Tombstone Tuesday - Then and Now

Elizabeth Dean was the sister of my great-grandfather, James Louden Dean, and her headstone was one of those I photographed on our recent trip to Quebec.

ELIZABETH DEAN

BELOVED WIFE OF

Chas. J. Morrissette

Born Aug. 3, 1873

passed away

June 17, 1907

He giveth his beloved rest.

As you can barely see, this is another headstone with an epitaph like those of her uncle, aunt, and cousins that I shared in my previous Tombstone Tuesday post, it reads, "He giveth his beloved rest."

I photographed this headstone once before in November of 2000. Amazingly, to me anyway, that was seven years before I started researching my family. I was anxious to photograph this stone again because my 2000 photo was taken with a disposable camera and the colors had faded.

But it turns out that the old photo was really not that bad and it shows that the stone itself was in much better shape 18 years ago.  Between this and the missing headstone from another earlier post, I am really sorry that we skipped one of the cemeteries that we did on this visit. I know it would have been too much on my back but it is a pioneer cemetery, very old and surrounded by a huge Christmas tree farm, I need to get there soon.

I know there are only so many hours in a day and there are so many important projects out there, but something like this really motivates me to get out there with my camera whenever I can.

Elizabeth Dean married Charles J. Morrissette in January of 1895 and had twins, Gordon and Ella, that October. Elizabeth died in 1907. Gordon Morrisette, his wife Marjorie Reed and Ella are buried together near Elizabeth. I have not yet been able to trace Charles after the 1911 census.