The old Essex Cemetery, located on 82 Main street, behind the Essex Shipbuilding Museum, is full of mystery and intrigue. From crypts to empty coffins, from body snatchers to broken stones, this cemetery that dates back to 1680 is full of secrets. But, located in the cemetery, hidden, lies one of the old cemetery’s biggest mysteries. In the cemetery lies a set of essay appears to be three gravestones, two large ones cradling a small one. Other than a weeping willow motif, the only things adorning the stones are the words “Mother, Percival, Father”.
Just who is Percival? How did he end up here? Who are his parents? Why are their names the only writing on the stones? Being the only stone of its kind, what does this stone mean?
The stone is two separate marble stones connected with a shared granite base and a mini stone suspended between the two inscribed with the name Percival. The stone is decorated with a willow motif.
Because the stones are marble, they are approximately from the late 1800’s to the early 1900’s era. Because of this, the willow motif is much more recent, during the time of modern ideas about life and death, it is a generic mortuary willow, and not an individual pne with religious meaning. We can tell that the stone is recent due to the shape, and the fact that the stone isn't completely eroded from the acid rain. Modern stones are known to have the family name as the main focus on the stone, as cemeteries are meant for the living, whilst graveyards are meant for the dead.
After much research, the only lead that I could find was an Ira Percival, who married Martha Burnham April 2, 1806. Due to the fact that not only is this marker next to many others belonging to the Burnham family, as well as the fact that it is common to see the surname of a family as a focal point on each marker. Sadly, I could not find much else on Percival, other than his wife's parents, his children (a daughter and an unnamed son), and his wife's assumed birth year.
This is completely different from my original idea in which Percival was the child. But still, the question remains: why is Mother and Father on the stone if there are no children buried there? Is the unnamed son buried there with them? Though one question is answered, many more remain.
Place I found information on Percival: http://www.computersrwilde.com/WildeFamily/WOW/fam/fam22980.htm
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