Tombstone Tuesday ~ Mercy (Trask) Thorndike (1756 – 1783) of Beverly, Massachusetts

 This tombstone was photographed at the Abbott Hale Cemetery in Beverly, Massachusetts, sometimes known as the Abbott Street Burying Gound.

IN MEMORY OF

Mrs MERCY THORNDIKE

The consort of

CAPT. ISRAEL THORNDIKE

Who departed this life October 20 1783

AEt 27

An amiable disposition – a benevolent heart

Undissembled affections – and social virtues

Adorned her life.

She’s gone!  She’s past the gloomy shades of night.

Safe landed in thy eternal realms of light.

ALSO

of

ISRAEL THORNDIKE

SON OF

Capt. Israel and Mrs. Mercy Thorndike

Who departed this life

Nov. 2d 1782

AE 2 years

Mercy Trask was born 14 November 1756 in Beverly, the daughter of Osmond Trask and Elizabeth Symonds.   She married Capt. Israel Thorndike on 9 October 1777 in Beverly as his first of three wives.  He was the son of Andrew Thorndike and Anna Morgan, born 30 April 1755 in Beverly, and died 9 May 1832.  His gravestone is a large obelisk located at the Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts (Lot 4530 on Indian Ridge Path), with his third wife, Sarah Dana.   Mercy had two children, Elizabeth and Israel (also buried here as an infant).  She died very young at age 27 on 20 October 1783 in Beverly.

Mercy is related to me through common WOODBURY, STONE, SHATTUCK, SIBLEY, BROWNING, WELLS, WARNER and TREADWELL ancestors.

Capt. Israel Thorndike was the master of the ship Resource during the American Revolution as a privateer, and the master of the Hyder Ally during the War of 1812.   After a lucrative time as a privateer, he was active in the China trade.  You can read more about Israel Thorndike in the book Federalist Tycoon: The Life and Times of Israel Thorndike, by Timothy H. Kistner.  University Press of American, 2015, and also in the book, Israel Thorndike: Federalist Financier, by John Douglas Forbes, 1953.  Adjusted for inflation, he was the fiftieth wealthiest American of all time, according to Wikipedia.  At the time of his death his estate was valued at more than $1.5 million. 

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Published under a Creative Commons License
Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Tombstone Tuesday ~ Mercy (Trask) Thorndike (1756 – 1783)  of Beverly, Massachusetts", Nutfield Genealogy, posted December 22, 2015 ( http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2015/12/tombstone-tuesday-mercy-trask-thorndike.html: accessed [access date]).