By William “Al” Cormier
The month of October contains many moods: the fall season arrives in full force, frost paints the earth, leaves turn into a rainbow and candy and costume manufacturers assault us with advertisements for Halloween.
On a more serious note, various religious denominations, Christian and non-Christian, remind us that All Hallows Eve, today’s Halloween on Oct. 31, leads to All Saints and All Souls Day on Nov. 1 and 2. In Mexico, the days are known as Día de los Muertos, the Day of the Dead. But remembering the dead is really an ongoing event as found in our cemeteries.
In cemeteries near and far, old tombstone epitaphs tell stories – some sad, some humorous – of the people buried under them. The epitaphs give us historical information about society’s attitude toward life and death of the times.
Here are some epitaphs found in a scrapbook begun in 1935 and kept by Paul S. Wilson of Greenwich throughout his life. He handed the scrapbook down to his daughter Polly Wilson McGuire.
The welcoming tablet at the entrance of Salem’s Evergreen Cemetery perhaps says it all:
“Lo, what a motley and incongruous throng
In undistinguish’d fellowship are here;
Fame, beauty, learning, strength Herculean.
Rank, honors, fortune, valor or renown –
What trace is left of ye? The direst foes
Here meet in peace – their feuds forever past.
No burnings of the heart, no envious sneers,
No covert malice here, or open brawls
Annoy. All strife is o’er. The creditor
His debtor no more sues; for here all debts
Are paid – save that great debt incurred by sin.
Which, when the final day of reckoning shall
Arrive, cancel’d will be, or paid in full.”
Here are some tombstone sentiments from various cemeteries.
Warnings
“Behold and see as you pass by,
As you are now, so once was I,
As I am now so you must be,
Prepare for death, and follow me.”
Bemis Heights Road, Saratoga Springs, New York
“From death are no ages free,
Young children too must die,
This old, this young, as well as me,
In the cold grave must be.”
Bemis Heights Road, Saratoga Springs, New York
“Death is a debt to nature due,
Which I have paid and so must you.”
Revolutionary War Cemetery, Salem, New York
Hope
“Dear children do not weep for me,
Brothers and sisters too give ear,
That you in glory may appear.”
Bemis Heights Road, Saratoga Springs, New York
“Go home dear friends wipe off your tears,
Here I must lie, till Christ appears.”
Battenville Cemetery, Greenwich, New York
“Sister, plant ye there a rose,
And the willow always weeps,
That to us it may disclose,
This lovely place where brother sleeps.”
Cambridge Cemetery, Cambridge, New York
Remembrance
“Shed not for her the bitter tear,
Nor give the heart to vain regret.
Tis but the casket that lies here,
The gem that filled it, sparkles yet.”
Evergreen Cemetery, Salem, New York
“John McNelley 1900
Erected by his second wife
Gone but not forgotten.”
Cossayuna Lake Cemetery, Greenwich, New York
“Hulda Brown, 1888
What is a home without a mother?
Thy virtue and thy werth
Shall fond remembrance cheer
And ease the aching heart
That drops the falling tear.”
Greenwich Cemetery, Greenwich, New York
Cause of death
“Her death was occasioned by being thrown
from a bridge while in the act of crossing it,
And precipated 30 feet upon the ice.
She survived 30 hours.”
Cambridge Cemetery, Cambridge, New York
“Honorable James Hinds
The murderer has but his hour,
The victim has all eternity.”
Evergreen Cemetery, Salem, New York
Historical note: A native of Hebron, New York, Congressman Hinds was assassinated near Virginia Bay, Arkansas in 1868.
“Amos Smith son of Thaddeus and Silence Smith
Born on July 7, 1791
Was killed in a grist-mill Aug. 22, 1804”
Revolutionary War Cemetery, Salem, New York
“Sacred to the memory of Thomas Dunton,
Who died August 28th, 1802, in the 43rd
Year of his age.
His death was occasioned by a fall from a hay rack
And Deprived his wife of a kind husband,
Nine children of a tender father and
The world of an honest man.”
Dorset, Vermont
Accomplishments
“In memory of Mrs. Phoebe Crewe
Who died May 28, 1817, 77 years.
Who, during forty years practice
as a midwife in this city, brought
into the world, 9,730 children.”
Old Man’s Hospital plaque, Norwich, England
“Sacred to the memory of
Nathaniel Godbold, Esq.
Inventor & Proprietor of that
Excellent medicine
THE VEGETABLE BALSAM
Renowned for the cure of Consumption
And Asthma
Died Dec. 17, 1799
Died of fevers and Asthma.”
Godalming Surrey, England
“Here lies the body of Mrs. Mary, wife
Of Deacon John Buell, Esq. she died
Nov. 4th 1768, age 90—having had 13
Children, 101 Grand-Children, 147 Great-Grand-children, and 49 Great-Great-Grand
Children: total; 410”
Litchfield, Connecticut
Sentiments
“Carrie Robinson 1863 1 yr. 9 mos.
Little Carrie
From heaven sent
We thought she was given
She was only lent.”
Cossayuna Lake Cemetery, Greenwich, New York
“One less to love on earth
One more to meet in heaven.”
South Friends Church yard, North Easton, New York
“The breath of the autumn time
Withers the finest flowers
A blighting blast in its very bud
Has nipp’d this rose of ours.”
Cambridge Cemetery, Cambridge, New York
Military Revolutionary War
“Joseph Nelson Sr. 1740-1816
Soldier in the Revolutionary Charlotte Col, N.Y. Militia
Col. John Williams’ Reg. Capt. Thomas Armstrong’s Co.”
Cossayuna Lake Cemetery, Greenwich, New York
“Maj. George Reab died June 20, 1838 age 85 years
He held the rank of Brevet Major in the Revolution and was engaged
Through the whole of that eventual struggle for our Independence.”
Revolutionary War Cemetery, Salem, New York
“Joshua Conkey
Capt. Q. M. N.Y. Militia Rev. War 1735-1814”
Revolutionary War Cemetery, Salem, New York
Humorous
“Let Medical Science
Loom High As It Will
The Order of
Quacks
Will Be With Us Still”
Grave of child in Oasis Cemetery, West Branch, Iowa
“Here Lies Johnie Nicopod
Have Mercy on Him
Gracious God
He Would on you
If He was God
And you was Johnie Nicopod”
Indian Graveyard, Spokane, Washington
“Here Lies the Body
Of Our Anna
Done to Death By a Banana
It Wasn’t the Fruit That Laid
Her Low –
But the Skin of the Thing
That Made Her Go”
Enosburg, Vermont
“Major
Born a dog
Died a gentleman”
Pet Cemetery, Aspin Hill, Maryland
And this last well known epitaph, although not found in the Wilson scrapbook, epitomizes the final “gotcha.”
“B.P. Roberts
May 17, 1929-June 18, 1979
I Told You I Was Sick”
The saying is attributed to Ms. Roberts who, known as a hypochondriac, is alleged to have said this before her death and burial at Key West, Florida. Source is thenewsleaders.com/tombstone.
Beyond October, on Friday, Nov. 11, a Veteran’s Day memorial service is being planned to take place at the new Memorial Park next to the Salem Revolutionary War Cemetery. Details will be forthcoming.
William “Al” Cormier is Salem deputy historian.
