Wednesday’s child: Lucy Ann Sherman

So many gravestones of children identify the parents. “Daughter of,” “son of,” “children of.”

Whose daughter was Lucy Ann Sherman (d. 1835)?

LUCY ANN
SHERMAN, Died
Jen. 19^th AD. 1835:
Aged 2 years &
29 days.

Death may the bands of life unloose,
But can’t dissolve my love;
Millions of infant souls compose
The family above.

The epitaph comes from the fourth verse of the hymn “Thy Life I Read,”words by Samuel Stennett (b. 1727, d. 1795). The third verse of this hymn is also popular on children’s gravestones.

Thy life I read, my dearest Lord,
With transport all divine;
Thine image trace in every word,
Thy love in every line,
Thy love in every line.

Methinks I see a thousand charms
Spread o’er Thy lovely face,
While infants in Thy tender arms
Receive the smiling grace,
Receive the smiling grace.

“I take these little lambs,” said He,
“And lay them in My breast;
Protection they shall find in Me,
In Me be ever blest,
In Me be ever blest.”

“Death may the bands of life unloose,
But can’t dissolve My love;
Millions of infant souls compose,
The family above,
The family above.”

Bethel Cemetery, Chester Township, Morrow County, Ohio