Tombstone Tuesday ~ 14 year old John Reid, died 1738, Londonderry, New Hampshire

This tombstone was photographed at the Forest Hill Cemetery in Derry, New Hampshire.  

In 1738 this was the town of Londonderry. 

HERE LYETH THE BODY OF

JOHN REID WHO DEPARTED 

THIS LIFE IN THE YEAR OF OUR

LORD 1738 BEING 14 YEARS

OLD. 

Ledger stones (which lie flat, sometime on a pedestal like this one) are usually reserved for clergymen and prominent citizens.  This one was erected for a 14 year old boy.  There must be quite a story behind this death, but I have been unable to uncover it.  He could not be a son of James Reid, who born in 1695 in Scotland and came to Londonderry and had four sons- Matthew, b. 1728; Thomas, b. 1730; George, born 1733; and John, born 1745. (Unless James Reid had two sons named John- one named for a sibling who died young?)  John's tombstone is carved with typical 18th century symbols: crossed bones, a coffin, a skull and an hour glass. 

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Tombstone Tuesday ~ 14 year old John Reid, died 1738, Londonderry, New Hampshire",  Nutfield Genealogy, posted August 25, 2015 (http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2015/08/tombstone-tuesday-14-year-old-john-reid.html:  accessed [access date]).