at Copp's Hill in Boston.
The Copp's Hill stone is pictured above. The Farber Collection also has an excellent photo of this stone, taken before it sustained damage to the face and the right finial. Unfortunately, the carver remains unidentified.

I think it's the same carver. Like the Malden stone, the epitaph begins with a lowercase letter, the inscription is mostly lowercase, and the tall letters have little flourishes on the tops. In addition, the carver uses the antiquated "yt" for "that."

Mehetabel Blanchard and the Aeneid

Could the mystery gravestone in Malden be a footstone?

Footstones usually bear the deceased person's initials or name and, rarely, the year. Some footstones are a bit wordier.

Example:
Mehetable Blanchard, d. 1742, Malden, MA

According to the internet, that inscription is lines 606-610 of Book 1 the Aeneid.

In Latin:

In freta dum fluvii current, dum montibus umbrae
lustrabunt convexa, polus dum sidera pascet,
semper honos nomenque tuum laudesque manebunt,
quae me cumque vocant terrae.

In English:

While rivers run to ocean, while on the mountains shadows move over slopes, while heaven feeds the stars, ever shall your honour, your name, and your praises abide, whatever be the lands that summon me!

Joshua Blanchard, Mehetabel's husband, appears to have been a carpenter and, perhaps, a lover of Virgil.

Do You Haunt Graveyards?

CNN wants to know.

She That's Here Interred Needs No Versifying

On Saturday's outing to Bell Rock Cemetery in Malden, Pete found this extraordinary stone. I had completely overlooked it. At Bell Rock, nearly all of the stones face South, so I had previously passed over this humble, North-facing stone, which has never been illuminated during one of my visits.

There is so much to say about this gravestone.

Bell Rock Field Trip

Yesterday, I led an excursion to Bell Rock Cemetery in Malden, MA. Several of my friends had expressed interest in visiting a graveyard with me and I figured that Bell Rock, with its high concentration of pre-1750 stones and its accessibility, would be a good choice. Unlike some of the other big 17th-century cemeteries (Granary, Copp's Hill, Phipp's Street), which are very closely groomed and well documented, Bell Rock feels a bit mysterious — a flea market rather than an auction.

I devised a scavenger hunt that would get everyone looking closely at the iconography and epitaphs. They tried to find,

•    a gravestone dated before 1680
•    a gravestone dedicated to three or more people
•    a gravestone with no iconography (letters only)
•    death imps carrying a coffin
•    a Masonic square and compass
•    a carving of a weeping willow bent over an urn
•    a winged hourglass
•    a mustache
•    a pair of breasts
•    a cross*
•    an epitaph entirely in Latin
•    an epitaph that uses the letter v rather than the letter u
•    an epitaph with an Old Style/New Style date (ex: 1691/2 or 1742/3)
•    an epitaph that gives the deceased’s age in years, months, and days
•    an epitaph that refers to a woman as the “relict” of a man
•    an epitaph that identifies the deceased’s profession (other than minister!)
•    the grave of Rev. Eliakim Willis (aka “Fish Lips”)
•    the grave of Rev. Michael Wigglesworth, poet
•    the grave of Lt. Phineas Upham, who died in King Philip’s War

One of the best things about visiting a graveyard with a group of enthusiastic friends is that fresh eyes see new things. More on that later . . .

*We managed to find two crosses (out of about 400 stones), both on 19th-century stones. No cross-shaped stones, though.

The Lazy Scholar

Do you enjoy doing archival research . . . from your couch? If so, you will doubtless find The Lazy Scholar invaluable reading.

Squiggly 1

Deborah Barker

d. 1738

Men of Kent Cemetery
Scituate, MA

HERE LIES Ye

BODY OF MRS

DEBORAH BARKER

WIFE OF MR

SAMUEL BARKER

JUNR WHO DEPARTED

THIS LIFE DESEMBER

ye. 11. 1738. AGED

20 YEERS & 26

DAYES & HAD BEEN

MARRIED BUT 26 DAYES

The Shoemaker and the Tea Party

The undergrads in my research seminar are reading Alfred F. Young's The Shoemaker and the Teaparty: Memory and the American Revolution.

I could go on an on about how this is a lovely little book for introducing the subject of historical memory to undergraduates. I could tell you that Young's skillful blending of biography and argument in the first half is a great model for writers embarking on their first research projects. I could rhapsodize at length about the usefulness of this book for exploring the process of nation-making between 1790 and 1830.

Instead, I will chuckle and observe that the titular shoemaker, George Robert Twelves Hewes, had fifteen children. He named the 11th "Eleven Hewes" and the 15th "George Robert Twelves Fifteen Hewes" (called "Fifteen" in everyday situations).

Also, this book, at 207 pages plus an 11-page preface, earns a VPI Grad Student Seal of Approval.

Save Like It's 1492!

I got an email from Staples this morning. The subject was, "Save Like It's 1492! Discover a World of Savings!"

It took me a moment to realize that it's Columbus Day weekend (ever since living in California, I'm always surprised that some states still celebrate Columbus Day). Until I remembered this crucial bit of information, I was very, very confused.

And Gravestones!

Kfrancher's comment that my post on Scalia concerns "some obscure matter" caused me a moment's pause. This is, after all, a blog (primarily) about gravestones, so I thought that it should be obvious that all gravestone-related matters, while obscure elsewhere, are right at home here.

Then, I thought that this would be obvious to long-time readers, but that anyone who followed a link and saw just one post might not know what the blog is about.

In light of that realization, I have changed my little sub-heading to read, "History, grad school, and gravestones!" That way, there will be no confusion.

Scalia on Grave Markers

It's not every day that a Supreme Court Justice comments on grave markers. Today, Justice Scalia held forth on the subject and, once again, demonstrated the The History of the United States According to Antonin Scalia is made-up bullshit.

In the course of arguing that a giant cross erected in the Mojave Desert in 1934 cannot be regarded as a specifically Christian symbol, Scalia told the court that, "The cross is the most common symbol of the resting place of the dead."

Actually, that's not all he said:

JUSTICE SCALIA: It's erected as a war memorial. I assume it is erected in honor of all of the war dead. It's the -- the cross is the -- is the most common symbol of -- of -- of the resting place of the dead, and it doesn't seem to me -- what would you have them erect? A cross -- some conglomerate of a cross, a Star of David, and you know, a Moslem half moon and star?

I'm no legal scholar, but I know a thing or two about gravestones. And Scalia is talking out of his ass on this one.

Vast Public Indifference: The Book

Yesterday, Pete presented me with an early birthday gift: the first six months of Vast Public Indifference in book form.

Blogger has partnered with Blog2Print, a company that publishes hard copies of blog posts. The first six months of my blog translates to about 200 pages of text and pictures.

I'm enjoying this book on several levels. First, it's been a lot of fun browsing through posts that I'd forgotten about long ago. It's also interesting to see how the blog developed in its early months — I spent much more time writing about the books I was reading. I feel like I should get back to that a bit.

On top of that, I think this book is a fascinating object — a book made from online content about books. Of course, the book can never be what the blog is. The most glaring difference is the lack of links. It's really a stark illustration of how writing is genre- and context-specific.

If there is a blogger in your life, particularly if he/she is also a lover of books or a skeptic about the permanence of online content, a Blog2Print book would make an excellent gift.

There is one major caveat: the formatting is not great. For posts made in the old Blogger editor, Blog2Print cannot reproduce italics, bold, or block quotes. The printed version is not a reproduction of the blog, but an interpretation of it. I've heard that books made from posts that were created in the new editor are somewhat better.