Friends of Oak Grove Cemetery » Granite Industry

Alexander Lawson & T. Richard Kessell

administrator — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 14:59:18 +0000

Fall River rose granite

F.O.G. received an email from a relative of Nicholas Kessell, a Fall River stone cutter who worked with the T. Richard Kessell & Alexander Lawson monument company. Lawson’s was located just outside the gates of Oak Grove Cemetery for many years and produced wonderful monuments of granite quarried from local sites. The rosy Fall River granite was especially fine. The quarry was filled in many years ago. An excellent article appeared in The Spirit recently http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110714/PUB03/107140358

Filed under: Extraordinary Tombstones and Monuments, Granite Industry, Oak Grove Notables, The History of Oak Grove Tagged: Nicholas Kessell

History of Oak Grove now available

administrator — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 02:24:57 +0000

A History of Oak Grove Cemetery and Walking Tour of Borden-Related Graves and Buildings is now available at the Fall River Historical Society and the Lizzie Borden Bed & Breakfast Museum giftshop. A copy will also be available this week at the Fall River room in the public library. The booklet retails for $19.95 plus tax and includes a CD of 151 color photos illustrating graves mentioned in the booklet and examples of Victorian symbolism in stone carving. To purchase a copy directly from the author, a check may be made to and sent to Shelley Dziedzic. P.O. Box 86, North Stonington, CT 06359. The amount should include postage and handling of $4.25 which will include a heavy-duty padded mailer for shipping. ($24.20 total) If you prefer to pay by Paypal, send $24.20 using the send to button to Revdma@aol.com.

Contents

1-2 Introduction

3-4 History of Oak Grove as described in the report of the Massachusetts

Historical Commission, Office of the Secretary, Boston

5-7 Oak Grove in More Recent Days

8-9 Relating to Oak Grove Cemetery and the Interment of the Dead Chapter XXII

City Ordinances 1859

10-16 1915 Report to the Board of Park Commissioners by Egbert Lawton

17-19 Mr. Egbert Lawton, Superintendent of Oak Grove

19 A-B Salaries of Early Superintendents and Expenses of Interest

20 Initial Expense Report 1856

21-22 Approved City Ordinance Applying to Oak Grove Cemetery

23-29 Symbolism on Victorian Funeral Statuary

30 Map for Tour Circuit #1

31-34 Autopsies of Abby & Andrew Borden, August 11, 1892

35 Funerals of Abby & Andrew Borden, August 6, 1892

36-39 Identifications and Biographies for Tour Circuit #1

40 Map for Tour Circuit #2

41-42 Identifications and Biographies for Tour Circuit #2

43 Map for Tour Circuit #3

44-46 Identifications and Biographies for Tour Circuit #3

47-49 Uncle Lawdwick Borden and the Sad Case of the Deaths in the Cistern:

The Suicide of Eliza Darling Borden and Murder of Her Children

50-55 Other Gravesites of Notables

56 Borden-Related Personalities Not Buried at Oak Grove Cemetery

57-63 The Victorian Celebration of Death: The Borden Funerals

64 Sources Used in the Preparation of This Publication

Filed under: Announcements, Borden Family Plot, Borden-Related Graves, Cemetery Structures, Civil War Monuments, Extraordinary Tombstones and Monuments, Funeral History, Funeral Vocabulary, Granite Industry, Local Support, Mourning Art, Navigating Oak Grove, Oak Grove Notables, Oak Grove Tours and Events, Potpourri, The History of Oak Grove, The Victorian Way of Death Tagged: Shelley Dziedzic

Early Days at Oak Grove

administrator — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 16:24:10 +0000

It’s hard to know exactly the date of this photograph. The view is in front of the office building. Oxen were frequently used to haul the granite up to the cemetery on sledges. The arch was erected in 1873. To see the image at full size, click on the photo above. (photo courtesy of Oak Grove Cemetery).

Filed under: Cemetery Structures, Granite Industry, Photo of the Week, The History of Oak Grove

Mailbox- The Borden Marker

administrator — Fri, 21 May 2010 02:08:24 +0000

Elaine Kessell

(edit)

I am finally in the process of doing my family tree. My great grandfather’s name was Nicholas Kessell and I have always known he was a stonecutter in Fall River Mass in the mid to late 1800′s as he past on in 1904 of “stone consumption”. I came across a book “The Fall River Directory of 1882 and notice an ad in there for Kessell and Lawson, a stonecutting company. I can only guess that my great grandfather was in that partnership. My question is, if there is anyway you could find out if he was all involved in the cutting of the Borden tombstone in 1892? I have been intrigued all my life, but now am very curious.
Thank you,
Elaine Kessell
There is never any information about stonecutters.

Thanks for your email. Sorry to say, the Borden stone was ordered from a Westerly, R.I. carver. Westerly was a hub for this sort of work and still today has a few remaining carving studios. Buzzi’s is still in business (Ruth Buzzi of Laugh-In fame is in that family) The Borden stone was installed in January of 1894 and is made of Westerly blue granite. Fall River also had some great carvers and a rosy-colored granite.

Filed under: Borden Family Plot, Extraordinary Tombstones and Monuments, Granite Industry, Potpourri

Arches, gates and doors

administrator — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 02:58:32 +0000

This particularly beautiful tall arch is to be found in the central west end of Oak Grove and is a familiar symbol of passing through from one state to another- from earthly to celestial, from life to the hereafter.

There are smaller arches, gateways and doors to be found in Oak Grove, some found carved onto tabular monuments and others carved completely as the symbol itself. This one has an Egyptian inspiration- complete with canopic jar.

Posted in Extraordinary Tombstones and Monuments, Granite Industry, Photo of the Week, Potpourri, Victorian Funeral Symbolism Tagged: Victorian Symbolism in Funeral Monuments