Yesterday I went for a long walk in the cemetery and came across a set of three stones I had not seen before. On a large and elaborate monument these words are carved:

Alonzo M. Whitney

Son of

Merrill & Zebia A. Whitney

Born in Lowell Mass., July 18th 1845

Member of Company F.,

Sixteenth Regiment, Maine Vols., Infantry.

Lost in Battle at Fredericksburg,

Dec. 13th 1862.

His Body Not Recovered.

In front of Alonzo's memorial are two small, modest stones. One reads:

Zebiah A. K.

Wife of

Merrill Whitney

Died Aug. 1 1845.

Age 30 Yrs.

The other:

Merrill Whitney

Feb. 25 1815.

Jan. 24 1886.

The bare bones of this sad story: Zebiah (or Zebia) died less than a month after Alonzo was born. Alonzo was lost in battle at the age of 17. Merrill survived for two more decades, dying at the age of 71. Neither he nor his wife were in their first youth when their son was born. There are no signs of a second wife or of other children.

Merrill was wealthy enough to afford an elaborate monument for his lost son. But his own stone exactly matches his dead wife's modest one.