Urns, Drapes, and Doves

Urns, drapes and doves seem to have captured my fancy. From an early NJ quilt containing a block with an inscribed name and drawing of an urn, to a mourning picture in memory of a child's death, to photographs of gravestones that I've taken through the years, I've often wondered about the impact gravestone art has on other art forms. Two needlework examples follow.

This wonderful pen and ink drawing appears in a Wild Goose Chase Variation quilt that was made in Mullica Hill, NJ between 1843-1847. Photo courtesy The Heritage Quilt Project of New Jersey.

A mourning picture in the collection of the Montclair Historical Society at the Israel Crane House. See my post of the quilt exhibit there this summer. The picture is painted and embroidered with what appears to be silk thread.

The gravestone inscription is on three tiers. Top tier in the cartouche are the letters C.A.L. The second tier: In Memory of /Charlotte Augusta Lynde/Born May 15, 1817--Died/April 11, 1824. Aged 7 years. Lower tier: Sleep innocent beloved! thy days of peril o'er/Thy God awaits thee, on a happier shore--/Where free from pain, you'll join the choir above/In our Redeemer's praise, and sing immortal love.

The Bertholf plot at the Hanover Cemetery in E. Hanover, NJ, has two gravestones with urns on top.

Abram C. Bertholf/Died April 11, 1880/Aged 71 Years/True and Faithful

 E. Eliza Kitchell/wife of/Abram C. Bertholf/Died Sept. 4, 1876/Aged 70 years

Another gravestone with an urn in the Hanover Cemetery. James S. Barron/Born Feb. 14, 1825/Died April 26, 1905/Ann M. Hopping/wife of/James S. Barron/Born Jan. 25, 1825/Died March 25, 1873.

Ellis and Isabel Cook's gravestone at the First Presbyterian Church of Hanover.

Sacred/to the memory of/Ellis Cook/a captain in the Revolutionary Army/who died A.D. 1832/and of/Isabel Cook/his wife/who died A.D. 1825/Erected by their descendants/A.D. 1860.

 

William and Maria Halsey's monument in the family plot at the First Presbyterian Church of Hanover.

The double-urn gravestone of Epaphras Cook Ely (1795-1864) and his wife Julia Ann Kitchell (1800-1864). Ely Cemetery, Livingston, NJ.

This huge monument is at Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Newark, NJ. Jesse Baldwin/Born/August 2, 1803/Died December 28, 1881-----Phebe Ann Burnet/His Wife/Born June 1810/Died April 13, 1894/Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord.

Even my gr-gr-grandparents have an impressive urn-style monument in Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn, NY.

Buried in the Hankinson plot are my gr-gr-grandparents John and Alice Hankinson; four of their children who died very young; my gr-grandfather, Frank Hankinson and another relative, Walter Hankinson.

 A fancy drape on Hetty Reeve Parsil's gravestone. Parsil Family Cemetery, Short Hills, NJ.

Eunice Sharp's gravestone. Northfield Baptist Cemetery, Livingston, NJ.

Nelson Sharp, Eunice's husband. Their gravestones are mounted on a large base. 

 

One of my favorite gravestones is this one with a drape and dove at the top. It's located at Northfield Baptist Cemetery, Livingston, NJ.

Here's another but with two doves that are nearly life-like. Had to look twice! Pleasant View Cemetery, Wilmington, NY.