I photographed these two tombstones while I was wandering
around the Central Cemetery in Beverly, Massachusetts looking for my 3rd
great grandparent’s gravestones (Peter Hoogerzeil and Eunice Stone). I never found my ancestors, but I thought
that perhaps I was related to these Emersons.
"MY REDEEMER LIVETH"
Holy
Bible
Nancy, the wife of Joseph Emerson
born May 28, 1779. married Oct. 19
1803. died June 15, 1804.
"A virtuous woman is a crown to her husband"
What armies of endearments throng the soul!
My Nancy, I'm become thy pupil now,
"Now will I take my leave, so soon to follow."
May her dying counsels live in the hearts of
her surviving friends, may her living virtues
and graces flourish in their lives; and the
sublime serenity of her death prove more
than a pillow for theirs.
O DEATH! WHERE IS THY STING
ELEANOR
The wife of Joseph Emerson was
born Dec. 19, 1777, married July 15,
1805, and died Nov. 7, 1808.
She was remarkable for mental vigor
and bodily infirmities, for animat-
ing cheerfulness under much pain,
for rich resources of mind with
little reading; for performing the
useful labors of a long life in a few
years; for the most lively and tender
attachment to her connexions and
friends; with the most sublime and
diffusive benevolence to all mankind.
----------------
Fond pupil pause, with deep concern receive
The solemn lesson that the dead can give.
What tho for thee, she toils and weeps no more
Nor charms thee now with intellectual store:
[the rest is buried under the sod]
Researching ministers is wonderful. If you have a minister in your family, you
are very lucky because they leave lots of documents and records behind for you
to find. I usually start with
Google. There might be links to sermons,
ceremonies, books, biographies and even church bulletins at the Google Book
search. I found the Simmons College
thesis that mentioned Rev. Joseph Emerson (see below) via Google. Most ministers go to a college, university or
divinity school, and these places have archives you can search online, visit in
person, or call and speak to an archivist.
Many churches have historians or secretaries, and it is worth getting
friendly with them by email or in person (bring coffee and cookies). Schmoozing
with church staff is perfectly acceptable, especially if you make a donation of
any size. You might find your minister
ancestor’s grave right in the church yard, or nearby. Don’t forget to search WorldCat.org for
sermons and papers by or about your minister.
The Third Parish in Beverly, Massachusetts was formed from a
dissenting group of Calvinists in 1802.
Most of their members came from the First Parish, which had become
Unitarian. Eventually this parish became
the Dane Street Congregational Church in 1837.
This is the same church where my Dad went to Sunday school, and where I
was baptized. This church is located
within walking distance of the Central Cemetery, and these tombstones face Dane
Street, near the fence on the sidewalk.
Isn’t that serendipity?
Reverend Joseph Emerson graduated Harvard College in
1801. He was ordained at Beverly as
pastor of the Third Church on 21 September 1803 and resigned in 1816 for health
reasons. He established the Young Ladies’ Seminary in 1821 (Mary Lyon, who
founded Mt. Holyoke College, was his student).
He died at Wethersfield, Connecticut on 13, May 1833. He married first Nancy Eaton on 19 October
1803. She died in 1804 (see the
tombstone above). He married second to Eleanor
Read in July 1805, and she died in 1808.
He married third to Rebecca Haseltine in 1810.
Rev. Joseph Emerson and Rebecca Haseltine had a son, Luther
(1810 – 1867) who was the minister in Amherst and Highland County,
Virginia. You can see his grave, at the
Shemariah Church Cemetery in Augusta County, at this link http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=23261746
. Reverend Luther Emerson was born in
Beverly in 1810.
Another son, Alfred Emerson (1812 – 1896) graduated from
Yale and from the Andover Theological Seminary.
He was a professor at Western Reserve College, and then served as a
Congregational pastor at South Berwick, Maine and in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. See this link for a biography: http://wheatoncollege.edu/college-history/1890s/reverend-alfred-emerson/ I told you that the Emerson family was full of ministers, and here is more proof!
-------------------------------------
For the truly curious:
If you have New England Puritan or Congregational ministers
in your family tree, an invaluable resource is the Congregational Church
Library, 14 Beacon Street, Boston, Massachusetts http://www.congregationallibrary.org/
and telephone 617-523-0470. Their
library is open Monday through Friday, 9am – 5pm and by appointment, free to
the public.
Book on Rev. Joseph
Emerson, Life of Rev. Joseph Emerson, Pastor of the Third Congregational Church
in Beverly, Massachusetts, by Rev. Ralph Emerson, 1834 (Ralph was the
brother of Joseph Emerson, also a Congregational minister in Norfolk,
Connecticut and a professor of Ecclesiastical History at Andover Theological
Seminary).
A Master’s Degree thesis from Simmons College mentions Rev.
Joseph Emerson and the history of the Third Parish: “Congregationalism
Divided: A Case Study of Beverly, Massachusetts’ First Parish Congregational
Church Split, 1802 – 1834” by Caitlin Lampman, 30 April 2013, online at this link:
The Dane Street Congregational Church website http://www.danestchurch.org/about/history
For more information on the Emerson family and their many
ministers, see the book The Bulkeley
Genealogy by Donald Lines Jacobus, 1933.
-------------------------------
The URL for this post is
http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/09/tombstone-tuesday-another-case-of.html
I have a colonial New England minister, Rev. John Wise, in my lineage. Thank you for the tips - I plan to follow up looking at the Congregational Church records. I am also including this post on my list of Recommended Reads tomorrow on www.emptybranchesonthefamilytree.com.
ReplyDelete