Skip to main content

Gone Before Us, O Our Brother

By
A. J. Paris
Son of Dr. J. R. & Dorothy A. Paris
Died Nov 27, 1886

He was laid to rest in Hillcrest Cemetery; Reynolds, Taylor County, Georgia.

Census records suggest A. J.'s full name was Andrew Jackson Paris. He was the son of a local dentist, Dr. Jackson Paris. An obituary states A. J. passed away after suffering through a very long illness.


The back of A. J.'s urn topped, pedestal tombstone displays the following epitaph:
OUR
BROTHER JACK
Gone before us, O our brother,
To the spirit land!
Vainly look we for another
In thy place to stand.

This epitaph is from a poem entitled "Lines on the Death of S. Oliver Torrey" by John Greenleaf Whittier. Wikisource describes Mr. Whittier as "an American Quaker poet and advocate of the abolition of slavery in the United States." S. Oliver Torrey was secretary of the Boston Young Men's Anti-Slavery Society.1

While the entire poem is linked above, I will include the first and last stanzas here.

Gone before us, O our brother,
To the spirit-land!
Vainly look we for another
In thy place to stand.
Who shall offer youth and beauty
On the wasting shrine
Of a stern and lofty duty,
With a faith like thine?...

...Peace be with thee, O our brother,
In the spirit-land
Vainly look we for another
In thy place to stand.
Unto Truth and Freedom giving
All thy early powers,
Be thy virtues with the living,
And thy spirit ours!

As you can see, Mr. A. J. Paris was greatly loved. An obituary from the Macon Weekly Telegraph, 4 December 1886 (viewed online at GenealogyBank) also shows this:

"Reynolds -- Death of Mr. A. J. Paris.
REYNOLDS, December 3, -- Mr. A. J. Paris, after a severe illness of eight weeks, died on Saturday night last at his father's residence in Reynolds. He had the best of attention from skilled physicians and kind nursing from loving hands and fond hearts who doted on him. No young man in the town and community would be so much missed. He had an extensive acquaintance and a great many friends who will regret to learn of his untimely death. The grief stricken family has the sympathy of the entire community."

Footnote:
1. Project Gutenberg EBook, Personal Poems, by Whittier, Complete Volume IV, The Works of Whittier: Personal Poems
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Rocks, Rocks, and More Rocks

By
Why do people put rocks on grave stones? Some time ago, I learned that the rocks signified a visitor. That is true enough, but I decided to learn a little more about the custom and share my findings with you. Putting rocks on tombstones is most often described as a Jewish custom. There are many "Ask a Rabbi" columns out there, but I did not find one that knew for sure where the custom originated. They all agreed, however, that a rock symbolized a visitor and when put on a tombstone said, "I remember you." I also read that some people pick up a rock wherever they are when they think of a person that has passed. Then, the next time they visit the grave, they place the rock to say, "I wish you were here." Rabbi Shraga Simmons offers a deeper meaning: "We are taught that it is an act of ultimate kindness and respect to bury someone and place a marker at the site. After a person is buried, of course, we can no longer participate in burying them. H
13 comments
Read more

Southern Cross of Honor

By
I'm late to this discussion, but it's one I'd like to join. :-) Terry Thornton at The Graveyard Rabbit of the Hill Country started with Grave Marker Symbols: The Southern Cross of Honor and UCV (link no longer available). Judith Shubert at The Graveyard Rabbit of the Covered Bridges continued with Hood County Texas: C.S.A. Veterans & Southern Cross of Honor Symbol . [UPDATE, 1 June 2009: Judith has moved this post to the blog, Cemeteries with Texas Ties . The link has been corrected to reflect this move. You may also link to her article via her nice comment on this post.] Wikipedia states: The Southern Cross of Honor was a military decoration meant to honor the officers, noncommissioned officers, and privates for their valor in the armed forces of the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War. It was formally approved by the Congress of the Confederate States on October 13, 1862, and was originally intended to be on par with the Union Arm
25 comments
Read more

Thursday Link Love: EyeWitness To History

By
Yesterday, a link was added to the Genealogy Research Resources Group at Diigo. The link was to the website titled EyeWitness to History.com: History through the eyes of those who lived it . It's a great site, and I encourage all to visit it. Here are several items I found while snooping around. - Inside a Nazi Death Camp, 1944 : "Hitler established the first concentration camp soon after he came to power in 1933. The system grew to include about 100 camps divided into two types: concentration camps for slave labor in nearby factories and death camps for the systematic extermination of "undesirables" including Jews, Gypsies, homosexuals, the mentally retarded and others." - Crash of the Hindenburg, 1937 : "Radio reporter Herbert Morrison, sent to cover the airship's arrival, watched in horror. His eye witness description of the disaster was the first coast-to-coast radio broadcast and has become a classic piece of audio history." [You ca
1 comment
Read more




SouthernGraves.blogspot.com

The hand of the Lord came upon me and brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley; and it was full of bones. Then He caused me to pass by them all around, and behold, there were very many in the open valley; and indeed they were very dry. And He said to me, "Son of man, can these bones live?"

So I answered, "O Lord God, You know."

Again He said to me, "Prophesy to these bones, and say to them, 'O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord!' Thus says the Lord God to these bones: 'Surely I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live...'" (Ezekiel 37:1-5, NKJV)