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Ida Elizabeth Crane Putnam (1847-1874)
At the crest of the highest hill in Old Parish Cemetery stands a small marble stone. It belongs to Ida Putnam.
Ida Crane was born on August 9, 1847 in Canton, Massachusetts. Her parents were Silas Crane and Roxanna Towne Crane. Silas was a farmer.
On October 14, 1869, Ida married John Putnam in Dedham. He had been born in 1839 in New Vineyard, Maine, and was a laborer. Before their marriage, Putnam had served in the Civil War in the Maine Volunteers. The couple had no children.
Ida Elizabeth Crane Putnam died on April 21, 1874 at the age of 26. Her death was due to tuberculosis, then often called consumption. It was the most common cause of death throughout the 19th century among those buried in Old Parish Cemetery.
John Putnam moved back to Maine, remarried, had two daughters and died in 1897.
When Ida Putnam’s small marble stone was cleaned and set by Old Parish Volunteers, there was a handwritten notation of $25.00 on the underside of the stone.