The Epitaph
Spring 2022 Newsletter
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Photo Credit: Michael Lally |
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AN ACTIVE BURIAL PLACE RICH IN HISTORY |
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Greetings!
At the Lowell Cemetery, it’s “Art in Bloom” season. We are indebted to Julie Danforth, our Master Gardner since 2004. She ensures that our more than 50 gardens shine in the early spring with blossoms of tulips, daffodils, and alliums.
Historians Walter Hickey and Martha Mayo have always been friends of the Lowell Cemetery. Our thanks go to Walter for identifying an important Lowell Cemetery artifact, and to Martha for her article on Amanda Giles, who is buried here in the family lot on Ayer Ave. I hope you enjoy reading “Cemetery Lots and their Design Changes” by Kim Zunino, Epitaph editor and historian. Included in her essay is an explanation of the practice and meaning of “Perpetual Care.”
A sure sign of spring at the Lowell Cemetery is our extended hours. We are now open 7:30 am to 8:00 pm. Come and enjoy the forsythia and blooming magnolia trees.
Robert S. McKittrick, President
Lowell Cemetery
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The Lowell Cemetery holds an archive of historical records relating to the operation of the Cemetery back to its founding in 1841. Among the historical records are deeds to burial lots, sales records of lots, early Trustee meeting minutes, burial records with grave locations, and much more. A discovery of an important historical artifact belonging to Lowell Cemetery was recently discovered in the attic of Lowell City Hall by historian Walter Hickey and was returned to the Cemetery. This record book contains an alphabetical list of those buried in Lowell Cemetery from its founding in 1841 to 1849. The handwritten record book recorded the name of the person interred, their age, the lot number where they were buried, and other remarks. This record will assist staff with locating graves and can be used with other archived records to accurately answer the question, “Who is buried in this lot?”
Lowell Cemetery would also like to thank City Clerk Michael Geary for expediting the return of this record book.
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Cemetery Lots and their Design Changes
by: Kim Zunino
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The Rural Cemetery movement reflected a new way of viewing death, and burial landscapes designed to convey the new feelings of peace and immortality led to cemeteries establishing guidelines to keep the peaceful atmosphere of the sites.
After private cemetery corporations began operating in big cities, many families rushed to buy a family lot that would ensure generations would be able to be buried in one place instead of a communal yard. While the cemeteries had a carefully designed plan in place for the property, the individual lot owners had more autonomy over their individual lots that led to later issues when interests clashed. Over time, these issues forced the cemeteries to find solutions that created a balance between honoring the rights of the individual lot owners and maintaining the overall landscape design.
Many families chose to move their deceased family members from other burial sites to the new family lot, resulting in a mix of old and new gravestones that many felt looked “unkempt” and went against the overall peaceful design of the cemetery. A new lot design was suggested, where a large central monument would be surrounded by smaller grave markers to help keep the lots looking clean and unified. This solution would not only help the overall look of the cemetery from becoming chaotic, but also not stifle individual choices of monument design that kept the cemetery visually interesting.
Many lot owners would choose ornamental trees, shrubs, and plantings to enhance their lots, but over time they would become overgrown. Leaving a single lot overgrown would affect the overall look of the cemetery, and cemetery workers often were faced with extra work. The practical business solution was to institute the practice of collecting funds for what is known as a Perpetual Care Fund, where lot owners would endow money for maintenance that would be invested in a special fund for the upkeep of individual lots and overall care of the cemetery. Alternatively, lot owners could instead be charged a yearly maintenance fee. In the Lowell Cemetery, you can see several monuments with the phrase Perpetual Care near the base of the stone.
The use of grand entrance gates and iron fencing around the cemetery made it appear protected from outside forces, and lot owners would also personalize their family lot by using iron fencing, and later stone steps and curbing. These lot features would enhance the overall beauty of the cemetery, but, over time many of these features would be removed due to trouble maintaining them in the face of rising costs and after adopting the use of machinery to landscape. The fact that Lowell Cemetery has retained much of its stone curbing is due to its dedication of recognizing and preserving its unique features.
By the end of the 1800s, the rural cemeteries began to lose popularity in part due to the rise of lawn cemeteries. The call for this new cemetery design was partly due to an embrace of modern machinery for maintenance that was best done on leveled ground with flat gravestones that were not damaged by the blades of a mower. This type of design required more control over the individual graves and valued modern standardization over the “fussiness” of the rural cemeteries.
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Did You Know?
Cemeteries serve an important purpose as repositories of biotic diversity, which is a range of animals, plants, and microorganisms.
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Amanda Lavinia Colburn Giles
(1847-1913)
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From the Women's History Month Series
by Martha Mayo
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There are several notable Indigenous women living in Lowell in the mid-19th century.
Amanda Lavinia Colburn (1847-1913), indigenous, through her paternal side was a descendant of Edward Colburn who came from England in 1635. He lived in Ipswich for some years. In 1668 he moved to what is now Dracut, MA as the first settler on the north of the Merrimack River. Amanda’s grandfather, Uriah Colburn, Sr. was born in Dracut, MA, but moved to Rumney, NH and then Wentworth, NH where he farmed for many years. His son Uriah Colburn, Jr. was born in Wentworth, NH in 1806.
In 1833, Uriah Colburn, Jr. married Betsey Smart an indigenous woman, daughter of Jeremiah Smart of Rumney, NH. In 1850, Jeremiah was among those owning the most real estate in Wentworth, NH. Jeremiah’s wife was Relief Haines, of English heritage.
Uriah and Bestey Colburn had 15 children, including Amanda Lavina Colburn who was born in Wentworth, NH in June 1847. Amanda and two of her sisters came to Lowell, MA to work in the textile mills sometime after the Civil War. In Lowell, Amanda met Meldon Stephen Giles and married in June 1869.
Meldon Giles was born in October 1840 in Acton, MA to parents Israel Haynes Giles and Lucy Haynes Giles. Sometime later his family moved to Westford, MA. Meldon’s name is on the door of the Acton, MA library as a veteran of the Civil War. He and Amanda had two children: Nellie, born in 1870 and Clarence, born in 1871. Meldon along with William Stickney Lamson of Lowell, co-invented the "Store Rail Account Systems," for moving cash and parcels. Lamson stayed in the US and Meldon worked as the international salesman.
Amanda, Meldon, and their children spent 25 years in England, 1888-1912. She sometimes did international travel with Meldon. They returned to Lowell, MA in 1912 and she passed away in 1913. She was buried in the Giles family lot in Lowell Cemetery located on Ayer Ave.
Image: Amanda Lavinia Colburn, Private Family Collection.
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Private Tours of Lowell Cemetery
Private tours for school groups, garden clubs, historical societies, and social organizations can be arranged by contacting the Cemetery office at: staff@lowellcemetery.com
or by calling the Cemetery office at:
978-454-5191
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The Lowell Cemetery is a private, non-municipal, non-denominational, garden-style cemetery located in Lowell, Massachusetts.
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Address:
77 Knapp Avenue
Lowell, MA 01852
Phone:
978-454-5191
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