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missanxietyinvestigates · 3 months

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The Gravestone in the Auction House

The first day I walked into my internship for the year, I was greeted with a gravestone leaning against a pillar by the door. According to my boss, he had gotten it in New Hampshire and didn't really know anything about the owner.

[Grave transcription: Eliza P. / Wife of / Ezekiel B. Coat. / Died / Mar. 12. 1864 / AE. 34 yrs. 5ms. / Rest together / Abbott E. Coats / Died / Mar. 10. 1864 / AE. 3 yrs. 2 ms. 18 ds.]

My curiosity got the best of me and with my boss's permission, I started to hunt down Eliza.

Eliza Pamelia Goodell was born on November 7th, 1829, to Chester and Betsy (Fuller) Goodell in Rowe, Massachusetts. Within a couple years, her family would move to Readsboro, Vermont, to reunite with family in the area. There, 3 siblings would be born. Growing up, Eliza would have been expected to help with child-rearing, despite only being 6 years older than the youngest. Her father is listed as a farmer for most of his life, though an article in the North Adams Transcript hints towards some other activities as well:

His wife, Betsy, does not appear in any newspaper articles, as far as I can tell.

Despite being a teenager during the Mexican-American War, it would likely be a distant thought, rarely being reported in newspapers and an unlikely topic of conversation.

When she was 21, she would marry Ezekiel Bradford Coates, of Heath, Massachusetts. Ezekiel was the youngest of his siblings, the son of a carpenter. He lost his mother and two of his siblings at a young age, leaving him to be raised by his stepmother and siblings.

A little over a year later, their first son, Albert, would be born. Then came Abbott, Adelbert, and Elnora in Stratton.

In May of 1858, her son Abbott, suddenly grew sick and passed away. His death certificate lists inflammation of the brain as a cause of death, which could be encephalitis, meningitis, or cerebritis in modern terms. He was five. Then, just over a year later, she would lose her mother to cancer. This would have been a devastating time for her, especially with rising tensions throughout the US, it may have felt to her like her world could end at any moment.

In January of 1862, Eliza would have another son, Abbott E, in Townshend. Just a month later, Ezekiel, likely seeing the 75$ bounty for enlistment, would volunteer as a soldier in the Civil War.

That October, Ezekiel would join the rest of his unit as a Corporal in Townshend.

He was part of the 16th Vermont Infantry, Company D, which mainly was on picket duty. Picket duty was keeping an eye on the enemy from their side and keeping their superiors informed. This was extremely important during battles such as the Battle of Gettysburg, which his unit was a part of.

During the Battle of Gettysburg, Ezekiel would have been on the front line, watching others from his unit being hit by shells. A superior officer write on his report:

"In this movement it was under terrific artillery fire, one shell hitting two men and killing them instantly. The regiment was finally halted in support of a battery and just in season to receive and repel a heavy charge of infantry. Darkness soon came on and the battle ceased with the Sixteenth in the front line."

August 10th, 1863, Ezekiel and his unit were mustered out and started making their way home.

The family would enjoy a few blissful months reunited, but in early 1864, a disease began spreading through New England. It would come suddenly, sometimes killing people within two days, and was very infectious.

In early March, Eliza would have seen her two-year-old son, first become feverish, then have a sore throat, and then pass away. During that time, there was not a lot that a doctor could do to help him, and she may have turned to one of the many quack remedies that were advertised at the time. Very soon after, she would have started feeling the symptoms herself, and on March 12th, just one day after her son's passing, Eliza Goodell passed away from Scarlett Fever.

To learn more about the epidemic itself and it's history, there was a journal published at the time discussing it:

She would be buried with her son in Round Hill Cemetery soon after. Her eldest child would have been 11 years old, and without their mother, they were spread to family and friends who could take them in.

In 1867, Ezekiel would remarry and have four more children with his new wife, Charlotte.

Eliza's 3 living children, Albert, Adelbert, and Elnora, continued to live with relatives until adulthood. Albert would end up moving to Rhode Island and becoming a high-level government official in several offices, while Adelbert would run a private coach service in Massachusetts, and Elnora would settle down in Townshend with her husband Charles Boynton.

A possible reason why this gravestone ended up in an auction house was that during the 1890s, the graveyard was renovated, and several gravestones that had fallen into disrepair had to be replaced. It is very possible that Eliza's gravestone was replaced during this time, and the original gravestone was set aside somewhere and forgotten.

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