RHODY LIFE

Keeping close to loved ones lost

Posted 3/4/21

By KELLY SULLIVAN Before the days of large community cemeteries and vehicles that could travel 60 miles in an hour's time, people who relocated often had to sacrifice ever visiting the graves of their loved ones again. The deceased were buried in

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RHODY LIFE

Keeping close to loved ones lost

Posted

Before the days of large community cemeteries and vehicles that could travel 60 miles in an hour’s time, people who relocated often had to sacrifice ever visiting the graves of their loved ones again.

The deceased were buried in backyards or small graveyards, left far behind when families moved miles away and the only mode of transportation was a trusty horse and carriage. But there were a few who refused to move on without their loved ones being nearby.

George Wait Remington was born in Exeter in 1817. At the age of 22, he married Olive Harding Dexter and the couple settled in the village of Arkwright. Their first child, a son named William Henry Remington, died on Aug. 8, 1842, at the age of 17 months and was buried close to the Arkwright schoolhouse.

The births of four more children followed – George in 1843, Julia in 1846, and twin girls Mary and Sarah in 1848. The family later moved to Smithfield, and it was decided to take up the remains of William and remove them to Oakland Cemetery in Providence. Despite the fact that 21 years had passed, the child’s body was found to be in a good state of preservation.

By 1870, George and his wife had left Smithfield and his job as a weaver at a cotton mill and gone on to North Providence, where he was employed as a cotton mill superintendent. Within the next 10 years, the couple returned to Exeter, where George took up farming the land and inventing tools. In 1878, he patented an adjustable carriage wrench which was manufactured for sale by Reed and Company of Connecticut.

On March 1, 1896, Olive died at the age of 78. She was buried in Chestnut Hill Cemetery in Exeter, not far from the Remington house. Soon, William’s body would be exhumed for a second time.

As his son had been buried for 55 years, George didn’t expect that they would discover a great deal of remains to move from Providence to Exeter. However, once again, the body was in a better state than what was prepared for and, that November, it was taken to Chestnut Hill Cemetery and interred beside Olive. Later that month, George went and set a headstone for his son there.

George remained living in Exeter, working as a house carpenter and residing with his daughter Julia and her husband. On Aug. 24, 1902, he died at the age of 85. He took his place beside his wife and son in the rural Exeter cemetery. With mother, father and child reunited in hallowed ground, William had at last arrived at his final resting place.

Kelly Sullivan is a Rhode Island columnist, lecturer and author.

Back in the Day, burials

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