Woodlawn Cemetery

This was one of the the creepiest things we saw in Woodlawn.

This was one of the the creepiest things we saw in Woodlawn.

Clyde Fitch Birth: May 2, 1865 Death: Sep. 4, 1909 American dramatist. Born William Clyde Fitch at Elmira, New York, he would write over 60 plays, 36 of them original, which varied from social comedies and farces to melodrama and historical dramas. An the only child to live to adulthood, his father, Captain William G. Fitch, a graduate of West Point and a Union officer in the Civil War, encouraged him to become an architect or to engage in a career of business, but his mother, Alice Clark, in whose eyes he could do no wrong, always believed in his talent. It was she that would hire the architectural firm of Hunt & Hunt to design the sarcophagus set inside an open Tuscan temple for his final resting place. He was the first American playwright to publish his plays. His first work of note was Beau Brummell (1890) a major work set in the Regency-era, which became a showcase for actor Richard Mansfield (1854-1907), who would play the title role for the rest of his life. His 1892 play Masked Ball would be the first time that Charles Frohman put Maude Adams opposite John Drew which led to many future successes. In 1900 Captain Jinks of the Horse Marines, made a star of Ethel Barrymore. He is remembered particularly for Nathan Hale (1898), The Climbers (1901), The Girl with the Green Eyes (1902), The Truth (1907) and The City (1909). His works were popular on both sides of the Atlantic. His play based on the heroine of 's poem Barbara Fritchie met with mixed in 1899 because of the romance he added to the tale, but it would be successfully revived a number of times. In 1896 he wrote the lyrics to a popular song "Love Makes The World Go 'Round" with the arrangement by William Furst. His career spanned a brief two decades, but he earned upwards of $250,000 from his plays at a time when a dollar a day was the working wage. He directed a few of his plays and was closely involved in the production of them all. Working with Edith Wharton he wrote and directed the state adaptation of The House of Mirth in 1906. He was the first American playwright to be taken seriously and at one time managed to have 5 plays running simultaneously on Broadway. A generous host with an engaging personality he was renowned as a raconteur. His invitations in Greenwich, Connecticut at "Quiet Corner" were sought after. A close friend of Elsie de Wolfe, she would help him find many of the furnishings for this house as well as others. At one point she said "he knows more about women, than most women know about themselves." A dandy by his early teens, he knew that in school he was seen as a sissy, but he said, "I would rather be misunderstood than lose my independence." Correspondence of the time point to a likely relationship, however brief, with Oscar Wilde. He suffered from attacks of appendicitis, but refused his American doctor's recomendation of surgery, instead trusting the specialists in Europe who assured him that they could effect a cure over time without surgery. While staying at the Hotel de la Haute Mère de Dieu at Châlons, France, he suffered what would be a fatal attack. He underwent surgery by a local doctor, rather than travel to Paris and died from blood poisoning. His body was returned from France where it was entombed for a time in the Swan Callendar Mausoleum which belonged to a friend. In 1910 the body was removed and taken to New Jersey for cremation and the ashes were returned to the Swan Callendar Mausoleum until the Hunt & Hunt monument was finished. His ashes were then place in the sarcophagus where his parents ashes would later join his own. (bio by: D C McJonathan-Swarm) Burial: Woodlawn Cemetery Bronx Bronx County New York, USA Text from: www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=1364

Herman Melville Birth: Aug. 1, 1819 Death: Sep. 28, 1891 Author. Born in New York City to Allan Melvill, an importer of French dry goods and Maria Gansevoort, the third child of eight. He and his brothers attended the New York Male School where they could get something more than a common education. Allen Melvill overextended himself, however, and in 1830 moved his family to Albany, New York, and went into the fur business, a venture that ended in disaster. Mental collapse and illness lead to Allan Melvill's early death leaving the family in poverty. At twelve young Melville was forced to leave Albany Academy, and take a job as a bank clerk. He also taught irregularly in various schools. Melville shipped out in 1839 as a cabin boy on the whaler Achushnet. He later joined the US Navy. He lived briefly among the Typee cannibals in the Marquesas Islands. In his mid-20's Melville returned home and wrote of his journies. His early novels of South Seas adventures were quite popular; by age thirty had published five books in five years. His sixth book was a departure from his earlier style and Moby-Dick was probably misunderstood and the book ran counter to the mood of the times. It sold only about 3,000 copies during Melville's lifetime. In 1847 Melville married Elisabeth Shaw, daughter of the chief justice of Massachusetts. After unsuccessful lecture tours in 1857-60, Melville lived in Washington, D.C. for the first two years of the Civil War. He moved back to New York in 1863 where he was appointed customs inspector on the New York docks. Work that secured him a regular income, necessary with his plumeting popularity as a writer. When Melville died from heart failure in New York, a few respectful obituaries of the kind written about a man who has outlived his renown were printed. His unfinished work, Billy Budd, Foretopman, remained unpublished until 1924. His career had spanned fewer than 20 full length books. Soon after the second world war, a Melville society was organized after which, for the next two decades Melville and his writing attracted more research and scholarship than any other American author. (bio by: Iola) Burial: Woodlawn Cemetery Bronx Bronx County New York, USA Text from: www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=705

Herman Melville Birth: Aug. 1, 1819 Death: Sep. 28, 1891 Author. Born in New York City to Allan Melvill, an importer of French dry goods and Maria Gansevoort, the third child of eight. He and his brothers attended the New York Male School where they could get something more than a common education. Allen Melvill overextended himself, however, and in 1830 moved his family to Albany, New York, and went into the fur business, a venture that ended in disaster. Mental collapse and illness lead to Allan Melvill's early death leaving the family in poverty. At twelve young Melville was forced to leave Albany Academy, and take a job as a bank clerk. He also taught irregularly in various schools. Melville shipped out in 1839 as a cabin boy on the whaler Achushnet. He later joined the US Navy. He lived briefly among the Typee cannibals in the Marquesas Islands. In his mid-20's Melville returned home and wrote of his journies. His early novels of South Seas adventures were quite popular; by age thirty had published five books in five years. His sixth book was a departure from his earlier style and Moby-Dick was probably misunderstood and the book ran counter to the mood of the times. It sold only about 3,000 copies during Melville's lifetime. In 1847 Melville married Elisabeth Shaw, daughter of the chief justice of Massachusetts. After unsuccessful lecture tours in 1857-60, Melville lived in Washington, D.C. for the first two years of the Civil War. He moved back to New York in 1863 where he was appointed customs inspector on the New York docks. Work that secured him a regular income, necessary with his plumeting popularity as a writer. When Melville died from heart failure in New York, a few respectful obituaries of the kind written about a man who has outlived his renown were printed. His unfinished work, Billy Budd, Foretopman, remained unpublished until 1924. His career had spanned fewer than 20 full length books. Soon after the second world war, a Melville society was organized after which, for the next two decades Melville and his writing attracted more research and scholarship than any other American author. (bio by: Iola) Burial: Woodlawn Cemetery Bronx Bronx County New York, USA Text from: www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=705

Herman Melville Birth: Aug. 1, 1819 Death: Sep. 28, 1891 Author. Born in New York City to Allan Melvill, an importer of French dry goods and Maria Gansevoort, the third child of eight. He and his brothers attended the New York Male School where they could get something more than a common education. Allen Melvill overextended himself, however, and in 1830 moved his family to Albany, New York, and went into the fur business, a venture that ended in disaster. Mental collapse and illness lead to Allan Melvill's early death leaving the family in poverty. At twelve young Melville was forced to leave Albany Academy, and take a job as a bank clerk. He also taught irregularly in various schools. Melville shipped out in 1839 as a cabin boy on the whaler Achushnet. He later joined the US Navy. He lived briefly among the Typee cannibals in the Marquesas Islands. In his mid-20's Melville returned home and wrote of his journies. His early novels of South Seas adventures were quite popular; by age thirty had published five books in five years. His sixth book was a departure from his earlier style and Moby-Dick was probably misunderstood and the book ran counter to the mood of the times. It sold only about 3,000 copies during Melville's lifetime. In 1847 Melville married Elisabeth Shaw, daughter of the chief justice of Massachusetts. After unsuccessful lecture tours in 1857-60, Melville lived in Washington, D.C. for the first two years of the Civil War. He moved back to New York in 1863 where he was appointed customs inspector on the New York docks. Work that secured him a regular income, necessary with his plumeting popularity as a writer. When Melville died from heart failure in New York, a few respectful obituaries of the kind written about a man who has outlived his renown were printed. His unfinished work, Billy Budd, Foretopman, remained unpublished until 1924. His career had spanned fewer than 20 full length books. Soon after the second world war, a Melville society was organized after which, for the next two decades Melville and his writing attracted more research and scholarship than any other American author. (bio by: Iola) Burial: Woodlawn Cemetery Bronx Bronx County New York, USA Text from: www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=705

Jay Gould Birth: May 27, 1836 Death: Dec. 2, 1892 19th Century American financier and railroad magnate. He was born into poverty on May 27, 1836 in Roxbury, New York. Too frail for farming, Gould’s early career in land surveying and commodity speculation got him interested in railroad stocks, which were the high-growth glamour issues of the day. In 1859 he moved to New York City, where he became a broker in railway stocks. By marriage to the daughter of a prominent businessman in 1863, he got himself appointed manager of the near-bankrupt Rensselaer & Saratoga railway. After returning that railroad to profitability, he bought up and reorganized the Rutland & Washington railway in the same way, from which he ultimately realized a large profit. In 1868, he partnered with James Fisk to successfully fight Cornelius Vanderbilt for control of the Erie Railroad. Gould and Fisk plundered the railroad’s assets and issued $5 million in fraudulent stock from 1868 to 1870, leading to litigation that forced Gould out in March 1872 and to pay $7.5 million restitution. Fisk only escaped the court’s wrath by dying in January 1872. After the Erie debacle, Gould gained control of the Union Pacific Railroad, which led to the formation of the Gould System of four Western railroads with 10,000 miles of track, about one-ninth of the railway mileage of the United States at that time. Gould withdrew from the UP in 1883 after realizing a large profit on his stock. Gould also obtained a controlling interest in Western Union and led it to victory in its battle for control of the telegraph industry. He died of tuberculois on December 2, 1892, when his fortune was estimated at $72 million, all of which he left to his own family. (bio by: Edward Parsons) Burial: Woodlawn Cemetery Bronx Bronx County New York, USA Text from: www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=408