Big willow, small child

At the back of Copeland Cemetery stands a tablet gravestone with a carved willow that dominates the stone. It is a uniquely beautiful stone, and it marks the grave of a child, Eunice W. Copeland (d. 1830).

EUNICE W.
daughter of
Eleazer & Hannah Copeland
died July 13, 1830;
aged 1 year 8 months
& 11 days.

Ere sin could blight or sorrow fade,
Death came with friendly care;
The opening bud to heaven convey’d,
And bade it blossom there.

The epitaph is the short poem “Epitaph on an Infant” by Samuel Taylor Coleridge (b. 1772, d. 1834).

Eunice is buried between her parents, Eleazer (d. 1834) and Hannah (d. 1866). Eleazer’s large gravestone (which will have its own post soon), is full of symbolic carvings. Hannah’s is simple in comparison.

Copeland Cemetery, Delaware County, Ohio