Hawthorne
Dominican Sisters to Facilitate Move
Hawthorne Family to Be Reburied in U.S.
CONCORD, Mass. [AP] June 1, 2006--Nathaniel Hawthorne will soon be
reunited with his wife --more than 130 years after they were buried
an ocean apart.
The remains of Sophia Peabody Hawthorne and their daughter, Una, will be brought
from England and reinterred June 26 in the Hawthorne family plot
at Sleepy Hollow cemetery in Concord, where "The Scarlet Letter"
author was buried in 1864, The Boston Globe reported Thursday.
Though Hawthorne was known for his Puritan-influenced moralism and
melancholy tales, his relationship with Sophia was tender and passionate.
They were rarely apart.
"I once thought that no power on earth should ever induce
me to live without thee, and especially thought an ocean should
never roll between us," Sophia once wrote to her husband.
But that's what happened after Hawthorne's death in Plymouth, N.H.,
in 1864.
Sophia and their three children, Rose, Una and Julian, moved to
England, where the family had lived when Hawthorne was in diplomatic
service. Sophia died there in 1871 and Una died in 1877. Both were
buried at Kensal Green cemetery in London.
Hawthorne's
daughter, Rose, returned to the United States and started a Catholic
order dedicated to caring for cancer patients that became the Dominican
Sisters of Hawthorne, based in Hawthorne, N.Y. For decades, the
order has paid to maintain the Hawthorne graves in England. When
cemetery keepers told the nuns the grave site needed major repair,
the order proposed bringing them to the United States to Hawthorne's
descendants.
"We gave our consent gladly and thought it was an excellent
idea," said Joan Deming Ensor, 93, of Redding, Conn., one of
Hawthorne's four surviving great-grandchildren.
The order is paying for the transfer with the help of private donations.
Grave markers for Sophia and Una have already been placed in the
ground in the family plot, which is near the graves of Henry David
Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson.
A public ceremony will be held June 26 at The Old Manse in Concord,
where the Hawthornes lived for a time.
|
Hawthorne's daughter, Rose, returned
to the United States and started a Catholic order dedicated to
caring for cancer patients that became the Dominican Sisters of
Hawthorne, based in Hawthorne, N.Y.
This is an 1840 portrait of writer Nathaniel Hawthorne , painted
by American artist Charles Osgood, that is part of the collection
of the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Mass. The remains of his wife,
Sophia Peabody Hawthorne and their daughter Una will be brought
from England and reinterred June 26,2006, in the Hawthorne family
plot at Sleepy Hollow cemetery in Concord, Mass.,where "The
Scarlet Letter" author was buried in 1864, The Boston Globe
reported Thursday, June 1, 2006.
Visit the website:
Dominican
Sisters of Hawthorne
|