Old Parish Cemetery Mystery

Lot 196a

Sarah Holmes (1734-1754)

This is an Old Parish Cemetery mystery that may never be solved.

Sarah Holmes was born on September 6, 1734 to Ebenezer Holmes and his wife, Sarah Coney Holmes. They had been married on January 25, 1732. Sarah was the second of ten children.

When she was nineteen, Sarah Holmes was betrothed to Mr. Ephraim Gay. Before they could marry, however, Sarah Holmes died. She died on September 13, 1754, at 20 years of age.

According to records of South Parish Cemetery gravestones, her unusual epitaph read:

Here lies buried

 ye body of Miss Sarah Holmes,

daughter to Ebenezer and Sarah Holmes,

 died Sep'tr ye 13th, 1754,  

aged 20 years & seven days.

The intended wife of Ephraim Gay,

If Death had not took her away.

In October of 2019, Old Parish Preservation Volunteers unearthed Sarah’s footstone. Her gravestone is still missing. In November of 2024, volunteers set Sarah’s footstone near the headstones of the Aaron Guild family because Sarah Holmes was the first cousin of Sarah Coney Guild, Aaron Guild’s first wife. Sarah Coney Guild died in 1755 at the age of 22.