tombstones could not exceed a certain 

 height. His did, so his fraternity brothers 

 broke it off at the proper height. The 

 other story is that Leecraft's family had 

 the monument deliberately broken in 

 half to symbolize that his life was cut 

 short. 



Samuel Leffers was an early 

 schoolmaster who penned his own 

 epitaph: "Praises on tombstones are but 

 idly spent. A man's good name is his 

 best monument." He revealed these 

 words for the first time in a letter to his 

 brother in 1806. He died 16 years later, 

 having slightly revised the wording. His 

 brother saw to it that the epitaph was 

 carved on his tombstone. Leffers and his 

 wife Sarah owned what is known today 

 as the Leffers' House on the Beaufort 

 Historical Association grounds. They 

 also lived in the Hammock House, 

 which is Beaufort's oldest dwelling. 



Abigail Willis, who died in 1864, 

 was the mother of four children, one of 

 whom was killed when nearby Fort 

 Macon was overrun by federal troops 

 during the Civil War. Before her death, 

 she made arrangements to call attention 

 to herself from the grave with her 

 epitaph, "Behold! It is I, Abigail!" 



William M. Thompson drowned 

 in 1875 and was buried on a September 

 night. The whole town gathered and 

 watched as the masons in their aprons 

 and regalia moved about, making an 

 eerie picture in the light of flickering 

 lightwood torches. Nighttime burials 

 were not unusual at the time. 



Capt. John Sabiston is one of many 

 ships' captains in the graveyard. 

 Sabiston was in Charleston Harbor when 

 he died, and his crew decided to bring 

 him back to Beaufort (a two-day sail) for 

 burial. Embalming wasn't practiced until 

 the 1900s, so it was difficult to preserve 

 a body for any length of time, especially 

 in the summer. When the ship arrived, it 

 was night. People gathered by the wharf 

 as the captain's body was taken off the 

 boat. They followed as it was taken on a 

 bier through the dark streets to the 

 graveyard and lowered into a readied 

 grave. 



Capt. John Hill sailed the seas 



before he died in 1879. His son had an 

 inscription cut into his stone that could 

 well apply to others in the seaside 

 graveyard: "The form that fills this silent 

 grave once tossed on ocean's rolling 

 wave. But in a port securely fast, he's 



A child s stone in Beaufort 



dropped his anchor here at last." 



Henry Gilbert was one of many 

 others whose lives were taken by the 

 nearby sea. His tombstone tells just the 

 facts. "Ordinary seaman, Drowned, June 

 1895." 



Cedar Grove Cemetery in New Bern 

 also has its share of people who lost 

 their lives to the sea. 



The tombstone of Capt. Lewis Lee, 

 who died in 1855, reminds landlubbers 

 of the seas' powers: "They that go down 

 to the sea in ships, that do business in 

 great waters, these see the works of the 

 Lord and His wonders in the deep." 



The tombstone of John D. Hughes 

 tells the story of how he drowned in 

 1 879 at age 24. "During the great storm 

 at Beaufort, N.C. Striving to save the 

 lives of others. Greater love hath no man 

 than this. That a man lay down his life 

 for his friends." 



A memorial to Thomas Green 

 places his death in 1850, but he actually 

 died in 1852, says his great-great 

 grandson John Green, a historic preser- 

 vation consultant. Green captained the 

 Cassandra, which sailed for Antigua 

 with a load of lumber and never came 

 back. Several ships are said to have been 

 lost off the North Carolina coast that 

 September in a hurricane. 



When Capt. Amos Wade died on 

 passage from London to New Bern in the 

 early 1800s, he was buried at sea. His 

 memorial lists the coordinates where his 

 body was ceremoniously dumped 

 overboard. 



William Gaston, New Bern's most 

 famous son, is also buried in Cedar 

 Grove. His sarcophagus-shaped marker is 

 one of the cemetery's most impressive 

 early monuments. Among other distinc- 

 tions, Gaston penned the words to our 

 state song. He was a judge, a lawyer and 

 a Catholic who championed religious 

 freedom. Gaston was so popular, in fact, 

 that he was elected to the state legislature 

 and Congress, and he even served on the 

 state Supreme Court despite being 

 Catholic. At the time, Catholics were 

 barred from holding public office. He 

 died in 1844 at age 65. 



In the Christ Church cemetry lies the 

 grave of James Green Jr., who died at 

 age 46 in 1784. His tombstone says, 

 "Reader, if you knew the man, remember 

 his virtues." It goes on to list his accom- 

 plishments: Secretary Provincial Con- 

 gress, Aug. 25, 1774; Halifax Declara- 

 tion, April 12, 1776; and the First 

 Constitution, Dec. 18, 1776. 



And sadly, each of these graveyards 

 is full of people who never lived long 

 enough to make their mark in the world. 

 Children died at a time when few 

 medicinal remedies to disease were 

 known. A Cedar Grove marker memorial- 

 izes nine children of one couple, George 

 and Leah Allen. None of the children, 

 who died between 1862 and 1876, lived 

 beyond the age of 9. Five of them died in 

 a three-week period in 1 876. 



The Old Bun'ing Ground offers self- 

 guided tours and tours by appointment. 

 Call 919/728-5225. The cemetery is 

 located on Ann Street in downtown 

 Beaufort. Cedar Grove Cemetery is 

 located on Queen Street in downtown 

 New Bern. The Christ Episcopal Church 

 is located nearby on Pollock Street. 



If you want to read more about some 

 of North Carolina 's most interesting 

 gravemarkers, check out Tarheel 

 Tombstones & The Tales They Tell by 

 Henry King. □ 



10 MARCH/APRIL 1997 



