v^'*^ <^ » " " .-^ •V ,^'% ■rf>. , ^'' ■'^.. > l.\''' -^^ "■^^^v ^ ./ ^^^os. ••% '^.-v- o. .«-<.. V •;• /"t. 9." O .<^ 0- ^""^^^ A V s^ V % ' » » o ^-i^o \/ ^^^^^^ Wo ^ .^'' ^0 v^ <^. .<<, 4 o .>^. A. c /°- ,-% -•'. -^^ ^^ 'V ■ • \ ^^ ■ » ' • ^X. ^^. „f .0-' .■^^ %^ ^0^ ■V -■^^ t'' ^., rr. vP Si ^> \ V "l-' vP b A^ ^ ,*^ A ^^. «.^- -is'- ./ .0^ -I o "-^U-o^ o. ^^■V^^^.'^ "°o v-^^. S •^ v^' M ■St, • ^0 "V, ♦=.«' .0- .V ^^ / ' Why seek ye the living among the dead }"—Luke xxiv : s. [By i)ormission of Erastus Dow Palmer.] e»w <:3~- -^^ THE ALBANY RURAL ^ CEMETERY ITS BEAUTIES ITS MEMORIES ^^ ;y HHNRY p. PHELPS It ALBANY PHELPS AND KELLOGG AND CHICAGO 1893 \>s ^"^ F A3Ts^ 5tw copies printeil from type Copyn.y:ht. 1S92 Bv HKNkv 1*. PiiKi.rs l*lioto>;raphy by l*iiic MarPoiiaUl, Albany Typogrnpliy and Prcsswork by Brnndow l^rintinj; Comimny, Albany ac:knowledgments. rl f IS hook is tlir D/i/i^mio/fi of a proposilioii on lite pari ot the Iriixtccx to piihlisli a brief liislorv of the .llhaiiy Cemetery A ssoei at ion, iiieliidiiiQa report of the eonseeration oration, poem and other exercises. It li'as snoocsted that it niioht be well to attempt son/e- thino- more worthy of the object than a mere pamphlet, and this has been done with a result that must spealc for itself. Jl'h/le it would be impi-aclicable to mention here all who have kindly aided in the zvork, the author desi/'cs to express his particular oblioations : To Mr. Dudley Olcott. Mr. Erastus D. Palmer, and .Mr. Abraham I 'an I'cchten, of the board of trustees, for the interest they have manifested and the enconraoement they have given. To Supt. Jeffrey P. Thomas and Mr. John F. Shafer for their valuable assistance. To the Brandoiv Printino- Company for the character- istic care they have bestoiued upon the typography and the press-zvorh. And to Mr. Pirie Mac Donald, 7vlio, bringing to the project of illustration all the enthusiasm of an amateur, has been able to combine thereioith, not merely the acijuired skill of the professional, but that much rarer qualifica- tion, the gift of (esthetic intuition rohich is absolutely necessary to raise the camera from the plane of mechanics to the realm of art. HEXR J ' P. PHELPS. Brook side avenue, Meiiands, .4 1 baity, N. Y.. Dec. i, iS<)2. ' For some we luved, the loveliest and the best That from his vintage rolling Time has prest, Have drunk their cup a round or two before, And one l)y one crept silently to rest." — Omar Kliayyiiiit. CONTENTS. Prelim iNAKv .... Historic Ai, .... Hon. D. U. Barnard's Oration DeSCRU'TIVE .... Tlie South Ixidjjc The Middle Ridire The North Ridye BlIiLIOGkAI'llV .... Index ..... Page i6 31 50 92 169 200 -'5 2 I 7 ILLUSl RATIONS. •• win Sri.k vc (lie Liviiiii' Amonii' the Dciul ?" I- "rontispit'cc I By permission of Erastus Dow Palmer. | Mnp (il the .\lli;in\ kui.il (\'nu'tiT\' . Paocs 12-13 Page luistcin Enlranci' . . . . . . 16 Tlie Soutlu'in (ialf ...... 24 Mrail of Con.socration Lakr . . . . 32 Lake Tawasentlia ...... 40 Alfrctl liilliiiiis Si reel 46 I From an old slcol cnj;ravin,y;. | " All tliosf fair orounds with hnisli heaulii's spread. Nature's sweet clmrms — \vc oi\c tluni tn tlic dead." 4*^ Poitrair of TTon. Daniel I). Barnartl . . 52 I From an old lithograph.] On tlu' lour, west (d" Stimmit Riil^c . . 56 Near Cvpress Walcr ..... 64 Consecration Lake ...... ;o I\)rtrait of I\e\'. liartholoiiiew 1. Weleli. 1X13. . 72 I From an old and faded ])hotogra|)h.J Portrait of I'honia^ W. ( )kon .... 76 Poitrait of I'.r.isl tis ( oniino .... 80 [From a photograph by Sieiry.] Tvasteni 1 .oilov and OlTiee ..... S6 The Chai)el 88 The Cascade ....... 90 II,H>TK.\ I II INS. KacmK I'age Ivcliojon Coiisoliny Sorrow .... g6 On Ravine Side Wa\' . . . . . .104 \'an X'eehten . . . . . . 112 Douuias L. W'liite 116 ("len. Sehuvler's Mununient . . . . 120 'I'he Any^el of the Sepulehre . . . . .128 [By permission of Erastus Dow Palmer.] ( iililiiin^-Mather . . . . . . 134 The l\oot I~amil\- \'auh . . . . .138 \Vec(l-.\l(len-l)arnes ..... 140 \'an Alst\ne . . . . . . .142 Masonie Buiial I'lat ...... 143 (ieorii'e C Cook . . . . . . .144 Daniel Mannintj . . . . . 146 n. W. Wooster 150 Western Lodge . . 152 The Angel of Soiiow . . . . . .154 Dver Lathi'ci|) ....... 162 Wilhain Appletoii . . . ■ . 166 Townsenel ....... 170 Thomas W. Oleott ...... Amasa J. Parker ...... Dr. S. B. Ward 184 Jesse C. Potts ....... 192 John \'. L. Pru\ n ...... 196 Tlie Soldiers' Plat 205 The Mills Monunicni ..... 208 The \isselier \ aidl . . . . . . 210 77 % »p i' ^s^3^ '> ) --^Jr / /' ^'^--:5^' BAW SEC tzo TV) ^>'' A - « C •) I t 23MAI ■^-^(Vv- The Eastern Entrance. [From the Troy road.] - >/fM^^^ "^-^ PRELIMINARY. nPHE custom of reverently caring for the remains of the dead, and for the places of their burial, has its oriyin deep down among the fundamental principles by which human affairs are regulated. As natural as the love of life itself is the desire to be remembered — at least, as Hamlet, with melancholv sar- casm observes, " for half a 3-ear ! " Few of us expect our names will outlive centuries : thousands upon thousands care little for epitaph, or monu- ment or posthumous fame of any degree ; but he must be something more or less than human who is not made a little happier 1)V the belief, that so long as those he loves survive him, his grave will not be wholly forsaken or neglected. Thus it is that the powerful motive of self-love prompts, in some degree, the regard which is generally felt for places of sepulchre, and the liberality with which they are embel- lished and maintained. Another feeling more creditable to human nature, because less selfish, leads us to hold the graves of our l8 Till-'. AI.UANV KIKAI. CKM K TKRV. loved (incs in such alTrrlioii and ivNTrencc as we hcstow u|u)n no other sj)ot on rarlh. Uur l)irtli-placcs, tlic honu-s of our cliiKlhooii, the scenes of carl\- pleasures and eaih' soiniws. phKcs en- (.leared in later life liv wliat we ha\e enjoxed. or made sacred l>\- what we have suffered — all have their own pecuhar associations, luit mme are so deep, so tender or so lasting, as those which cluster arounti the resting-places of oiu' dead. \'ain is the attempt to reason this sentiment out of existence. It is as oKl a^ the race: it has its hirtli in the atYeclions ; it has been nurtured \)v the ])oets of all ages, and sanctioned hv every lelioion worthv of the name. iMom time immemorial, also, it has been an incentive to iKitiiotism, and next to "God and your native land," has been ranged " tlie green graves of your sires," as a thought with which to strengthen the arm anil nerve the heart against the invader of the soil. Ot course, we know that what isde[iosited in theorave with such loving care is onl\- " an empty sea shell — one Out of whicli the pearl is gone ; " that the spirit has lied to (ioil. who gave it ; we know that what remains sium becomes terribl\- liie reverse of all that is lovely and attractive — that Mother Earth, in her great and abiding tenderness, hides from us what otherwisi' would freeze oin- souls with horror. P.KIIKl- IX Tin: RESURRECTIOX. I9 And 3'et, what mother can thus he ars^ued from her darling's grave ? She will say with Lowell : "Your logic, my friend, is perfect, Your morals most drearily true; But, since the earth clashed on he?- coffin, I keep hearing that, and not you. There's a narrow ridge in the churchyard. Would scarce stay a child in his race. But to me and my thought it is wider Than the star sown vague of space." •' I believe in the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. " The sentence falls dailv from the lips of millions, often, ])erha])s. wit hoiit thought of its real significance, hut it e.\|)resses the intellectual lielief and spiritual expectation of a \-ast number who thus avow their creed antl their religion. And it is not surprising that to those who accept the literal meaning of the words, the place where reposes the clay which is to be " raised a spiritual hodv," should possess a peculiarly sacred character ; nor that, in spite of the philosophical and sanitarv claims of crema- tion as a means of disposing of the dead, the ]M'aetice has thus far gained little favor among those who believe in a future for the human bodv. And it is not merelv a coincidence that those who express a desire to become subjects for incineration are almost without exception those who have " outgrown " the belief that anything awaits the body of a human being other than that which awaits the bodv of a beast. ^O THE Al.KAXN KL'KAl, CEM KTERV. V/'ERV carl\- in the history of the race did this sentiment lead to the estal)lishment of what we now call ceme- teries — how earlw we do not know. Of the hurial of our first parents, Adam and ll\e, there is no authentic account, although tradition, with an eve to poetical effect, places the toml) of Adam upon Calvarv. As to what was done with the lioth' of the murderetl Ahel. the sacred record is silent. Cain huilt a citv, hut what became of its dead we can only surmise; and whethei' the Hood swept away sepulchres as well as hahitations is also left to our imagination. '["he first hurial-place of which there is mention in the Bible is the eaxe of Maehpelah, which was bought i)y Abraham in which lo l)ur\- Sarah, the wife of his bosom, dead at the age of 127. She died in Kirjalh-arba, "the same is Hebron, in the land of Canaan ; and Abraham came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her." Alone and among strangers, the stricken [latriareh asked of the sons of Heth possession of a bur\ing-place among them "that I may bury my dead out of mv sight." In v.nn diil the sons of Heth offer him choice of their sepulchres ; Abraham wanted a place of his own. and selected the cave of Maehpelah, which was at the end of the field belonging to Ephron the Ilittite. And Ephron ofTered both Held anil cave to Abraham, but he would not accept the gift. So Ephron fixed the price at 400 shekels of silver which Abraham weighed to Ephron, "curnnt mone\- with the merchant." THE FIRST RURAL CEMETERY. 21 "And the field of Ephron, which was in Machpelah, whicli was before Mamre, the field and the cave which was therein, and all the trees that were in the field, that were in all the borders round about, were made sure " Unto Abraham for a possession, in the presence of the children of Heth, before all that went in at the gate of his city. "And after this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah before Mamre ; the same is Hebron in the land of Canaan. "And the field, and the cave that is therein, were made sure unto Abraham for a possession of a bur\'- ing-place b\- the sons of Heth. " Further on wc read that Sarah's son Isaac, l)cino- "com- forted after Ills mother's death," in the love he felt for his wife Rebekah, whom he hrouoht into his mother's tent ; and after Aiiraham, alreadv stricken in vears, had taken another wife, Keturah, hv whom he had si.K sons, Abraham oavc tip the o:host and was yathered to his people. " And his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron, the son of Zohar the Hittite, which is before Mamre : " The field wliich Abraliam purchased of the sons of Heth : there was Abraham buried and Sarah liis wife. " Thus, with curious attention to detail, is given the account of the purchase and establishment of this most famous of early cemeteries in which, surrounded bv " all the trees that were in the field, that were in all the borders, round about," rested not only Al)raham and Sarah, but afterwards Isaac and Rebekah, and where later, as |acob 22 rilF. ALllANV RLRAL ( KMETHRV. said on his deathbed, " I luiried Leah" ( I-Jachel. his best beloved wife dying in childbirth and beinu" buried in the wav to Ephrath, where Jacob set a pillar on her orrave). r'inaily, at his own solemn request, Jacob, third in this a^reat trio of patriarchs, was buried there, his embalmed body bcintj carried up out of Goshen accompanied bv all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his house, and all the elders of the land o{ Egypt, with chariots and horsemen, a very great com|)anv. It was a famous funeral. Notwithstanding this precedent, the descendants of Israel can not be charged with ostentation in their care for the dead, but tiiey have always had public burial grounds, and one of their tirst duties on arriving in a new countr\' was to select a sjiot for such i)ur|)ose outside the cit\" walls. That of Jerusalem was in the vallev of Kcdron. The Greeks originalh' had burial places, but ailopted from Phr\-gia tiie custom of burning the dead. The Romans practiced both burial and cremation. The ancient Egyptians provided for themselves tombs of great magnifi- cence, in which bodies were deposited after thev had been embalmed, often after they had been kept for months in the house ot which the deceased had been an inmate. The word Cemeterv : How man\' of us stop to think what it signifies ? How manv of us realize, as did Chrvsos- tom, that the ver\' name, springing from the Greek word meaning " a sleej)ing place," carries with it always an em- WHAT ITli: WdRD CF.MKTKK\- SICXIITES. 23 budinicnl ul tlie Christian hope ? " For this reason the jjlace is callcda cemetery," said the ( 1« )hlen-ni( >ul hed Bisho}), of the seventli ci-nlurw "in order lliat you mav learn that those who ha\e linisiietl their course and are htid here, are not dead hut ' sleep.' " It is said ( althouuii the authorities do not ao;ree)that the early Chiistians lirst erected their churches upon plots of ijround where were interred the remains of the holy mar- tyrs, and thus it is surmised ijrew up the custom of burial in church-yards, and in the churches themselves. The church, derivino- a considerable income in the middle aijes from liLuials, inculcated the importance of hinti' in conse- crated ground of which the church had control. As