Wakefield’s Child
Now head back to the main path and take a right. A few yards
up the path, in the last row on the right and closest to the path,
look for the headstone of John Wakefield.
While the Neal
children monument has a date of 1666 that stone was actually
carved in 1672. Thus John Wakefield’s headstone is officially the
oldest extant one in the Granary with a date of 1667.
But in addition to winning the unintended prize of oldest
headstone, John Wakefield’s slate marker also stands out as an
example of headstone recycling.
If you look on the back
you will see the inscription for Ann Child, apparently the mother
of a daughter that married into the Wakefield family.
The first
time I saw Ann’s name I knew the combination sounded familiar.
Turns out that Ben Franklin’s father, Josiah, originally married a
woman named Ann Child.
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