The Gravestone Girls

Today I was further educated in the arts and processes of gravestones, iconography, materials, deterioration, preservation, rehabilitation and other subjects relating to gravestones!  I first met Brenda a/k/a "Sophronia" (her Gravestone Girls personna) when I booked her group, the Gravestone Girls, to speak to the Western Massachusetts Genealogical Society earlier this year.  We received a great presentation about colonial gravestones, the iconography of gravestones in general and the evolution of the customs of burying our dead.

It's a subject closely related to genealogy.  Cemeteries and cemetery records are an important part of any genealogist's research strategies.  Having knowledge of the customs and practices throughout the years can certainly be helpful. The importance of the gathering of cemetery data is obvious.  The web site Find-A-Grave has been around for 15 years or more and now has nearly 15,000,000 entries.  Billion Graves's goal is to log a billion graves!  There are a myriad of other lesser known websites featuring cemetery and burial information.  They're popular for a reason.

Back to the Gravestone Girls.  Next Tuesday, 20 May 2014, the Chicopee Public Library has invited them to bring their knowledge and expertise to our genealogy "department."  For the past few years, myself and some fellow genealogists have been teaching classes, holding seminars and inviting guests to speak.  Brenda and company should certainly prove to be a hit.

To assist in the preparation for the event in Chicopee, I offered to take Brenda to all of the local cemeteries.  She wanted to

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="75"] General Pershing (second from left) decorates Brigadier General Douglas MacArthur (third from left) with the Distinguished Service Cross. Major General Charles T. Menoher (left) reads out the citation. Colonel George E. Leach (fourth from left) and Colonel William Joseph Donovan await their decorations. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)[/caption]

custom tailor this presentation to the local community, highlighting not only the families, but some of the more famous "Sons and Daughters" of Chicopee.  For example, General Douglas MacArthur's father, "The Boy Colonel" of the Civil War, Lieutenant General Arthur MacArthur.  There are other members of the MacArthur family including their in-laws the Belcher family.

A lesser known personality from Chicopee was Edward Bellamy, the cousin of Francis Bellamy who authored the original Pledge of Allegiance.  Edward authored many books including "Looking Backward", a fictional account of a utopian world as

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="75"] Photographic portrait of Edward Bellamy, American author, c. 1889. This image is digitally edited from the Library of Congress online collection, as identified below. Copyright has expired on this image. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)[/caption]

described by the main character, Julian West, who fell into a deep hypnotic sleep in his home in Boston, Massachusetts in 1887.  When he awoke 113 years later, the world had changed....dramatically.  "Looking Backward" was the third largest selling book of the time behind "Uncle Tom's Cabin" and "Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ."  It immediately spawned the movement called "Nationalism" advocating concepts such as the nationalization of private property.  "Bellamy Clubs" sprung open from coast to coast.

Does anyone remember Lizzy Borden?  No, she wasn't from Chicopee but her defense lawyer lived here.  George Dexter Robinson, Harvard educated, who became the principal of Chicopee High School at the ripe young age of 22 in 1856; left to become a lawyer, ran for and won a number of state offices including Governor of Massachusetts.  After fashioning himself as a "country lawyer," his brilliant defense of Miss Borden led to her acquittal based on the fact that the state had presented nothing but weak circumstantial evidence which was nowhere near sufficient to convict.

All in all, I'm anxiously awaiting Brenda's presentation for a number of reasons.  I'm intrigued with the subject matter, I've done more than my share of cemetery research with a large number of entries at Find-A-Grave and now, I've been personally involved in the research side of a presentation by Brenda and her Gravestone Girls!

 

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Lieutenant General Arthur MacArthur, Jr - Father of General Douglas MacArthur

Every once in a while, I think about all the famous people who were born or at least had lived in or near Springfield, Massachusetts.  The list is long!  We live in Chicopee, Mass which is a city that until 1848 was part of Springfield.

Springfield is the home of many well known companies: Smith and Wesson, Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance, the Springfield Armory (which is a National Historic site having been founded by George Washington in 1777 to provide arms for the Revolutionary War), Breck Shampoo, Merriam Webster Dictionary, Friendly Ice Cream Corporation, Indian Motocycle,  Milton Bradley Corp (Milton Bradley himself is buried in the Springfield Cemetery) and many others that most would recognize.  Even Rolls Royce was once manufactured here.  There are several excellent examples of the Rolls' that were built here in Springfield that are housed in the Museum of Springfield History.  Springfield is also the home of the Basketball Hall of Fame as this city is where the game was first played.

All the personalities are too numerous to mention but include Johnny "Appleseed", Samuel Bowles (one of the founders of the Republican Party), Theodor Geissel (Dr Seuss), Kurt Russell (actor), Taj Mahal (blues musician),  Timothy Leary (drug culture guru), James Naismith (inventor of basketball) and Tim Mayotte (professional tennis player).

But today, in response to a request from a fellow blogger, I'm mentioning Lieutenant General Arthur MacArthur, Jr who was the father of his even more famous son, General Douglas MacArthur.  The elder McArthur was born in what is now Chicopee Falls, Mass when it was part of the larger Springfield, Mass.  I promised that the next time I drove past the memorial in the center of Chicopee Falls (and the weather was good!) that I would take a picture or two of "MacArthur's Ball" and post it here on my blog. So, here they are!

The biographies and careers of both MacArthur's are extensive which is why I've provided the links to their articles on WikiPedia.  And there is certainly plenty more than what can be found there!

The elder MacArthur was the Military Governor-General of the Philippines until he clashed with the civilian Governor, the future president, William Howard Taft.  (Taft, by the way is in my family tree somewhere but only very distantly related.) At the age of 17, he became a commissioned officer in 1862 and saw action in many battles of the Civil War for which he earned the Medal of Honor.  That was when he was 19 years old!  He became a brevetted colonel and became known nationwide as "The Boy Colonel".

After service in the Indian Wars, the Spanish-American War and the Philippine-American War, he returned to the United States as one of the last officers on active duty who had served in the Civil War.

He died in Milwaukee waiting to address a reunion of his Civil War unit.  He suffered a heart attack while on the dais.  Originally buried in Milwaukee, he is now interred at Arlington National Cemetery.  But his impressive memorial stands proudly right here in little old Chicopee, Massachusetts!