Tombstone Tuesday ~ Clarissa (Kidder) Perley, Died 1848 With A Beautiful Epitaph

This tombstone was photographed at the East Dunbarton Cemetery, in Dunbarton, New Hampshire

CLARISSA T.

Wife of

Warren Perley 2d

DIED

Feb. 20, 1848;

AE. 22y's 8 mo.

Alas! how chang'd that lovely flow'r

Which bloom'd and cheer'd my heart

Fair fleeting comfort of an hour,

How soon we're call'd to part.

Why should I vex my heart or fast

No more she'll visit me,

My sould will mount to her at last,

And I her face shall see.

Clarissa T. Kidder was born about 1825 and died young in Dunbarton, New Hampshire, on 20 February 1848.   I don't know her parents, nor her origins.

Her husband, Warren Perley, was an early postmaster in Dunbarton, as well as a selectman. He is buried in Bradford, Massachusetts.  He was married to both Clarissa Kidder and Martha Fish. Warren Perley was the son of Charles Perley and Ruth S. Mills of Dunbarton.  

Clarissa's epitaph is a variation on an old church hymn:  "Funeral Hymn - Death of a Young Child"

Alas! how chang'd that lovely flow'r

Which bloom'd and cheer'd my heart!

Fair fleeing comfort of an hour,

How soon we're call'd to part!

And shall my bleeding heart arraing

That God, whose ways are love?

Or vainly cherish anxious pain

For her who rests above?

No!  - let me rather humbly pay

Obedience to his will,

And with my inmost spirt say,

"The Lord is righteous still."

From adverse blasts, and low'ring storms,

Her favour'd soul he bore;

And with yon bright, angelic forms,

She lives, to die no more.

Why should I vex my heart, or fast?

No more she'll visit me;

My soul will mount to her at last,

And there my child I'll see.

Prepare me, blessed Lord, to share

The bliss thy people prove;

Who round thy glorious throne appear,

And dwell in perfect love. 

This hymn can be found in The Psalms and Hymns: With the Catechism, Confession of Faith and Liturgy of the Reformed Dutch Church in North America, by the Reformed Church of America, 1829, on  pages 455 - 456.  (Can be found at Google Books online)

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Tombstone Tuesday ~ Clarissa (Kidder) Perley, Died 1848 With A Beautiful Epitaph", Nutfield Genealogy, posted May 1, 2018, (  https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2018/05/tombstone-tuesday-clarissa-kidder.html: accessed [access date]).