Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Oh Woman

Somerset Cemetery has a number of table tombs, including one that is shaped like a coffin. It marks the grave of Edith Hamilton (d. 1832).


Sacred to
The
Memory of EDITH HAMILTON
late consort of the Rev. Samuel Hamilton who
departed this life in the joyful expectation of a
better on the 29th of
March, A.D. 1832 Aged
33 Years 7 months and 26 days.

Oh Woman
I with thee did fix my lot
Willing to undergo like doom.
When death consorted with thee
Death was to me as life
So forcible in my heart I felt
The bonds of nature draw me to
my own.

Click image to enlarge

The stone carver’s errors, whether in spelling or poor planning, are interesting: The downsizing of TON in her name; the who squeezed in after Rev. Hamilton’s name; an n inserted with a caret to make consorted.

And is there a missing word? ...in the joyful expectation of a better...  A better what?


  
Somerset Cemetery, Perry County, Ohio

6 comments:

  1. What a wonderful find! I have yet to find any table top tombs. But I keep looking.

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  2. That is definitely a neat one! I've seen plenty of table top tombs, but not one was shaped like a coffin.

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  3. I posted too soon! Guess what I found today while out gravin? I got my first table top!

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  4. Tammi, we are on a roll! Hurray for you!

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  5. How unusual, I wonder why those mistakes happened ? an apprentice perhaps ? or a stone mason who had hit the bottle maybe ?

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