TOMBSTONES AND INSCRIPTIONS IN THE OLD CHURCHYARD AT
YORK.
But few of these remain, and some of them are broken and illegible.
That of the first Nelson and the founder of the town is as
follows:—
"Hic jacet, spe certa resurgendi in Christo, Thomas Nelson, Generosus;
Filius Hugonis et Sariæ Nelson, de Penrith, in comitate Cumbriæ. Natus
20mo die Februarii, Anno Domini 1677. Vitæ bene gestæ finem implevit
7mo die Octobris, 1745, ætatis suæ 68."
Which is thus rendered into English:—
"Here lies, in the certain hope of being raised up in Christ, Thomas
Nelson, Gentleman; the son of Hugh and Sarah Nelson, of Penrith, in
the county of Cumberland. Born the 20th of February, 1677. He
completed a well-spent life on the 7th of October, 1745, in his sixty-eighth
year."
Adjoining this is the tomb of his son, President Nelson, whose
character has been portrayed in the first article on this parish
The inscription is as follows:—
"Here lies the body of the Honourable William Nelson, Esquire, late
President of his Majesty's Council in this Dominion; in whom the love
of man and the love of God so restrained and enforced each other, and
so invigorated the mental powers in general, as not only to defend him
from the vices and follies of his age and country, but also to render it a
matter of difficult decision in what part of laudable conduct he most excelled,—whether
in the tender and endearing accomplishments of domestic
life, or in the more arduous duties of a wider circuit,—whether as a
neighbour, a gentleman, or a magistrate,—whether in the graces of hospitality
or piety. Reader, if you feel the spirit of that exalted ardour
which aspires to the felicity of conscious virtue, animated by those consolations
and divine admonitions, perform the task and expect the distinction
of the righteous man. He died the 19th of November, Anno
Domini 1772, aged 61."
The latter part of this epitaph savours much of the language of
the pulpit in that day. The epitaph was probably written by
President Camm.
Very near to these tombstones General Thomas Nelson was
buried; but to this day not even a rough headstone marks the
spot, and no hillock is to be seen; and when one or two aged members
of the family are gone, there will be none left to point out the
place, when the gratitude of his country, or the filial piety of his
descendants, which has been too long waiting the action of the
former, desires to raise some humble monument to the most generous
and self-sacrificing of American patriots.[63]
The only other inscriptions which could be deciphered were
those of Abraham Archer, who died in 1752, aged sixty-two; of
Susannah Reignolds, daughter of William Rojers, who died in
1768, aged sixty; and of Jane Frank, the daughter of Mr. William
Routh, of Kisklington, in Yorkshire. She died on her passage
at sea, April 26, and was interred May 28, 1753, aged twenty-eight
years. She was doubtless the wife of that pious man, Mr.
Frank, of whom we have written as the friend and correspondent
of the Rev. Mr. Shield and others in York and Williamsburg.
