An Epitaph A Day - October 31

Keeps Death's Spectre Away

Ruth Sprague

Died 1846, aged 9 yrs. & 4 months


She was stolen by Roderick R. Clow. Her body was dissected
at the office of Dr. P. Armstrong, Hoosick, New York; where her
mutilated remains were found and deposited here.


Her body dissected by fiendish men,
Her bones anatomized,
Her soul — we trust — has risen to God,
Where few physicians rise.

Source:

Kippax, John Robert. Churchyard Literature: A Choice Collection of American Epitaphs, with Remarks on Monumental Inscriptions and the Obsequies of Various Nations. Chicago: S.C. Griggs and Company, 1877. p. 171

An Epitaph A Day - October 30

Keeps Death's Spectre Away

In Halifax churchyard

on ESTER BREARCLIKFE,
and FAVOUR, her son.

Here rest three Saints; the one a little Brother,
The FAVOUR of his scarce surviving Mother:

Then she expir'd, and bore unto her Tomb
An unborn Infant coffin'd in her Womb.

Source:

Goldsmid, Edmund. A Collection of Epitaphs and Inscriptions. Edinburgh: Privately Printed. 1885.

An Epitaph A Day - October 29

Keeps Death's Spectre Away

ON ORONO.

At Oldtown, Maine, may be seen this epitaph on
Orono, chief of the Penobscots, who died in 1801,
aged 113 years:

Safe lodged within his blanket, here below,
Lie the last relics of old Orono;
Worn down with toil and care, he in a trice
Exchanged his wigwam for a paradise.

Source:

Kippax, John Robert. Churchyard Literature. 1762-190. Chicago: S. C. Griggs & Co. 1877.

An Epitaph A Day - October 28

Keeps Death's Spectre Away

Epitaph on an Ohio woman's tombstone:

NEURALGIA worked on Mrs. Jones '
Till 'neath the sod it laid her.
She was a worthy Methodist,
And served as a crusader.
Her obsequies were held at two,
With plenty of good carriages.
Death is the common lot of all,
And comes as oft as marriages.

Source:

Kippax, John Robert. Churchyard Literature. 1762-190. Chicago: S. C. Griggs & Co. 1877.

An Epitaph A Day - October 27

Keeps Death's Spectre Away



Massachusetts

Chatham

There were three brothers went to sea
Who were never known to wrangle
Holmes Hole — cedar pole
Crinkle, crinkle crangle.

Three brothers started for Holmes Hole in an open boat for cedar poles, and on the passage were killed by lightening, represented by the crinkle, crinkle, crangle.

Source:

Darling, Susan. Quaint Epitaphs. Boston: DeWolfe, Fiske & Co. 1902.

An Epitaph A Day - October 26

Keeps Death's Spectre Away

Sacred to the Memory of

RACHEL LAZARUS,
Relict of Marks Lazarus

Died on the 27th of Heshvan, A. M. 5608, corresponding with 6th. November, 1847, aged 85 years, 2 months, 15 days. Fifty-two of her descendants preceded her to the grave, and one hundred and twenty-one survived her!

"Our mother! She taught us how to live and how to die."

Source:

Elzas, Barnett A. The Old Jewish Cemeteries at Charleston, S.C.: A Transcript of the Inscriptions on Their Tombstones. 1762-190. Charleston, S.C.: Daggett Print. Co. 1903.

An Epitaph A Day - October 25

Keeps Death's Spectre Away

NEW CASTLE, DELAWARE

Sacred to the memory of ROBERT WILEY,
who departed this life, the 4 day of June, 1801,
aged 21 years, 6 months, and 27 days.

View this monument, ye young
and careless, and boast no more of tomorrow.

Source:

Alden, Timothy. A Collection of American Epitaphs and Inscriptions, with Occasional Notes. New York: S. Marks, Printer. 1814.

An Epitaph A Day - October 24

Keeps Death's Spectre Away

On a horse thief:

He found a rope and picked it up,
And with it walked away.
It happened that to other end
A horse was hitched, they say.
They took the rope and tied it up
Unto a hickory limb.
It happened that the other end
Was somehow hitched to him.

Source:

Unger, Frederic William. Epitaphs: A Unique Collection of Post Mortem Comment, Obituary Wit, Quaint and Gruesome Fancy. Philidelphia: The Penn Publishing Company. 1904.

The Graveyard Shift

England is ancient and doesn't cover a lot of ground. When they started running out of space to bury people they would dig up coffins after so many years and reuse the graves. In reopening these coffins about 1 in 25 were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they realised they had been burying people alive.

So they tied a string on the deceased's wrist and led it through the coffin lid and up through the ground and tied it to a bell. Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night and listen for the bell.

Hence, the Graveyard Shift.

This explanation is discounted by many who think it is merely "a good tale." I agree - It is a good tale! And the title of another article section of the Western Washington Graveyard Rabbit where you will find some good tales.

An Epitaph A Day - October 23

Keeps Death's Spectre Away

Caroline Islands.

Sacred to Wm Collis boat-steerer of the ship St George
of New Bedford, who by the will of Almighty God was
killed by a whale off this Island

also

Pedro Sabbanas of Guam 4th mate his back broken by
whale above mentioned.

Source:

Darling, Susan. Quaint Epitaphs. Boston: DeWolfe, Fiske & Co. 1902.

Deadman's Corner Or . . .

An Epitaph A Day - Keeps Death's Spectre Away




A WATCH-MAKER'S EPITAPH

(Copied from a tomb-stone in Wales by old Sexton Brown, the
once famous sexton of Grace Church, N. Y.)

Here lies in a horizontal position the outside case
of George Rutlege watch-maker, whose abilities in
that line were an honor to his profession.

Integrity was the main-spring of all the actions of
his life. Humane, honest and industrious his hands
never stopped until they had relieved distress.

He had the art of disposing of his time in such a
way that he never went wrong except when set
agoing by persons who did not know his key, and
even then was easily set right again.

He departed this life wound up in the hope of being
taken in hand by his Maker, thoroughly cleaned,
regulated and repaired and set going in the world to
come.

BLOCK ISLAND
NEW YORK

Source:

Darling, Susan. Quaint Epitaphs. Boston: DeWolfe, Fiske & Co. 1902.

Sermons In Stones

Go where the ancient pathway guides,
See where our sires laid down
Their smiling babes, their cherished brides,
The patriarchs of the town;
Hast thou a tear for buried love?
A sigh for transient power?
All that a century left above,
Go, read it in an hour.

~ HOLMES ~

Monumental inscriptions excited the attention of the ancients and are regarded by family historians as sources of information and amusement.

Epitaphs are not simply memorials; epitaphs are brief biographical memoirs, the outlines of characters which have appeared in the drama of human life. The desire of gaining some clue to the knowledge of our ancestors, is secondary only to the wish of transmitting to posterity some token of the fact that we too existed.

However amiable the maxim "speak not ill of the dead;" praise for virtues never possessed is poignant satire in the eyes of those who knew the deceased well.

Starting today, The Western Washington GYR will publish an epitaph or inscription a day. You know what they say, "An Epitaph a Day, Keeps Death's Spectre Away."

So enjoy the Complimentary Epitaphs that characterize the wise, the great, and the good. Epigramic Epitaphs which consist of satirical description, ironic eulogy, or the wit of the punster, or those that solve brick walls long thought impossible to overcome.

You never know, you may just discover an ancestor.

Grab A Badge!

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Click in the text box of the size badge you would like to display, copy, and place on your GraveYard Rabbit page.

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