Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Tombstone Tuesday ~ Two William Karrs

These grave stones were photographed at the Forest Hill Cemetery in Derry, New Hampshire.  They are side by side in a plot full of other Karrs, so I assume they are relatives.

HERE LYES THE BODY OF MR.
WILLIAM KARR HE DIED
MARCH 23d 1754 AGED 62

MY BODYS TURNED INTO DUST
THIS DUST SHALL YET ARISE
AT RESURRECTION OF THE JUST
TO SOUND JEHOVAH'S PRAISE

According to the Granite State Monthly, Volume 5, page 117 in an article labeled "Some Old New Hampshire Burial Places" by Anabel C. Andrews, there is a list of epitaphs at the burial ground in Thornton's Ferry, Litchfield, New Hampshire (right next door to Londonderry), and a very similar epitaph is found on the gravestone of a Mrs. Margaret White, in the same time period.  If it wasn't winter, and if the ground wasn't covered with snow, I might have gone over to photograph this stone for comparison!


In memory of
WILLIAM KARR
Who died
Aug. 31, 1837
Aged 69
- o -
My father wills me in his arms
And willingly I go
With  cheerfulness  I bid farewell
To everything below.

The inscription on the second gravestone is from an old hymn: 

Readiness for Death. C. M.

My Father calls me to his arms, 

And willingly I go ;
With cheerfulness I bid farewell To everything below.
My tender parents, kind and dear,
I bid farewell to you
Though nature feels tis sad and hard
to speak the word "adieu".
-------------------

Copyright 2012, Heather Wilkinson Rojo
 

1 comment:

  1. I love the verses. It's so good that they are able to be read. So many times I find them and I can't even begin to figure out what they say.

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