Asleep with Jesus

I’ve written several times before about the association between sleep and death, and these tombstones exemplify another association – not only are the deceased characterized as being in slumber, but they are sleeping safely with their Savior, Jesus Christ. The families of the dead must have taken solace from this perspective on death and what comes after.

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Initialize – A, B, C

I’ve decided to play a game with myself. I’m going to search my photo archives for tombstones with large capital letters and find the entire alphabet.

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Artificer

Melvin Larimer’s stone identifies him as having been an artificer in the Spanish-American War. I might have seen other stones with the designation before, but I hadn’t noticed. On Fort Sumter’s website, I found “artificer” in their FAQ section. Paraphrasing, an artificer would have been an enlisted artillery man with a specialized skill that allowed him to supervise or organize that kind of work.

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A bow-tie?

You tell me – is that a bow tie?

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Silent Night

Silent night, holy night
All is calm, all is bright
Round yon Virgin Mother and Child
Holy Infant so tender and mild
Sleep in heavenly peace
Sleep in heavenly peace

Silent night, holy night!
Shepherds quake at the sight
Glories stream from heaven afar
Heavenly hosts sing Alleluia!
Christ, the Saviour is born
Christ, the Saviour is born

Silent night, holy night
Son of God, love’s pure light
Radiant beams from Thy holy face
With the dawn of redeeming grace
Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth
Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth

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Our immigrant past

Sacred to the memory of Alexander Doull, Colonel of Artillery in the Army of the Potomac, previously lieutenant in the Royal British Artillery

The inscription on Colonel Doull’s tombstone reminds us of a fact about the United States Civil War that be forgotten – the important role that immigrants played in the armies. About 25% of the Union army was estimated to be foreign-born immigrants. With the rate of immigration in the 19th century, we also have to assume that there was a significant slice of the United States-born soldiers who had parents or grandparents who were immigrants.

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A short service

Samuel Pickands joined the 1st Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Artillery, on February 1, 1862. By the end of March, he was dead, most likely of disease. According to the Ohio Roster Commission’s Offical Roster of soldiers, Pickands died on March 25 in Parkersburg, West Virginia. The tombstone identifies his place of death as Virginia rather than West Virginia. As West Virginia did not enter the Union until June 20, 1863, Pickand and his family would have known the state where he died as Virginia. Even if they were aware of the movement for West Virginia to become its own state, the convention to create a state constitution did not present a document for ratification until mid-February, and the ratification occurred at least a month after Pickands’ death.

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McGillicuddy Wordless Wednesday

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Killed at Nottingham

John T. Lace
Engineer on Lake Shore R.R.
Was killed at Nottingham
March 22, 1881
Aged 58 ys. 3 ms.
Beloved in life, lamented in death

I had to photograph the tombstone of John Lace because I recognized his place of death. Nottingham was once a separate community on the eastern edge of Cleveland, not far from where I live now at the Cleveland-Euclid border. Named for Henry Nottingham, a 19th century railroadman, the name of the town lives on in Nottingham Road.

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Queen of the Gypsies

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