Wednesday, March 4, 2015

Headstone tells sad story of my cousins

Yesterday a friend of mine posted a photo of this headstone on her Facebook page because she has a very special love for and interest in cemeteries. 
When I read that it was the headstone of "Stoddard Children, 1786, Winchenden, Massachusetts" it piqued my curiosity. I have ancestors from Massachusetts in that time period. With some poking around on FamilySearch.org, Ancestry.com and my own RootsMagic database, I found my connection to the children buried here.

These children of David and Sybil (Leavitt) Stoddard are
  • Noah, b. 4 Sep 1777, d. 2 Jan 1786 (8 yrs, 3 mo, 29 days)
  • Jotham, b. 25 Jun 1779, d. 7 Jan 1786 (6 yrs, 3 days)
  • Sula, b. 16 Feb 1782, d. 3 Jan 1786 (3 yrs, 10 mos, 18 days 
  • Rachel, b. 12 Oct 1784, d. 2 Jan, 1786 (1 yr, 2 mos, 21 days)

They're buried in the Old Centre Burial Ground, Winchendon, Worcester, Massachusetts. I just can't imagine the grief the parents felt at losing four of their children within those five days, and the fatigue and exhaustion they must have felt after taking care of such small and young dying children. My research shows that the father and mother were about 44 years old, surviving children Abraham was 18, Joanna was 16, Sibyl was 13, David  was 11 and Rebecca was 7. The grief was felt by so many in the family.

This chart shows how I'm related to this family.  

I'm a 4th cousin 5 generations removed of each of these children. My 8th great grandparents John Leavitt and Sarah Gilman Leavitt were the 3rd great grandparents of the Stoddard children. David lived another 32 years after the deaths of these children and Sybil, their mother, lived another 40 years. 

I'm glad the picture of the childrens' headstone was shared on Facebook so this came to my attention, and I'm happy to have more information about distant cousins, but it sure saddens me to learn of the tragedy this family endured. 

4 comments:

Pflughoeft said...

As always, a wonderful but sad story. So amazing what the internet and FaceBook offers to us in our world today...a connection that may not have been made. How wonderful that this beautiful stone now has a story to go along with it...a sad story for the family at that time, a happy story now that these 4 children have found a place in history with your family tree as well. It's such a small world!!!

paulettepoe said...

Measles perhaps or house fire? do you know the reason for their deaths so close together?
twodrtysox@hotmail.com

Paulette Poe I am a genealogist and love history.

WHCC said...

I am currently running a tour in this cemetery, I was shocked to sign on to Pinterest and see this stone. It is quite frankly the most beautiful stone on the whole ground. Thanks for sharing the story of your family!

Lydia said...

I found this blog post while searching for more information on the Stoddard family and this gravestone. It's very interesting that you're related to this family.

I can't help but to wonder what the cause of death for these poor children was. There were several diseases circulating back then that were known to sometimes kill multiple members of the same household.

May Noah, Jotham, Sula, and Rachel rest in peace.