EAST RIPLEY CEMETERY
EAST RIPLEY CEMETERY
A-C D-G H-M N-S T-Z
RIPLEY, NY
This is a very old cemetery, and in quite good condition and care, many
of the oldest stones are still standing.
The Old Pioneer
by: Theodore O'Hara (1820-1867)
A dirge for the brave old pioneer!
Knight-errant of the wood!
Calmly beneath the green sod here
He rests from field and flood
The war-whoop and the panther's screams
No more his soul shall rouse,
For well the aged hunter dreams
Beside his good old spouse.
A dirge for the brave old pioneer!
Hushed now his rifle's peal;
The dews of many a vanish'd year
Are on his rusted steel;
His horn and pouch lie moldering
Upon the cabin-door;
The elk rests by the salted spring,
Nor flees the fierce wild boar.
A dirge for the brave old pioneer!
Old Druid of the West!
His offering was the fleet wild deer,
His shrine the mountain's crest.
Within his wildwood temple's space
An empire's towers nod,
Where erst, alone of all his race,
He knelt to Nature's God.
A dirge for the brave old pioneer!
Columbus of the land!
Who guided freedom's proud career
Beyond the conquer'd strand;
And gave her pilgrim sons a home
No monarch's step profanes,
Free as the chainless winds that roam
Upon its boundless plains.
A dirge for the brave old pioneer!
The muffled drum resound!
A Warrior is slumb'ring here
Beneath his battle-ground.
For not alone with beast of prey
The bloody strife he waged,
Foremost where'er the deadly fray
Of savage combat raged.
A dirge for the brave old pioneer!
A dirge for his old spouse!
For her who blest his forest cheer,
And kept his birchen house,
Now soundly by her chieftain may
The brave old dame sleep on,
The red man's step is far away,
The wolf's dread howl is gone.
A dirge for the brave old pioneer!
His pilgrimage is done;
He hunts no more the grizzly bear
About the setting sun.
Weary at last of chase and life,
He laid him here to rest,
Nor recks he now what sport or strife
Would tempt him further west.
A dirge for the brave old pioneer!
The patriarch of his tribe!
He sleeps--no pompous pile marks where,
No lines his deeds describe.
They raised no stone about him here,
Nor carved his deathless name--
An empire is his sepulchre,
His epitaph is Fame.
SOURCES:
- The old online reading done by Virginia Barden
- Several weeks walking, chaulking and rubbing and taking photos of these old stones , talking one of the volunteer caretakers Harry BELSON who showed me where HE will be and we talked of the great loving care given here, his young daughter Connie is here also
- Andrew Youngs History of Chautauqua
- Ancestry family files
- LDS family files,
- Military data online
- US census data
- Our wonderful Chautauqua Co NY message boards
- Family contacts
- The Jamestown Post Journal obits
- The Dunkirk Observer obits
- My Mother Ruth Farnham PRATT who is descended from many of these family here and her vivid recall
- My own family research of many years for several of the families here including the unknown before Oliver STETSON Rev War branch
SOURCE: Provided by Dolores (Pratt) Davidson, 2004.