As a convention of society, gravestones mark not only the final resting place of human beings, but also serve as a source of genealogical information for family members and others. When I was researching the life of Ellen Webster, I was thrilled to find her grandparents’ gravestone in one of the cemeteries in Hebron, New Hampshire. The cold stone, now covered with lichen, stands as a monument to her grandmother’s lengthy life, yet it yields no clues to her extraordinary presence and influence in her family.
Beside her lies her husband, Ichabod Packard Hardy, a very handsome man in his youth. The stone indicates that Emeline Mary Webster lived from 1815-1917.
The gravestone cannot tell you what these folks looked like (but my book can!). It cannot reveal that Emeline was an avid seamstress and embroiderer, nor that she lived a happy and productive life until the age of 101 (almost 102), when she was struck down by influenza. The final marker of her life cannot disclose that she helped to make the gown that her granddaughter wore when she gave quilt lectures, a garment originally intended for another family member’s graduation. The fact that she is the grandmother of one of New Hampshire’s earliest quilt historians (the subject of my lengthy book) makes her a notable historic figure, yet, during her lifetime, Emeline Mary Webster was of extreme importance to her own family, church and community, in her own right.
No, the details saved in my book, Ellen Emeline Hardy Webster (1867-1950) are not told on any gravestone. Those points of interest, along with informational data about Ellen Webster and her extended family, are preserved in my biography, an accurate source of information, on many counts. The 355 page book illustrated with 340 photos is a look at life in the nineteenth century in the New Hampshire farming community in which Ellen Webster was born.
If you like old cemeteries, the Hebron cemetery behind the church would be of interest because its varied headstones reflect a number of trends and periods in stone carving. Of course, I enjoy seeing epitaphs and other historical information that stones sometimes yield.
If you love history and quilt history, I urge you to read my book.
Patricia Cummings
Quilter’s Muse Publications
