So far I have:
Carvers with stones in the Old North Burying
Ground of Providence, RI
Carvers found in the Stephentown,
Rensselaer Co., NY cemeteries
Carvers signatures found
on stones in the Old North Burying Ground, Providence,
RI
Compiled by Daniel H. Weiskotten
(a partial list only, of early 19th century slate, sandstone shale
or schist stones - a large portion of the cemetery has not been investigated)
Most of these carvers, especially the several generations of Tingleys
and Franklin Cooley, were located in Providence. Thomas Tingley,
the ancestor of the Tingley carvers listed here, worked at an earlier date
in nearby Attleboro, MA. J. French identified himself as being from
"Paw." which indicates Pawtucket, RI, a few miles from Providence.
Others could not be placed as to location.
Bolles
"Bolles" 1813
"Bolles, Sc." 1825
- Signed stones of Joseph Dexter (1813) and Mary Dexter (1825).
- Two of stones of this shop were found, both fine shale with square tops and no decoration
- No other information is known about Bolles
Franklin Cooley
"Cooley & Fox" (in ornamental curved form) 1809
"F. Cooley" 1816, 1818, 1826, 1827,
1832, 1846
"F. C." 1826
"[COOLEY]" 1833
"Cooley" 1837
- Cooley signed stones of Sally Martin (1809), Sabra Jenks (1816), Martha Woods (1818), Elizabeth Brownell (1826), Amanda Thornton (1826), Diana E. Thornton (1827), Andrew Jackson Carpenter (1832), Anna L. Cushing (1833), Mary Elizabeth Pulen (1837), and Cynthia Cushman (1846(.
- Franklin Cooley is listed in the 1836-1837 Providence City Directory as a dealer in "Marble & Soapstone" located at 17 Canal (St.) and Friendship (St.)
- He may be the same Franklin Cooley who was married 11/2/1809 to Abigail Harwood, daughter of John Harwood, Jr., all of Providence. (See "Vital Records of Rhode Island" Vol. 14, page 603.)
- Cooley stones are usually in a hard fine slate but course slate is also seen. The shapes are usually square-topped but examples of slightly rounded and full round with short square corners are also found. Decoration ranges from at least one that is undecoratedplain, simple almost incised urns and to detailed urns with willows.
- I do not know who Fox is.
J.J. French
"J. French, Paw." 1847
- French signed a large fine-grained dark slate stone for Ichabud Walling (died 1847). The stone has a square top, with the decoration consisting of a circle with and urn and willow within. The decoration is primarily incised due to the hardness of the stone.
- This may be the same carver that signed a stone "J.J.F." for Benajah Williams (died 1823) and buried in the Williams Family Burying Ground in Roger Williams Park in Providence. It also has a square top but no decoration.
Samuel, Silvanus (Sylvanus), Samel Jr. and Edmund W. Tingley
"Tingley" 1808, 1829, 1831, 1833, 1838
"S.T., Sc." 1811
"TINGLEY" 1823, 1824, 1872*
"TINGLEY, BRO'S." 1832/1840
"S. Tingley & Sons" 1840, 1844
"S. Tingley, Jr." 1842
- The Tingleys signed stones of Anna Randall (1808), Capt. Thomas Green (1811), Thomas Wilbour (1823), Waity Wilbour (1824), Polly Aldrich (1829), Sarah Chappel (1831), Mehitable & Edward Thurber (1832/1840), William Brown Martin (1833), Gilbert S. Austin (1838), Joseph Randall (1840), Marcy Randall (1842), Elihu Randall (1844), Mowry Randall (1872*).
- Dozens of stones that are clearly by the Tingleys, as seen by their distinctive urn form, are found throughout this cemetery but I did not note the unsigned markers.
- The Tingleys represented in the signed stones of Old North are from a long line of Attleboro and Providence carvers, said to begin with Thomas Tingley (1667-1724), who built a house in nearby Attleboro, MA, in 1723.
-
Samuel Tingley (1752-1846) was the son of Samuel Tingley (1689-1756) who
was also a
"marble cutter." He was born in Attleboro, where his two carver-children
were also born = Silvanus (1782-1854) and Samuel (1785-1869) (from
a family genealogy page). - Thomas Tingley (1732-1809), perhaps the brother of Samuel Tingley, was a carver in Attleboro, and the stone of his wife, Elizabeth (c.1770-1797, buried Newell Cemetery, Attleboro), has the distinctive squat and flared urn of the later Tingley carvers (see image to the right or go to an outside page showing the whole stone).
- The earliest Tingley stones (1808-1842) have an ogee form, usually with their finely carved and distinctively shaped squat and flared urn and with flowers in the shoulder knobs. Later Tingley stones (1832/1840-1872*) tend to be square topped without decoration. Other forms include the ogee top with a circle around a willow and monument (1823, 1824).
- The 1836-1837 Providence City Directory lists three Tingleys as "stone-cutters." Samuel Jr. was located at "Hydraulion, 18 Benefit," and Sylvanus Tingley and Edward W. Tingley were located at "83 and 68 S. Main." I also found two other men, John Taber, Owen McKenna, listed as stone cutters at 83 and 68 South Main Street.
Other carvers signatures found in the Old North Cemetery,
Providence, RI (carved in other materials)
"A.T. Farnham" 1863 marble
"[MUMFORD.]" 1854 marble
"TINGLEY" 1836 marble
"S. Tingley & Son" on several marbles of 1850s
and 1860s (I did not take notes on these)
"Toye & Holmes" 1883 Granite
Carvers
found in the Stephentown, Rensselaer Co., NY
cemeteries
abstracted from Elizabeth W. McClave's 1990 Epitaphs In The Only
Stephentown on Earth. Stephentown Historical Society, Stephentown,
NY
Cut by Adamson, Pittsfield (1808)
Roger Booth, Bennington VT. (1793)
A.E. Belden, Pittsfield (1841)
H. & S. Clark (1852)
Crippen, Lansboro (1840)
Gibson (1876)
Grethen Memorials of Lansingburgh (1979)
J.W. Leeson, Pittsfield (1845)
By W.D.B. Linn (1832)
D. Marble, Pittsfield (1840)
P.D. Scott, Lanesboro (1852)
T.F.P. & A.L. Scott, Lanesboro, Mass. (1850)
R. Smith (1823-1850)
R. Smith, New Lebanon (1813-1814)
E.M. Tudor, Fecit (1824)
Volk, Pittsfield (1842)
J.Volk (1852)
J.J. Young, Troy (1863)
J.J. Young, 5th Street, Troy (1864-1871)
J.J. Young, 198 5th Street, Troy (1870)
W.H. Young, Troy (1867-1868)
Young & Son, Troy (1878)