Epitaph: And free’d from every care

We were heading toward the exit at Mound Hill Union Cemetery, ready to start the long drive home, when I spotted just a few more stones that begged for closer inspection.

Me: Wait! Just one more quick stop.
Daughter: Sure, Mom. [text, text, text]

Family members can be surprisingly patient when their “personal technology” is fully charged and cell coverage is good.

A sandstone tablet, showing signs of its age, stands at the grave of Dr. James Parramore (d. 1840).

The stone features an angel surrounded by clouds, her hands at her breast (in grief? supplication?) beside a flaming urn, which is thought to represent the soul rising from the ashes of death.

IN
memory of
Dr. JAMES PARRAMORE,
who died Sep. 25th
1840; aged 31 years
9 mo. & 19 days.

For if we believe that Je-
sus died and rose again,
even so them also which sl-
eep in Jesus will God
bring with him.

They die in Jesus and are bless,^d
How sweet there slumbers are
From suffering and from sin
    releas’d
And free’d from every care.

Two passages make up the epitaph. The first is from the Bible, 1 Thessalonians 4:14; the second, from a hymn by Isaac Watts (b. 1674, d. 1748).

Hear what the voice from heav'n proclaims
For all the pious dead,
Sweet is the savor of their names,
And soft their sleeping bed.

They die in Jesus, and are bless’d;
How kind their slumbers are!
From suff’rings and from sin released,
And freed from every snare.

Far from this world of toil and strife,
They’re present with the Lord;
The labors of their mortal life
End in a large reward.

Mound Hill Union Cemetery, Preble County, Ohio