More Interesting Epitaphs

In a blog post last month, I explored the many things the epitaphs of Pine Grove Cemetery can teach us about the lives, careers, families and--of course--deaths of those buried there. But there is more to be read into these epitaphs than what they tell us about the deceased--they also tell us about the culture in which they were produced.

One trend visible in these epitaphs indicates the process of the sentimentalization of death which I discussed in an earlier blog post about mourning scenes. The wife of James H. Alexander--who died on February 10, 1866 at the age of 29--had inscribed on her husband's gravestone:

"In memory of my husband
Earth has but one dear spot for me
And that is my husband's arms."

This romantic idea of death can be seen in the epitaph of another man who died in 1866, Algernon Hinkson. Hinkson was actually the widower of Julia Dennison (1826-1848), but he remarried after Julia's death and is buried next to his second wife, Sarah. When Hinkson died on July 15 at the age of 40, his family ordered a stone which reads:

"We have tearfully folded his cold white hands
Lovingly over his breast;
We have kissed the pale lips forevermore dead
And laid him down gently to rest."

In addition to these sentimental epitaphs, there are many traditional religious verses and quotations found on Pine Grove gravestones. For example, Francis Owen's grave (she died on May 21, 1865 at the age of 46) bears the simple epitaph "The Lord is my Shepherd." An interesting parallel can be seen in the use of religious themes in both the home and the graveyard. In his book Death in the Dining Room and Other Tales of Victorian Culture, Kenneth L. Ames notes that embroidered mottoes/needlepoint and epitaphs had much in common: "These texts echo some of the same sentiments, the same rhythms--and sometimes even the same words--thus linking house and cemetery, life and death, earthly home and heavenly home." (134) An excellent example of this can be found with the grave of Lida Williams Stone Holmes (1842-1897), whose gravestone reads "Simply to thy cross I cling." The same phrase can be found on a needlepoint at the Woolwich Historical Society.

Embroidered motto reading "Simply to thy [cross] I cling." From the Woolwich Historical Society, Woolwich, Maine.

The comparison of human lives as plants is another theme one can see in the epitaphs at Pine Grove, particularly among the young. Addison F. Swett died on January 19, 1847 at the age of 6 years, 6 months. On his tombstone is the epitaph "A lovely flower transplanted to richer sod and warmer climate." This idea of death as God "replanting" a soul from Earth into heaven is not isolated to the epitaph of one Pine Grove youth. Robert S. Skolfield (died October 5, 1872) lived only to be 6 months, 17 days old. His epitaph reads: "A bud snatched from earth, to blossom in heaven." But this idea of "replanting" is no more poetically put than in the epitaph of Sarah Hinkley, who died at the age of 3 years, 8 months, 21 days:

"The dearest rose begins to bloom,
and sheds its fragrance round.
The gardener gently takes it home
To thrive in richer ground."

Sources:
Ames, Kenneth L. Death in the Dining Room and Other Tales of Victorian Culture. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1992.
Cheetham, Donald & Mark. Pine Grove Cemetery, Bath Road, Brunswick, Maine, volumes 1 & 2 (Pejepscot Historical Society, acc# 2006.7.1 & 2006.7.2), 2005.

Special thanks to the Woolwich Historical Society!

Interesting Epitaphs

What can a gravestone tell you? Besides the obvious--date of birth, date of death and the deceased's name--all sorts of interesting information can be discovered.

This is certainly true for many of the graves in Pine Grove Cemetery. James Herbert Fuller's grave tells us that he died in Brunswick on January 29, 1856 at the age of 7 years and 9 months. But it also tells us his last words: "I never shall be weary, not ever shed a tear, nor ever know a sorrow, nor ever feel a fear." Do you know any seven-year-old who could be so poignant?

The gravestone of James Herbert Fuller, which can be found in the second row from the right. James' last words are now partially buried, as his gravestone appears to be settling into the ground.

Unlike Fuller, Lois Cook Bartlett lived a long life, from 1768 to 1857, when she died at the age of 89. Her grave celebrates this, listing the names of her daughter, granddaughter, great-grandaughter and great, great grandson. Her (rather confusing!) epitaph reads: "Arise daughter and go to thy daughter for thy daughter's daughter has a son. Five generations were present at her burial."

A gravestone can also teach us how someone earned their living. The Skolfields were obviously a seafaring family--each member died in a different part of the country. In 1826 at the age of 39, Captain Samuel Skolfield died at Old Point Comfort, Virginia. His son, Captain Curtis, died at Salilla River in Georgia in 1852 at the age of 28. Another of Samuel's sons, Reed, died "at sea" on Christmas Eve, 1834 at the age of 18.

The seafaring Minot family was an extremely well-traveled group. Captain John Minot died in Lubec, Maine in 1825 at the age of 58. His oldest son John died in the Bahamas in 1840, his middle son Henry died in Mobile, Alabama in 1842 and his youngest son George died on the coast of Africa in 1832. Stranger still, John and his son Henry died on the exact same day--February 7--17 years apart.

Perhaps most interesting of all, a gravestone can tell of how someone died. By far, the most common cause of death listed on the graves in Pine Grove is drowning. Frederic W. Humphreys, son of John C. Humphreys, died on November 18, 1848 at the age of 12 years, 9 months. He had fallen through the ice while skating. His epitaph reads: "It is better to die endeavoring to give life than to die attempting to take life."

Edward Clarence Metcalf did not drown, but water did indirectly cause his death. Metcalf died at the age of 23 in 1880. His epitaph reads: "Died of Malarial Fever contracted in the performance of arduous duty as engineer in charge of the sewerage of Memphis." Fun fact! According to at least one estimate, half of all the people who have ever lived on earth were killed by malaria, a mosquito-borne parasite.

The small gravestone of Lizzie Parker, who is buried in the third row from the right.

Of all the causes of death listed on the graves at Pine Grove, however, Lizzie Parker's stands out. The daughter of John M. and Elizabeth K. Parker, Lizzie was just 1 year and 9 months old when she died. Her epitaph reads: "Poisoned by eating 19 percussion caps."

The next time you travel past a cemetery, consider exploring it. Local cemeteries are a wealth of information, teaching us how our ancestors lived, worked and died.

For more interesting New England epitaphs, click here.

Sources:
Cheetham, Donald & Mark. Pine Grove Cemetery, Bath Road, Brunswick, Maine, volumes 1 & 2 (Pejepscot Historical Society, acc# 2006.7.1 & 2006.7.2), 2005.

Special thanks to Barbara Desmarais, who told me about Edward Metcalf's grave, and whose knowledge has been indispensable in creating this blog.

“Thus Perish Our Hopes”: The Dead of Bowdoin College

The gravestone of Aretus H. Chase. Chase is buried in the first row on the right, just before the granite-curbed Booker family plot.

As we have already seen, many Bowdoin College presidents and professors have been buried in Pine Grove Cemetery, but many of the school’s students rest there as well.

There are many former students buried in Pine Grove Cemetery who wished to permanently memorialize their connection to their alma mater. Winfield S. Hutchinson, for example, lived to be 66, and despite the fact that he graduated from Harvard Law School and was a lawyer for over 35 years, his gravestone only mentions that he was a member of the Bowdoin College class of 1867. Brothers George Sidney (1835-1861) and Nathaniel H. Whitmore (1833-1871) have their class years inscribed on their tombstones as 1856 and 1854, respectively. Morrill M. Tozier lived to be 67 and worked as a newspaper reporter before holding several different positions in the federal government has a gravestone which has only the dates of his birth, death, and the words “Bowdoin College, Class of 1932, Magna Cum Laude”.

The footstone of Morrill Tozier, located in the front of the fifth row from the right.

While there were people like Tozier, the Whitmores and Hutchinson who chose to forever honor their enrollment at Bowdoin College on their gravestones, there are others buried in Pine Grove whose young lives were cut so short that they were defined by nothing but their years at Bowdoin. Jonathan Ela, whose gravestone mentions that he was a sophomore at Bowdoin when he died in 1830 at age 29, has an epitaph which reads: “He was preparing to serve God on earth: God took him to serve him in heaven.”

In many cases, the deceased’s classmates assisted in paying for a gravestone and plot. Bowdoin College junior William O’Brien died in 1856 at age 21, and his stone bears the words: “This stone is erected by his classmates as a testimonial of affectionate regard. Even so them also which sleep with Jesus shall God bring with him.” 27 year old Aretus H. Chase of the Maine Medical School at Bowdoin died in 1833 and now lies beneath a gravestone which reads: “To know him was to love him. Erected by his classmates.”

One of the most touching of these Bowdoin College student epitaphs reads in full: “WILLIAM CURTIS Jr., member of the senior class of Bowdoin College, distinguished scholar, and not less beloved as a friend. Died July 2, 1826, aged 20. His afflicted classmates erect this monument in his memory. Thus perish our hopes.”

The gravestone of William Curtis, Jr., who is buried in the second row from the right.

Perhaps it is best that a dead Bowdoin student’s classmates no longer are responsible for arranging for a burial. One gravestone in Pine Grove Cemetery reads:

“HENRY RAND of the Freshman Class, Bowdoin College: died Aug. 12, 1830: aged 19 years. An orphan and friendless, he sought the path of learning with a zeal that neither sickness nor poverty could subdue. The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity.”

The gravestone of Henry Rand laying on the ground. Jonathan Ela is buried next to him, and Aretus H. Chase is one grave over from Ela.

Sources:
Cheetham, Donald & Mark. Pine Grove Cemetery, Bath Road, Brunswick, Maine, volumes 1 & 2 (Pejepscot Historical Society, acc# 2006.7.1 & 2006.7.2), 2005.
General Catalogue of Bowdoin College and the Medical School of Maine, 1794-1912.
Brunswick: Bowdoin College, 1912.
General Catalogue of Bowdoin College and the Medical School of Maine: A Biographical Record of Alumni and Officers, 1900-1975. Brunswick: Bowdoin College, 1978.