Well, it's the end of the semester, so perhaps time to take a break for a moment and talk about a couple of grave markers I've seen over the past year. This fits in particular with my post on a law student writing about ghosts trooping home through a churchyard, too!
First, a gravestone from South Carolina, which talks about a virtuous young women.
It reads:
Sacred to the Memory of L. Agnes Pickens, who was born March 8, 1816 and died February 10, 1845. She was one of the earth's loveliest daughters, and in all the varied relations of life as a wife, Mother, Sister, and Daughter she beautifully exemplified the Christian virtues in her daily walk. Although suddenly summoned into the presence of her Marker her kindred relations and friends enjoy the consoling thought that she was transfered from the trouble of earth, to the joys of those who die in the Lord.
Very evocative of her and her times. Let me try another, which is harder to read, so I'll have only an excerpt. Long time close followers of the faculty lounge may recall that I sometimes post about the grave markers of students, especially at UNC. So let me put up a marker from the lovely Jackson Cemetery in Lexington. There are so many important markers there that I'd like to talk about, including that of Professor (and Judge) John W. Brockenbrough -- a surprisingly modern design for a person who was very traditional. I'll bet there's an interesting story there -- and I hope to speculate on that some when I post a picture of his monument down the road.
Right now, though, I want to talk about a monument to a student at Washington College. It reads in part:
Sacred to the memory of John Drury Brookes, born June 8, 1823, died August 29, 1842. Looking to the [illegible] he came from Giles County, Tenn. to WASHINGTON COLLEGE whereby his Christian virtues he so endeared himself to his fellow students that we have erected this monument....
There is another monument in the Jackson Cemetery that I feel compelled to talk about -- it's to two brothers who died a few days apart in 1863 -- one killed at Vicksburg and the other at Chancellorsville. One on side of the monument is a memorial to Lt. William Norgrove, aged 23 about (who died May 4, 1863 in Vicksburg and was buried there), and on the other side is a memorial to Edward Norgrove, age 19, who died on May 7, 1863 at Chancellorsville -- and is presumably buried there in Lexington. I'm no supporter of the cause of the Confederacy. However, I believe that memorials like these remind us of the extraordinary cost of war in lives and grief to everyone. As I've remarked many times before, the burdens of war often fall hardest on those least able to bear them, like family memebers.
I've obviously chosen monuments for people who died young; those are often the ones that I find where their friends and relatives record the most pathos. But sometime down the road I'll get back to posting about how the monuments to people who were fortunate enough to lead really long lives differ, such as the monuments in Raleigh's Oakwood Cemetery to long-time North Carolina jurists.
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