In a New England Graveyard - poetry partly decoded

 

Milicent's poem in the September 1880 Californian 
sparked a search for its meaning.
"Memento Mori"

Unless you know some backstory, it's just a moody poem. 

Someone once told me "I can never understand the Shinn's writing." 

That's poetry for you. You have to figure out the meaning. It shouldn't be easy.





And also by the way, "Memento Mori" ("Remember you will die").

Memento Mori: Death as a Tool (For Writers)

Once you know a little bit or a lot about the Shinn family you can answer some of these questions:

  1. Where was this New England Graveyard?
  2. Who was buried here in 1680 two hundred years ago?
  3. What is the "Memento mori" arch? And what does it have to do with the poem?
  4. "Of later saints"? Who?
  5. "Mart of gold" San Francisco???
  6. Was there a graveyard in SF in 1880 that still exists today?
  7. Was there a graveyard with a stark lone cross? (is it the Dirty Harry cross?)
  8. Is this poem contrasting the small New England town cemetery with the huge Lone Mountain Cemetery in SF? Contrasting the small idyllic Connecticut town with the wild-pulsed city of San Francisco?

FIRST HALF of the poem, reviewed

IN A NEW ENGLAND GRAVEYARD. 

Beside these crumbling stones-where saints of old 
Were laid to rest two hundred years ago, 
And where the quaint, still village, nestled low, 
Lives gently 'mid its elms, and seems to hold
In thought the warning o'er this archway told,
"Memento mori"-where the feet have trod

from Findagrave "Ancient Burying Ground, Old Farmington Cemetery"
Note that the arch says "Memento Mori"
(Latin for "Remember that you have to die")
The gate was erected in the 1840s.

First some family background

In 1880 Milicent was doing what? She graduated from UCB in 1880. She took some time off from school when money was tight and her sister died in 1878. Some "Lucy Letters" cover this time. Will check those. 

Her graduation class was supposed to be 1879 and she actually graduated in 1880. She worked for the Californian magazine (around 1880) which is where this poem appears in 1880.

Significant deaths in the family in 1878

In 1878 there were two deaths in the family - Milicent's beloved older sister Annie died at age 21 in January 1878 from a long illness. She was buried in the family graveyard on the Shinn Ranch. Her uncle, Dr. Joseph W. Clark (AKA Uncle Dr.), died in San Francisco later that year in December 1878. He was buried in the Lone Mountain Cemetery in San Francisco. That is a lot of deaths in one year.

Uncle Dr. was the first Clark family member to come to California in 1850 across the plains. He and his partner and brother-in-law, Gill, set up a mercantile in the gold fields of Georgetown. Uncle Dr. later settled in San Francisco. According to his daughter, Lue Tichenor, Uncle Dr. and partners arranged for the purchase of the land where Lucy (Clark) and James Shinn settled in 1856 with their children Charles and Annie. (see references).

Milicent visited Farmington, Connecticut in 1879, the year after her dear sister and uncle died. Why Farmington?  Her mother Lucy Ellen Clark, Uncle Dr. Joseph W. Clark, and their siblings grew up in Farmington, Connecticut. What relatives were there who they visited, dead and alive? [TBD]



SECOND HALF of the poem, reviewed

Of later saints, akin to these in blood-
I think of their rest by the mart of gold,
The wild-pulsed city that the sea-winds beat,
Where, on its bare, round hill uplifted high,
Far-seen from beating seas and eager street,
Watching the graves where alien thousands lie,
A stark, lone cross-the dead about its feet
Lifts its white protest to the windy sky.

The Second Half starts "Of later saints, akin to these in blood" must refer to the kin of those from the East - in other words, Uncle Dr. Joseph Clark.

The "mart of gold"? San Francisco? the "wild-pulsed city that the sea-winds beat." San Francisco.

Did the Lone Mountain cemetery have "a stark lone cross" watching the graves?

There is a large cross up there, looking very stark and alone!
Could this be seen from Lone Mountain Cemetery?


"Watching the graves where alien thousands lie" - all of the Argonauts who came for the gold - emigrants and immigrants from everywhere, East coast US, Chinese, Japanese, Europe... They were all aliens, every one of them. Perhaps the emigrants did not consider themselves aliens because they were Americans, but certainly the native Americans did.

So what were the cemeteries like in the late 1870s? Can we find out more about the one with the Lone Cross?

The FoundSF "Old Cemeteries in SF" walking tour talks about all of the cemeteries and where they all moved - as the living "wild pulsed" people wanted the space made for the dead. Watch it! Fascinating!

from wikipedia By Isaiah West Taber

Still Wondering About Dirty Harry's Cross?

FoundSF again has the answer. I guess not, but that certainly has a very interesting history! It is on top of Mt. Davidson where you can see a long distance on a clear day.

So what does this poem mean - to me?

For two hundred years, the Clark family ancestors lived and died in the same pastoral spot in Connecticut. The town was small and the cemetery was small. The Clark family came to California, starting in 1850, to make a better life. Here in San Francisco lies Uncle Dr. among so many others who came to make their fortunes and a better life for their families. There is a sadness of the distance from the ancestral grounds, a bit of homesickness that Milicent must feel for her Uncle. Milicent, being a California-born woman might not have felt that until she visited Connecticut and made the connection with her living relatives and ancestors in the cemetery?

References

Clark Family









Cemetery in Farmington

Graves of Clark family in SF

Cemeteries in SF 











A parting word about time

Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana

‘Still life with a skull’ by Philip de Champagne.












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