An unusually elaborate stone by a talented local artisan whose talents would soon be rendered irrelevant by the growth of a more centralized monument industry.
IN MEMORY OF
HECTOR
McFADDEN
Who departed
this life Decr 12th
1834 aged 65
years
—
He was just
And honest
And a friend
To the poor.
No Christian could ask for a finer epitaph than that.
The letters are formed very well, but here (as in many other early-settler tombstones) we see that marking out the inscription in advance was not part of the stonecutter’s method. He runs out of space for the name of the deceased, and then again on the next line for the name of the town Canonsburgh (which we no longer spell with an H). He also left out the R in “MEMORY,” and the heading SACRED to the IN MEMOY OF is very decorative but grammatically nonsense.
This transcription preserves the eccentric spelling of the original:
SACRED
to the
IN MEMOY OF
—
ROBERT PATTERSON
Merchant of Canonsburgh
Who departed this life
January 31st A. D. 1833
in the 29th year of his age
—
He was a man of temperance and moral habits
as a man of buissness he was unrivell’d
as a friend he was truly candid and sincere
as a husband and parent [he was] kind & affec[tionate]
Father Pitt took this picture in 1999 with an Argus C3. The Chartiers Hill Cemetery is notable for interesting epitaphs.
HERE SLEEPS IN DEATH
NANCY MARSHALL
Who died July 2nd 1833
aged 40 years
Her equal is gone before her but her superior will never follow as a WIFE MOTHER and FRIEND.
—
My flesh shall slumber in the ground,
Till the last trumpet’s joyful sound,
Then burst the chains with sweet surprise
And in my SAVIOURS image rise.
This epitaph is the last stanza of Isaac Watts’ metrical version of Psalm 17.
Old Pa Pitt took this picture on black-and-white film in 1999 with an Argus C3, which captured a very legible image in spite of strong backlighting.
A marble obelisk for a family of early settlers in the Chartiers Valley, where the family has taken full advantage of all the surfaces offered for inscription. The cemetery opened in 1861, so it is probable that family members who died before then have not been interred here, but are remembered here as part of family tradition.
Broken but still mostly legible, except where the stone has flaked away toward the right. We are almost certain of the surname “Henry,” because the stone lies near several other members of the Henry family. Here is how we reconstruct the inscription:
[In]
MEMORY OF
Elizabeth Hen[ry]
who departed t[his life]
June 10th 1839 in t[he –]
Year of her a[ge.]
—
Esteemed Deaugh[ter,]
this silent grave
Love and respect [?]
shall ever have.
This epitaph, such as it is, seems to be an original composition; Father Pitt has not found it anywhere else on the Web. The spelling “deaughter” is not unusual for Western Pennsylvania tombstones.
An easily identified work of the Master of the Robinson Run Reliefs, whose trademarks are all present:
Interestingly, there is a Henry Huls buried in the Peters Creek Baptist Church Cemetery, whose tombstone is also by the Master of the Robinson Run Reliefs. We therefore know of at least three cemeteries in which this fine craftsman worked.
The inscription:
IN
memory of
AMELIA HULS
who departed this life
April 16th 1836 in the
49 year of her age
The old Bethel Cemetery is full of Gillfillans (or Gilfillans), whose memorials are in all styles from the early settlers’ handmade tombstones to elaborate marble monuments from the middle 1800s.
IN
memory of
SARAH GILLFILLAN
Who departed this Life
March the 2nd 1818 aged
20 years.
IN
Memory of
ALEXANDER GILLFILLAN
Who departed this Life
Agust the 11th 1821 in the 27th
year of his age.
SACRED
to the memory of
ALEX’R GILLFILLAN
who departed this life
Sep. 6th, 1836
in the 91st year of his
AGE.
PVT 4 CO 2 PA BN
WASHINGTON COUNTY MILITIA
REVOLUTIONARY WAR
1745–1836
SACRED
TO THE MEMORY OF
MARTHA, Wife of
ALEXANDER GILFILLAN
who departed this life
February 19th, 1840
In the 81st year of her age.
JOHN GILLFILLAN
BORN JUNE 21, 1784
DIED JUNE 20, 1859.
—
“For if we believe that Jesus died
and rose again, even so them also
which sleep in Jesus will God bring
with him.”
ALEXANDER
SON OF
JOHN & MARGARET
GILLFILLAN
Who died in Philada.
Dec. 7, 1845
Reinterred in this place
Jan 1, 1846
in the 26 year of his age.
Resident[?] of Jefferson Medical
College Philadelphia
IN MEMORY OF
JOHN SON OF
ANDREW B. AND ANN GILFILLAN
WHO VOLUNTEERED IN THE SERVICE
OF HIS COUNTRY SEPT. 1861.
IN CO. E. 101ST REGT. PA. VOL.
WAS WOUNDED AT THE
BATTLE OF FAIR OAKS
AND DIED JULY 1ST
1862,
AGED 23 YEARS
AND 11 DAYS.
Captain Philips, who fought in the Revolution, lived to see the fiftieth anniversary of American independence. He is identified as Revd. Philips on his tombstone, and he is buried in the Philips family plot, which is still separated from the hoi polloi by a metal rail. From this one stone we identify a new Master in our collection of folk artists who produced tombstones here two centuries ago: the Master of the Curly Numerals, identifiable by the curled decorations on his numbers. Note also the fine curly script of “The Revd.”
A newly identified work by the Master of the Robinson Run Reliefs, all of whose trademarks are visible here: the thistle decoration flanked by flowers, the fan patterns in the corners, and even the curled tail on the top of the lower-case g in age. Henry Huls was a private in the Revolutionary War; he is identified here as having served in the Washington County Militia, but that could only have been in the last few months of the war, since Washington County itself was formed in 1781.
This is the burying ground of a Baptist church that dates back to Colonial times: it claims a foundation date of 1773. Some Revolutionary War veterans are buried here.
Pittsburgh Cemeteries 