The Fascinating Grave of Mary Chauncy Sprague's Journal of Maine History Vol. 6 August September October 1918 No. 2 page 57-60 The Fascinating Grave of Mary Chauncy (By JUSTIN HENRY SHAW) And all about the wild birds flit and call, And but a stone's throw southward, the blue sea Rolls sparkling in and sings incessantly. Lovely as any dream the peaceful place. -Celia Thaxter, "In Kittery Churchyard". THE EPITAPH: In this dark, silent Mansion of the Dead, A lovely Mother, and sweet Babe, are laid. Of ev'ry Virtue of her Sex possest, She charm'd the World, and made a Husband blest. Of such a Wife, O righteous Heaven, bereft, What joy for me, what joy on Earth, is left? Still, from my inmost Soul, the Groans arise, Still flow the Sorrows, ceaseless from my Eyes. But why these Sorrows, so profusely shed? They may add to but ne'er can raise the Dead. I soon shall follow the same dreary Way, That leads, and opens, to the Coasts of Day, There clasp them both, upon the happy Shore, And Bliss shall join, nor Death shall part us more. Mary Chauncy, Wife of Charles Chauncy, and Daughter to the Honble Richard Cutt Esqr. died April 23d. 1758, in the 24th. Year of her Age, with her Infant Son Charles Chauncy. The quiet isolated old Cutts cemetery in Kittery Point is a part of the large, coast-bound farm of Mr. John Thaxter, on Cutts- Dartington, improperly and commonly called Cutts Island; and the farm of Mr. Thaxter is a part of the valuable estate that has conic down from Captain Francis Champernowne, through the Cutts. Captain Francis Champernowne married the widow of Robert Cutt of Kittery, sometime subsequent to 1675. By his will, Captain Champernowne left the greater part of his estate in Kittery to her, and her children, Mary, Bridget, Sarah, Elizabeth and Robert Cutt. Cutt, also had left a considerable fortune for those days, inventoried at L890. Mr. Thaxter's farm residence is on the exact site of Captain Champernowne's "Upper House." Stackpole (page 334) says that Richard Cutt (brother to Robert) was a major, justice, councilor, selectman .and deacon, one of the most promi- nent men of his time and place. He had a luxurious and hospitable resi- dence on Cutts Island On a stone that forms a part of the right gateway wall of this ancient resting place, is the following inscription: Capt. Francis Champernowne Born 1614 Died 1687 Many of the Cutts Family 1687-1873 Captain Champernowne's grave is covered by a cairn, perhaps the only memorial or distinguished feature of this kind in Kittery. The poet, John Albee, has written of the spot, and his verse was included by Longfellow in the second volume of "Poems and Places-New England." John Elwyn of Portsmouth has also contributed lines on this grave. Mrs. Thaxter's verses are of course much better known. An article "The New England Genealogical and Antiquarian Register" (July 1848) Vol. II, page 276, entitled Notices of the Cutts Family, says: "Hon. Richard Cutts, Esq., and twenty-one others are buried in this cemetery. "But the abominable way in which the Chauncy epitaph has been given in that article makes one hesitate to quote any particular part of what has been printed under that head. Close by the grave of Champernowne, and within a few feet of his historic cairn, is undoubtedly the most interesting memorial in the town. It marks the grave of Mary Chauncy, pictured herewith. Mary Chauncy's stone is the only one that stands of all that have been put up; some of them were standing within the recollection, of the present generation. But for a number of years the trees and vines were thick, and the place was quite forgot, and the fallen stones have now entirely disappeared. Once, this stone had also fallen over, but it was erected again by Mr. Thaxter. There are touches of moss and lichens and rust on it, but the old site is in a very fine state of preservation. Every letter of the verse is care- fully carved, and the italics are perfectly formed and legible .One wonders who the ancient artist was. He followed well the copy for the lines. The words given here are an actual copy of the stone, carefully made and verified in every respect to preserve their great literary beauty. The verse tells by natural inference the story of a maternal trage- dy on that long past April day. It was here on Cutts-Darting-ton that Chauncy probably met the beautiful Mary and lived with her, and it was here also at the "luxurious and hospitable" Cutt home that she probably died. One can only imagine the possibilities that may have been the cause of her suffering and death, at her early age, with her child, and we deplore the lack of saving medical skill. One cannot doubt that the lines are the composition of the hus- band, Charles Chauncy. They are unmistakably also a part of the sad story of his own life, one of the strange biographies in the town. He was perhaps the most scholarly man in Kittery at that time. Mr. Brewster (in his "Ramble's") has given us the substantial and interesting facts of the family, and recollections of Charles in Ports- mouth, where he later lived, and died. He was the great-grandson of Charles Chauncy, second president of Harvard College, and after studying theology and breaking down in mental health, he came to Kittery Point and entered the office, of his uncle, Sir William Pepperrell, He was a graduate Harvard himself ; but more than this, he was evidently a scholar by nature. In spite, of the malady which seems to have lurked within him and to have been transmitted, the man himself was ap- parently of the finer sort, and had made the most of the better thoughts of his time, and, he had probably struggled to keep his own mental health. He survived Mary by fifty-one years, (almost a lifetime) and became the father of thirteen children, having married Joanna Gerrish of Gerrish-Dartington only two years after Mary's untimely death. Mrs. Thaxter understood the, possibility of this, for in her poem she also said: Doubtless he found another mate before He followed Mary to, the happy shore.- The first son of this second union was also called Charles, who at sixteen years of age became insane and continued so until a week before his death at twenty-eight. This boy is buried in another cemetery at Kittery Point. The lines on this boy's stone show also that in spite of what must have been a great grief to his father, it was splendidly overcome by the finer considerations of an affection- ate fatherly nature." Their fourth son, Samuel, who became a sea captain, committed suicide; and the son of this captain, who was also named Charles, died in the insane retreat of -that time at Con- cord, N. H. But one never tires of the changeless, quiet features of that little round face, carved so many years ago out of the cold, blue slate. The classic braid and circle of cherubic hair, and the academic spread of the little wings that brood above the words, secluded and still, complete an epitaph, which one may visit again and again, and each time find something of fresh, interest to interpret or only wonder at, in the history of Kittery. And Charles Chauncy does not even rest beside her in this quiet old place, but is buried in Cotton's cemetery in Portsmouth. (c) 1998 Courtesy of the Androscoggin Historical Society ************************************************* * * * * NOTICE: Printing the files within by non-commercial individuals and libraries is encouraged, as long as all notices and submitter information is included. Any other use, including copying files to other sites requires permission from the submitters PRIOR to uploading to any other sites. 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