skip to main |
skip to sidebar
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
Steps away from a modern monument (perhaps a replacement family marker) are what appear to be the original individual grave markers for the children of John V. and Ann E. Campbell in Mound Hill Union Cemetery, Eaton, Ohio.
It is the older individual markers that caught my eye, in particular the marker at the grave of William H. Campbell (d. 1870). The sharp peak and the simple decoration are striking. Perhaps it is the symmetry of the stone that attracted me. Perhaps it was the simple inscription.
From the individual marker,
WILLIAM H.
From the modern marker,
[CAMPBELL]
WILLIAM H.
DIED Oct. 10, 1870
AGED 19 Y. 3M. & 20 D.
Most of the Campbell children buried here were infants or young children when they died. William was 19 years old when he died. More than a child, he was a young man.
Mound Hill Union Cemetery, Preble County, Ohio
Glick-Brick Church-Hoy Cemetery, Fairfield County, Ohio
I think of this marker as the broken broken column. It marks the grave of Daniel Brunk (d. 1863) at Davis Cemetery in Franklin County, Ohio.
Assuming all of the pieces belong to the Brunk monument, it was once a fine example of a monument with a broken column, symbolizing a life “broken off” too soon. The wreath, though not a laurel wreath, may still represent victory over death.
DANIEL
BRUNK
DIED
Aug. 24, 1863
Aged 61 Yrs
8 Mos 28 Ds
Davis Cemetery is well tended, but this marker would have been a good candidate for last year’s post “Obstacles of beauty.” Perhaps not today, but certainly in a few weeks.
Davis Cemetery, Franklin County, Ohio
On Memorial Day this year, as I was visiting family grave sites back in my hometown, I took a few minutes to explore parts of the cemetery I had never visited. It was sunny and terribly hot—my husband sat patiently in the air-conditioned car as I wandered farther and farther away—and just as I was thinking I should head back to the car, I spied it: The grave of the town’s founder, William C. Schenck (b. 1773, d. 1821).
The inscription on the top of the chest tomb is weathered and, to my eye on that day, illegible. I am hoping that when the local American Legion post placed a new monument, they transcribed the original accurately.
sacred to the memory of
GEN. WILLIAM C.
SCHENCK
1773 age 48 years 1821
founder of franklin 1796
he lived universally respected
and died universally lamented
Click images to enlarge
From Franklin by Geoffrey G. Gorsuch (Images of America series), William C. Schenck was the skilled land surveyor credited with laying out the village in 1796. Later he and other members of his family came from New Jersey to live in this community of cabins along the river. Schenck died at the state capital in 1821, probably of malaria, while serving in the legislature. He was originally buried in the Franklin Graveyard downtown.
Woodhill Cemetery, Warren County, Ohio
