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Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Tombstone Tuesday ~ Moses Davis, Nashua, New Hampshire

This tombstone was photographed at the Edgewood Cemetery in Nashua, New Hampshire.


D
"I AM THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE"
MOSES DAVIS
BORN IN HUDSON, NH
SEPTEMBER 20, 1816
DIED IN NASHUA, NH
JANUARY 3, 1888
BETHANA W. ALLEN
HIS WIFE
BORN IN NEWFANE, VT
JUNE 11, 1817
DIED IN NASHUA, NH
FEBRUARY 23, 1903



When you wander through Edgewood Cemetery you will notice that this is one of the largest and most impressive tombstone in the entire cemetery.  I couldn't wait to look up the name of Moses Davis when I got home to see what sort of impressive personage he must have been during his lifetime.

The real story was not quite as impressive as I imagined.  Moses Davis founded the Davis Funeral Home, which still exists on Lock Street in Nashua.  He was also the town coroner for a while.  There is a book with a very fancy title Genealogical and Family History of the State of New Hampshire: A Record of the Achievements of Her People in the Making of a Commonwealth and the Founding of a Nation, by Ezra S. Stearns,  1908, Volume 1, page 216 has a sketch of this family:

Moses Davis, born 20 September 1816 in Nottingham West (Hudson, New Hampshire), the son of Samuel Davis and Sarah Wyman.    He was a Baptist.  For many years he was in the marble and granite business.  He married Bethana W. Allen, daughter of Samuel Allen, of Northfield, Vermont.  They had three children:

1.  Albert A. Davis, resident of Nashua
2.  Anna E. Davis, married John N. Hannon of Nashua
3. Henry Hamilton Davis, born in Nashua, 3 February 1851.  President of the People's Bank and Loan Association.  He was an original trustee of the Edgewood Cemetery when it was incorporated in March 1893.  He married Angie R. Batchelder, daughter of William A. Batchelder of Hudson, New Hampshire.

I suppose that being in the funeral parlor business, and also being on the board of the cemetery, makes having a very impressive tombstone ipso facto.  Not to mention that he owned a granite business, too...

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Copyright 2012, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

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