Harvest of souls

[pgriz]

This Canadian Thanksgiving weekend, we went to reunite with my wife’s family near Toronto, and stayed at my mother-in-law’s place in the country. Nearby is an old cementary where my wife decided to look for the marker of one of our extended relatives. I wandered among the old headstones, and was surprised how many there were of children. The fields behind the cementary were bare, with the harvest completed. I was struck by the parallels of the harvest – we are born, we live, and we die. The fruit of our lives are our achievements, our children, and our influence on the world around us. For some of us, life is both short, and hard, as could be seen from the headstones we found there.

Victoria County, Ontario –Matilda Sophia was 2 years and 4 days old, when she died in July 16, 1865. Her parents continued to have children. She had two brothers, Silas Herbert and Nelson Franklin, who died 9 days apart, aged 5 years and seven months, and 7 years and 10 months, in November 13, 1877 and November 22, 1877, and were buried next to their older sister. Their headstones are on the left and right of the first image.

There were a number of other headstones marking the death of children and young adults. But not all were young. John Minthorn died December 17, 1859 aged 90 years. He was born in 1769. According to the genealogical records, he was born in Hartford County, Connecticut, and was the great-grandfather of US president Herbert Hoover. Given that life expectancy was less than 60 years of age at the time, he lived an amazingly long life.



Comments welcome, as usual. These are more in the nature of a record than artistic, but if you wish to critique, please feel welcome to do so.

For those who care about such things, both images have fill flash of - 1 1/3 compensation to light up the face of the headstones which were in the shadows.

 

[Designer]

The death of children was not at all unusual in those days.

 

[terri]

Cemeteries have a draw for many reasons, don't they? Historical information like this can be one of them.

Hard, hard times back then. Most families were rural, and having children was a way to make sure there would be help around the farm. Illness and disease that we barely think about these days wiped out so many in the past.

I like that you used the fill flash, it definitely helped. This looks like a beautiful place!

 

[pgriz]

Thanks Terri. Designer, you are right. My mother-in-law was one of 8 kids, my father-in-law was one of 13. Theirs was the first generation when the majority of the kids actually reached adulthood. Before that, the death rates, especially for the younger ones, was apparently much higher. The rate of death of the mother during child-birth was much higher as well. Very sobering to consider how tenuous life was before the modern times. I do indeed feel fortunate that we live when we do, despite the political issues of the day.