Study Guide Reading Gravestones
Table of Contents
3. QUESTIONS TO ASK
The goal of this page is to teach you to identify
- What does it say?
- Whose stone is this?
- Where was it found?
- What is the stone's shape?
- What does the inscription tell me?
- What does the iconography of the borders, lunette, and finials tell me?
- Who was the carver?
- What can nearby gravestones tell me?
A. What does it say?
Colonial gravestones vary in terms of the state of preservation. Some of the stones in the archive have been transcribed. Practice reading The Gravestone of Edward Hammett (zoom in if necessary) and then check your answers.
Line 1:
Line 2:
Line 3:
Line 4:
Line 5:
Line 6:
B. Whose Stone is This?
One of the first things you should determine is, who the individual who owned the stone? The stone may provide biographical information such as to whom the person was married, the names of other family members, where the person was born, how long they lived, and how they died. It may also indicate why the person was valued by the community in the epithets used. You may want to see what other information is provided about this person in the INDIAN CONVERTS archive or in print sources. Two particularly important print sources for Vineyarders are the third volume of Banks' History of Martha's Vineyard and Segel and Pierce's Wampanoag Genealogical History.
C. Where was it found?
In what cemetery was the person buried? What years was the cemetery in use? What was the predominant religion and ethnicity of the people interred there?
D. What is the stone's shape?
Is the stone vertical, horizontal, obilesque, or individualistic (see guide)? Does the shape of the stone fit with when the person was buried or what we know about him/her?
E. What does the inscription tell me?
Identify what elements make up the inscription and in what order. What kind of header does the stone use? Is the header typical of this era or not?
F. What does the iconography of the borders, lunette, and finials tell me?
What images are found on the three elements of the stone? Do the images reflect a message limited atonement or general atonement? What other messages do they imply about the person memorialized?
G. Who was the carver?
Did anyone sign the stone? If so what do we know about the carver? Is the design typical of the carver’s style? Did the carver’s style change over time and if so how does this fit into those changes? (This question will be most useful for the stones in the archive from Newport, RI.)
H. What can nearby gravestones tell me?
Was the deceased buried near family members? Is the stone that of a child buried in a row dedicated only to children. If it is a Jewish cemetery, is the person a cohen (member of the priestly cast) who was buried so as to allow family members to view the grave without becoming ritually impure? Do you have access to all of the stones in the cemetery or to seriation studies of the cemetery? If so, how does this stone compare to others from this era?
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