Thursday 3rd (July)
Rose rather late got breakfast, and then sat down to wait for
the girl but finding she did not come, Libbie and I again ..?.. stations in the
kitchen. Did all the work and after dinner Thomas proposed taking a ride to the
Cemetary. He and Libbie and Caroline went with Albert but as I was very tired and
did not get ready in time I did not go. We still have no girl. We thought Mr Printiss
was going to stay out to the farm all night but who should knock at the door but
him.
The family has been without a maid since Bridget left on
Saturday. Libby and Serena must do all the housework until they can hire a new
maid.
Churchyard cemeteries are becoming crowded in the
mid-nineteenth century. Public rural cemeteries are now desirable. Mount Auburn
in Boston, Pere la Chaise in Paris, and Laurel Hill in Philadelphia are
examples of this new type of cemetery. They feature landscaping, many types of
trees and flowers, statues, monuments, columns, stone vaults, and winding
lanes. Spring Grove was consecrated in 1845 on about 166 acres four miles from
Cincinnati. It has become one of the most beautifully landscaped areas in the
city (Green, and Bennett 40).
Serena’s grandparents, Samuel and Abigail Tolman Lewis, and
her mother, Serena Rose Lewis, were originally buried at the Methodist
Episcopal Church. In 1846 they were moved to a family vault in Spring Grove.
The vault is topped with a stone lighthouse, perhaps in memory of Samuel
Lewis’s seafaring days.
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