Dan Rice has been described as "The most famous man you never heard of." He was "America's Clown" in the years leading up to and just after the Civil War. A circus performer and later circus owner, he was great friends with Abe Lincoln, earning the title "Court Jester to the President." He also inspired Thomas Nash's conception of Uncle Sam as we know him.
Rice wintered his circus in Girard, PA, about 15 miles from here, in the 1850s and '60s. (An aside: I've always thought that odd. Weren't circuses usually wintered in the warmer south? Anyway.)A trip to the Girard Cemetery yields this treasure.
Nestled in this tiny cathedral is the form of a sleeping infant.
The monument is to Lottie, age 6 months.
Nestled in this tiny cathedral is the form of a sleeping infant.
The monument is to Lottie, age 6 months.
Lottie was the daughter of Dan Rice, only six months old when she died in 1863.
It's a testament to the human spirit, or perhaps the human tendancy to push things deep inside, that Dan Rice could continue to make Americans laugh when inside he must have been grief-stricken.
10 comments:
Oh that is sad...very neat photos.
Cari
Amy, very moving photos of such a sad monument...
What a beautiful monument to his baby girl, you captured it so nicely.
Lovely.
How sad and also very interesting. Great black and white conversion for these!!
Interesting person. Nice captures but that "sleeping infant" creeps me out.
Wonderful blogging and photography Amy!
Sad and beautiful, Amy.
Do you read Photojojo? You might be interested in this:
http://photojojo.com/content/photojojo-original/memorial-post-mortem-photography/
Or maybe you'll think it's morbid. I thought it was fascinating.
Wonderful journaling to go along with this memorial. How sad for them!
WOW! I am completely impressed that you found this! You are famazing. Simply famazing. I learned more from this one post today than I have learned in the past 2 weeks. Seriously.
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