EXCERPT from INTO THE SILENT LAND: HISTORIC CEMETERIES & GRAVEYARDS IN ONTARIO by Jennifer McKendry, copyright       home page

chapter four, Grave Markers, p. 222

......Adult angels are found in great numbers on historic Ontario grave markers, but cherubs generally appear only in the form of a head with wings despite the carvings of semi-nude babies on various stones.[1] These babies (without wings) represented ideal or specific deceased children. The winged heads, on the other hand, represent the deceased's soul, which is able to fly via the wings to heaven. "My soul would stretch her wings in haste, fly fearless through death's iron gate."[2] The heads may be in the form of a baby, child or adult. A glimpse of the religious zeal that could even make death joyous - and might explain the smile on some angel's faces - is given in this verse: "Tell me my soul. Can this be death? …Heaven opens my eyes … Lend, lend me your wings! I mount! I fly! 'O Grave, where is thy victory! O Death, where is thy sting!' "[3]

 Certain Maritimes grave markers of the 18^th century portray skulls with wings attached or death's heads. Often accompanied by other death symbols such as bones and hour glasses, these startling devices were already going out of fashion in England and New England by the time they were being imported into and made in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. By the time Upper Canada (Ontario) was being settled by United Empire Loyalists in the 1780s, it is unlikely that anyone would order a stone with such a macabre decoration. Skulls may appear on Ontario grave monuments but in connection with other emblems of a fraternal or mystical organization (fig. 4.139). But the fashion for winged heads or soul effigies was strong and continued well into the 19^th century.

 Inscribed on an early soul effigy stone in Blue Church Cemetery near Prescott is "In memory of Mr Amos Wright who died July 18^th 1796 in the 36 year of his Age. Very pleasant haft thou been unto my Brother" - one of the few 18^th century headstones in Ontario, and probably the most elaborately carved from the Loyalist era (fig. 4.99). Wright was a descendant of Martha Ritcherel (died 1708) and Lt Abel Wright (1631-1725) who lived in Springfield, Mass. Their grandson Ebenezer Wright (1727-1809) married Mercy Leach (her father was named Amos, which became his grandson's name), and lived in the 1760s in Shaftsbury, Vermont, with his growing family. Forced to flee during the American Revolutionary War, they settled in Cornwall, Ontario....[continued]

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