Luther and Willard RICE, a photo by midgefrazel on Flickr.
Entombed in One Coffin
Did you notice that the two sons of Levi and Lucinda Rice died the same day? I was surely going to find a newspaper article about this and I was rewarded (I think) with one from the Hampden Federalist (22 Jan 1818) in Springfield, MA that told me that Luther age 6 and Willard age 4 were the only sons of this couple and that they died of the quinsy on Saturday. They went to school the Thursday before and became ill probably on Christmas Day. The were buried on the next Monday together in one coffin. Chilling.
"Lovely in life, in their death, they were not divided." is what they chose to carve on this plain gravestone.
At the very bottom of the stone is a mention of an infant daughter being buried here also (in 1816). It doesn't get sadder than this. I am sure Lucinda was distraught over burying her baby girl only to have this happen.
Levi and Lucinda went on to have six more children.
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