Sarah Walker headstone, undated

Collection Name:

George W. Perry Scrapbooks

Title:

Sarah Walker headstone, undated

Creator:

Perry, George W., 1891-1971

Creator Role:

Collector

Accession / Call Number:

1974.045

Object ID:

1974.045.28.004

Type of Material:

graphic material

Physical Description:

1 photograph

Language:

English

Scope and Content:

Undated photographic print of Sarah Walker's headstone at the Old North Cemetery in Concord, NH. The caption states, "Col. Benjamin Rolfe married Miss Sarah Walker, the oldest daughter of Rev. Timothy Walker in the year 1769. Miss Walker was beautiful and accomplished and a 'blue b blood.' The Rolfes at the 'South End,' and the Walkers at the 'North End' were the aristocracy of Old Rumford. This marriage, therefore must have been one of the grand events of the colony. We can imagine the gay concomitants of the wedding, the bridal feast, the congratulations of the aristocratic guests, and the going home with her groom who was nearly sixty and she thirty years his junior, in their canvas-topped chaise to become the mistress of the great house? That this union of May and December was otherwise than a happy one we have no reason for believing, but it was very short. On the 20th of December, Col. Rolfe died, leaving his widow of two years the wealthiest person in the settlement, and the mother of a young child less than a year old named Paul Rolfe. Mrs. Rolfe, Sarah, meet the young school-master from Woburn, Mass. as she was now in the prime of her beauty, and a creature for a young man to worship. She had other attractions beside her good looks and accomplishments. Owner of an estate valued at L4000--$80,000 of our money, and mistress of a great household, she had no lack of suitors She had no eyes except for the young teacher. They were married sometime before January, 1773, at Parsons Walker's house, and the poor school-master became the richest patrician in Rumford. Mr. and Mrs. Thompson inaugurated a style o[f] living at the Rumford house that completely threw in the shade any thing of the kind previously. Tradition reports that they kept twenty slaves and servants; that a fat ox was often butchered once a week; and that a dozen saddle and carriage horses were kept in the stables to accommodate the master and mistress and their guests. When the[y] went up to town they rode in a curricle drawn by two horses, by far the most expensiv[e] [MS torn] then in Concord."

Subjects:

Cemeteries , Gravestones

Locations:

Concord, NH

People:

Perry, George W., 1891-1971 , Walker, Sarah, 1739-1792

Organizations:

Old North Cemetery (Concord, N.H.)

Terms of Use:

For permission to reproduce or publish material from this collection, please contact the New Hampshire Historical Society. Researchers are responsible for following all copyright and intellectual property laws.

Credit Line:

Gift of May Nutter.

Restrictions:

Available for research.

Level Description:

Item

Box Number:

6