Tombstone Tuesday Dudley Kent Of Suffield, Connecticut

When I visited Suffield, Connecticut in 2011, I was very disappointed that my local ancestor's headstones no longer exist. I was told by a staff member at the Kent Memorial Library that the church had expanded and renovated over the years and built the additions to the church over the graves. Although I was very disappointed, I was happy to find this wonderful headstone for Dudley Kent. Dudley was born to John Kent (my ancestor) and his first wife Abigail Dudley (who is not my ancestor). Dudley was born in Suffield on 23 October 1695 and married Ruth Ruggles who bore him 10 children. Dudley lived to be 71 years old.The headstone is a typical style for the Hartford County area of this period. We are very fortunate his headstone exists in remarkable condition considering it is over 246 years old!

Tombstone Tuesday

I have been totally renovating my website for my Early American family so I have been going through my pictures from my genealogy trip in May. So today I have decided to combine Tombstone Tuesday and Wordless Wednesday. I will offer no commentary, I will be posting just captions of the location and names of the cemeteries tombstone pictures . The pictures will tell all I want to say. There really are no words that can describe what I want to say better than the pictures can.

Riverside Cemetery, Middletown, Middlesex County, Connecticut

Resting Place of some of the founders of Middletown and Hartford, Connecticut

Old Center Cemetery, Suffield, Hartford County, Connecticut

Detail of the same grave to show the several broken headstones lying flat around the base of the Remington monument.

In this picture: Many crushed headstones line the side of the church.

Old North Burying Grounds, Middlefield, Middlesex County, Connecticut

Notice the other broken stones surrounding these fallen, broken stones.

Tombstone Tuesday - Headstone Artisans of the 18th century

This tombstone Tuesday, I find it appropriate (since I just returned from a genealogy trip to New England) to talk about the craftsmen of many of the tombstones of my ancestors from the 1700's.
Pictured here is a tombstone from Suffield, Connecticut. This is a stone carved by the Stebbins workshops in nearby Longmeadow, Massachusetts. Since many of these headstones still exist, it is clear the craftmanship was amazing as was the artwork on the stones. Stebbins is one of my surnames which is how I came across this information during my research of that line. Ezra Stebbins was the first of the Stebbins master crafters. He would go to the Longmeadow sandstone quaries and choose sandstone large enough to carve his ornate headstones. The business was passed down to his son Ezra, Jr., presumably Ezra taught his son the trade. No one knows for sure if others were employed as artisians, however, there are several known styles so one can presume The Stebbins family employed apprentices to help keep up with their orders. The Stebbins were most known for their winged faces and elaborate ornamentation using nature - often vines on the headstones. The majority of eyes on the faces on the headstones were larger (and more realistic) than most. As I traversed the graveyards through the mud in the rain, it certainly made photographing my ancestors graves more interesting as I tried to guess which headstones could be Stebbins' creations. I still am not sure how Ezra was related, but his beautiful masterpieces are a sight to behold.
Besides the Stebbins worshop, Elijah Sikes, and 3 generations of Johnson's in Middletown, Connecticut were master craftsmen of 18th century headstones in The Connecticut Valley (which includes Southwest Massachusetts). Joseph Williston of Springfield and Nataniel Phelps of Northampton were also master crafters of beautiful headstones.
Nathaniel Phelps of Northampton still has many headstones that survive in Northampton, Deerfield and many other towns. I had photographed several of his headstones without realizing it at the time. Pictured here is the headstone of a relative of mine Mehetable Clap. Nathaniel's style is clearly more simple than the elaborate Stebbins graves but beautiful, nonetheless.
Thomas, Joseph and John Johnson of Middletown were 3 generations of headstone artisans. Thomas was of the first generation whose creations from the 1720 through about 1739 also still exist throughout Connecticut. His son Joseph extended the business into Massachusetts and his career spanned from late 1720's well into the 1750's. Joseph's son John crafted headstones from the mid 1770's until the end of the 1700's. Each of the 3 generations got more detailed and more elaborate. Pictured here is John Johnson's work from Middletown which is deteriorating, however you can still see the fine craftmanship on this stone. So next time you look at a headstone you may want to do some research into who made that stone. You never know, it could be a family member!