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Writer's picturePatricia Fanning

The Obelisks of Old Parish Cemetery


After the French and British occupations of Egypt and the discovery of the Rosetta Stone, the obelisk became one of the most popular gravestone motifs of the nineteenth century. To ancient Egyptians, obelisks represented a single ray of sunlight, petrified into stone, where the sun god Ra lived. In American graveyards, obelisks were considered to be solemn yet serene. These tall, thin four-sided columns, stretching toward heaven and tapering to a pyramid-like point at the top, signified godliness and goodness. The most famous obelisk in the United States is, of course, the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C.

 

Old Parish Cemetery has a number of obelisks. Most, having been weathered and darkened for more than a century, have been newly cleaned into bright white beacons by volunteers.

 

Joseph Sumner (1797-1877)                                                 Lot 52

Betsey Sumner (1799-1879)

 



Joseph Sumner was born on April 28, 1797. He was the son of Nathaniel and Elizabeth Sumner. On July 22, 1821, he married Charlotte Rhoades (1800-1823), the daughter of Eliphalet Rhoads and Mercy Holland Rhoads. The couple had a daughter, Charlotte, born in 1823. Joseph Sumner’s wife died on May 19, 1823 leaving him with an infant daughter. He remarried on August 10, 1823 to Elizabeth “Betsey” Huntley (or Hunting) (1799-1879).

 

Also in 1823, Joseph Sumner became the proprietor of the South Dedham Tavern, located about where the town common now stands. During his time as tavern owner, Sumner, a Universalist, was convinced by Rev. Edwin Thompson to stop selling liquor. Joseph Sumner remained the proprietor of the South Dedham Tavern until he sold it to Richard Hartshorn in the 1850s. By the 1860 US Census, Joseph Sumner was the Depot Master of the railroad and later, his occupation was listed as laborer. He died on September 13, 1877, at the age of 80. His widow, Betsey Sumner, died on July 23, 1879. Both deaths were recorded as due to old age.

 



Martha Sumner Pond Day (1822-1902)                                Lot 56

Ebenezer C. Day (1816-1873)

Martha Sumner was born on February 15, 1822. She was the daughter of Moses Sumner (1800-1862) and Catherine Gay Sumner (1803-1899). Martha Sumner married Charles Thurston Pond on November 7, 1841. Charles and Martha Pond had one child, Charles Edwin Pond (1842-1901). At the age of 29, Charles Thurston Pond died on February 6, 1846 of brain congestion.

 

Just over a year later, on February 13, 1847, Martha Sumner Pond married Ebenezer Colburn Day of Walpole. He had been born on September 24, 1816. Martha and Ebenezer had four daughters: Ellen, Sarah, Julia, and Mary Faustina. Only four years old when his father died and five when his mother remarried, Charles E. Pond lived with the family as well.

 

Ebenezer C. Day was a currier of leather. He died on August 3, 1873, a month shy of his 57th birthday. The cause was listed as paralysis. He may well have suffered a stroke which left him debilitated before his death. Martha Sumner Pond Day died on August 18, 1902 of a cerebral injury.

 

 



Isaac Ellis (1790-1844)                                                        Lot 112

Abigail “Nabby” Fairbanks Ellis (1795-1836)

Emily Stone Ellis (1808-1881)

Isaac Ellis was born on August 25, 1790. He was the son of Oliver Ellis (1745-1821) and his wife Mary Colburn Ellis (1754-1826). Isaac married Abigail Fairbanks, the daughter of Benjamin and Hannah Dean Fairbanks, on January 2, 1814 in Dedham. Abigail Fairbanks Ellis was known as “Nabby.”

 

Isaac and Nabby had three children: Hannah, Caroline, and Alvin. Nabby Ellis died on October 3, 1836 at the age of 41. On September 30, 1838, Isaac Ellis married Emily Stone of Sharon. Emily had been born on June 17, 1808 in Sharon. A paper maker, Isaac Ellis died on January 2, 1844 of consumption. He was 54 years old. Emily Stone Ellis died in 1881.

 



Rev. Harrison Greenough Park (1806-1876)                         Lot 10

Julia Bird Park (1811-1835)

Elizabeth Bird Park (1814-1882)

Harrison G. Park was born in 1806 and graduated from Brown University in 1824. He was ordained as minister of the South Church of Dedham in 1829. In 1830, he married Julia Bird, daughter of George Bird who began paper manufacturing in East Walpole. The couple had 4 children: Abigail, George, Harrison Jr., and Wisner. Julia Bird Park died in 1835.  In 1837 Rev. Park married for a second time. His wife was Elizabeth Bird, daughter of George Bird, and sister of his first wife, Julia. Harrison and Elizabeth had 6 children: Julia, Ebenezer, Henry, Montgomery, Calvin, and Francis. The family lost a son and son-in-law to the Civil War. Rev. Harrison Greenough Park, his two wives, and several of his children are interred in this family lot.

 



Eliphalet Rhodes, Jr. (1789-1841)                                         Lot 62

Sarah (Sally) Gay Rhodes (1789-1870)

Eliphalet Rhodes, Jr. was born on June 14, 1789. He was one of nine children born to Eliphalet Rhodes (1756-1833) and his wife Mercy Holland Rhodes (1758-1836). On May 11, 1811, Eliphalet Jr. married Sarah Gay. Sarah, known as Sally, was the daughter of Thaddeus Gay and Charlotte Coburn Gay. She was born on July 17, 1789. Eliphalet Jr. and Sally had seven children: Francis, Irene, Albert H., Sarah Jane, Lyman, Caroline E., and John Wesley.

 

When Eliphalet Jr. died on February 10, 1841, his son John Wesley Rhodes erected a gravestone in memory of his father. Sally Gay Rhodes died on January 15, 1870 of heart disease.

 



Martha Adelaide Rhodes (1849-1852)                                  Lot 62

Martha Adelaide Rhodes was born in 1849. Her father was John Wesley Rhodes and her grandparents were Eliphalet and Sally Rhodes. Martha died on December 21, 1852 of scarlatina at only 3 years of age. She was interred in the family plot with a small obelisk, decorated with a lamb, marking the spot of her burial.

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