Death in Early New England

Rites, Rituals and Remembrance

Robert A. Geake

• Publisher: The History Press
• Year: 2023
• Print ISBN:
  9781467154789
• eBook ISBN:
  9781439678466
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Early American History
• Index: History

Death in early New England came early and often during those harsh first decades of settlement. Epidemics, hunger, accidents and childbirth contributed to a heavy toll in New England. Disease in some cases erased entire families, and almost always affected the majority of individuals in the communities. For most families, death was still a private affair. Traditions brought over with European customs and others that were strictly American were eventually interwoven, and these ceremonies, tokens and portraits of remembrance became part of these rites and rituals of mourning. Other forms of remembrance were carved into stone with heart-wrung epitaphs, the cause of death and brief biographies. Burial sites themselves evolved from family plots and church graveyards to public, garden-like cemeteries. Historian Robert A. Geake explores the development of rites and rituals of death in this New World.

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Half Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Preface
• 1. The Law in Early New England, Capital Crimes and Punishment by Death
• 2. Early Cases of Murder and the Passion for Public Executions
• 3. Unfortunate Ends: Early Inquiries into Causes of Death, Notifications, Early Obituaries
• 4. Unsound Endings: Strange Disappearances, Ghostly Sightings, Tales Both Tall and True
• 5. Rituals of Remembrance: Funeral Rites, Tokens and Memorials, the Burial Place
• 6. Early Gravestones and the Men who Carved Them
• 7. Those Lost to Memory: Death on the Poor Farm, Urban Indigents and Common Burial Grounds
• 8. Epitaphs
• Notes
• About the Author