Detail of Thomas’ gravestone
In Princeton Massachusetts there is a beautiful old cemetery with the earliest gravestones of the inhabitants of the town. Right in the midst of it are three gravestones for enslaved people. They are finely carved gravestones that were not inexpensive at the time they were made, right in the midst of the Revolutionary war.
Thomas’ gravestone clearly depicts a traditional soul effigy which is clearly bald. That combined with his age of 89 gives the strong suggestion that Thomas was also bald.
The Gill family owned at least 4 slaves and three of their gravestones are located here, in the midst of many members of the Gill family. Often burials for enslaved and free blacks were in segregated parts of the cemetery which makes the location of these stones notable. All of my information of these individuals and the Gill family is based on the amazing research of Glenn Knoblock in his important book African American Historic Burial Grounds and Gravesites of New England It is truly a life-changing book that I would recommend to anyone interested in the history of slavery in New England and what we can understand about it from gravestones.
Detail of Flova’s (also called Flora) stone. This is a typical soul-effigy design that you can find on the gravestones of white people from this time and place but it is clearly a woman’s face which makes it just subtly personal.
All three gravestones clearly communicate the status of Thomas, Flova and Nero as slaves by using the word servant (or “Servan”) to euphemistically soften the nature of the relationship. Each of these stones uses the word “Negro” and prominently mentions the status of their owner which further emphasizes the race and status in rural New England society of the people buried here. These monuments tell us as much about the people who erected them as the people whom they memorialize.
Detail from the gravestone believed to be for Nero. (Knoblock, pg 203)
Unfortunately the text and top of this gravestone has been lost. There is still something incredibly powerful about its presence.
These gravestones are such rare and important testimonials to the lives of enslaved people in rural New England. The history of slavery in New England is largely unknown and unscrutinized by most people who live in New England. These gravestones are for three of roughly 5,000 black people living in Massachusetts at the time. If you would like to visit these graves they are in Princeton, MA, in the Meetinghouse Cemetery on Mountain Rd.
Even when I am in a rush I like to do a drawing of a gravestone I am studying. It helps me to observe the carving details more carefully and specifically. I always notice a million things I would not notice. You just look differently when you are drawing, and slow down, like reading aloud instead of reading in your head.
When slowing down to draw these carvings I really noticed the flourishes in the lettering. As well as the misspelling and mistakes. I didn’t include the mistakes in the drawing, but there is a faint but rubbed out “d” just following “who” in this carving, the word “died” was begun too close to the previous word and then rubbed out. You can see it in the photo above.