A Young Mother and Her Infant Daughter

Rosehill Cemetery, Chicago, Illinois

Rosehill Cemetery, Chicago, Illinois

Frances M. Pearce

Born June 29, 1835

Died 1854

Second wife of Horatio Odell Stone

 

Frances Pearce Stone

Born May 1854

Died September 1854

In the early 19th Century the grim images of winged skulls, skeletons, snuffed candles, and gravedigger’s equipment which spoke, in part, to the fragility and brevity of life gave way to more sentimental images of willow trees, flowers of all kinds, and urns.  As the century progressed funerary sculpture and imagery became more ornate and more sentimental often memorializing deceased children in stone.

In the Rosehill Cemetery at Chicago, Illinois, a poignant reminder of the real risks of childbearing are all too clear in the monument that was carved for Frances M. Pearce Stone, the young wife of Horatio Odell Stone, and her infant daughter, Frances Pearce Stone, who died a scant four months after her mother.

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3 Responses to A Young Mother and Her Infant Daughter

  1. Flora I. Ayers says:

    Century the grim images of winged skulls, skeletons, snuffed candles, and gravedigger’s equipment which spoke, in part, to the fragility and brevity of life gave way to more sentimental images of willow trees, flowers of all kinds, and urns. As the century progressed funerary sculpture and imagery became more ornate and more sentimental often memorializing deceased children in stone.

  2. Tina M Proctor says:

    This story touched my heart deeply can’t imagine losing my young infant child. It appears that she may have mourned herself to death. I pray they both are resting in peace together, Beautiful sculpture.

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