Monument Inscriptions, Old First Cemetery, Upton, Worcester, Massachusetts

What's Here

Below are inscriptions from monuments in Old First Cemetery, Upton, which I viewed on May 10, 2002.

On this page are:

CARPENTER inscriptions

Surnames Appearing Here

BARROWS, CARPENTER, JOHNSON, WHITE

Notes

The cemetery is located at 42° 09' 36" N, 071° 35' 55" W. This map image is a piece of the 1953 Milford quadrangle from the UNH collection, Historic USGS Maps of New England & New York. The scale is in feet.

Upton Historical Society has searchable abstracts of Upton cemetery inscriptions. There is a page of abstracts of all inscriptions in Old First Cemetery. The photo on that page is looking North; the stone in the foreground shade whose edge is sunlit is Sally Carpenter's. As genealogy folklore has it, "they want to be found."

Warning: there's poison ivy.

History of this Document

11 May 2002, revision 1.: Initial publication.
11 May 2002, revision 2.: Additional description, correction to Hannah's verse.
20 May 2002, revision 3.: Map.
25 February 2007, revision 4.: Routine maintenance.
10 April 2008, revision 5.: Additional other inscriptions.

CARPENTER Inscriptions

These are the headstones of Reuben Carpenter, father of the illustrious Seth Prime Carpenter, and Reuben's two wives.

The stones read as below, from East to West (the inscriptions are on their North sides). South of them is a corresponding row of footstones, inscribed (on their South sides) "Mrs. Sally Carpenter" and "H. C."; Reuben's is broken off, with some engraved border lines but no text that I can discern. All stones are nearly lichen-free slate, and the engraving wonderfully sharp. They are 15 or 16 inches wide and about 3 feet tall. There are slate shards and broken glass; presumably smashing bottles contributed to broken slate. Sally's and Reuben's have curved tops in which a winged face (effigy of the escaping soul) appears; Sally's is flanked by small rising (or setting - how do you tell?) suns. The long verse lines are completed with the last words on the line above, presumably the engraver letting us know that he didn't just run out of space. The superscript comma after Hannah's "March 20" is an oddity to me. Hannah's is also the first verse I've seen that is attributed.

In memory of
Mrs. Sally the wife
of Mr. Reuben
Carpenter, who died
Aug. 28 1798 in
the 45 Year of
her age.

Here lies a tender Mother dear
fear
Who sooth^d her Children when in
And gave her Husband kind relief
grief
When pres^d with sorrow pain or

In memory of
^Mr. Reuben Carpenter.
who died Oct. 5
1802 in the 46 year
of his age.

the Earth
The Lord hath took him from
To dwell with him above
Jesus is
That he might be where
And sing redeeming love.

In memory of
HANNAH CARPENTER
widow of
Reuben Carpenter,
who died
March 20^, 1840.
Aged 77 years

From pain released, from sin removed,
She dwells with whom on earth she loved;
With angel and archangel sings
The praises of the King of Kings.
(D. Cole)

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Other Inscriptions

The original transcriber was interested only in the verses, and noted at most the name or age on the stone. Using the inscriptions transcribed by the Upton Historical Society I've identified the stones as well as I can without a physical visit.

Death like a dart did pierce my heart
When I was in my prime
When this you see grieve not for me
Twas God's appointed time

Either Marie Antoinette daughter of Mr. William & Lucy Barrows, November 10, 1817, 5th y 7m or Elmira daughter of Mr. Wilder & Mrs. Thirza Johnson, May 27, 1816, 5th y 3m

You earthly pilgrims as you pass by
On my cold grave pray cast an eye
As you are now so once was I
Remember friends that you must die

Miss Eleanor Barrows, January 11, 1821, 21st y

The lovely youth
The fairest face
Must lie at last
In this dark place

Eliza Ann daughter of Jesse & Ruth White, April 10, 1819, 7th y

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