Lot Title

Location in Cemetery

Section: Unspecified     Lot: --     Grave: --

Date of death

Jan-11-1861

Date of birth

0-0-0

Age

Verse (Legibility: G - GOOD)

Unspecified

Veteran Information

No War Periods Served

Veteran: No

Relatives

Daughter of James and Ruth Thurston

Stone Shape

Stone Decoration

Stone Condition

Stone Material

State of Stone

Other Information

stone cleaned in 2021 and repaired in 2022 Mary Blossom Thurston was the fifth of 11 children born to farm laborer James Thurston (1799-1869) and the former Ruth Wordell (1805-1851), daughter of Gershom and Ruth (Mott) Wordell. Mary was born April 30, 1831 and grew up in North Westport where her relatives and neighbors, Wordells, Giffords, and Brawleys, were fruit and vegetable farmers living in the area of Blossom, Old Fall River, and Old Bedford Roads. Mary developed the skill of tailoress and moved in with her brother-in-law Weston Gifford and her sister, his wife, Ruth, and their four children, perhaps serving as a nanny or governess to her nieces and nephews as well. The family lived in an area known as Hemlock Gutter near Bread and Cheese Brook. Sadly, she too succumbed to the disease on January 15, 1861 at age 29. Her funeral service was held at the North Westport Meeting House (perhaps the congregation at the northern end of Gifford Road identified as Buelah) at noon on January 17. Mary, who, never married, was buried close to her mother and sister. Her father James lived alone in his final years and tragically burned to death in a fire that destroyed his home, identified as being in “Indianville” in North Westport, in 1869 at age 70. Mary’s marble tablet was carved with a circular inset of a rose, a flower which is rich in Victorian symbolism. Love, beauty, and a youthful death are all represented by the rose. Often, the gravestones of girls and young, unmarried women in the mid-1800s depicted a white rose, a symbol of purity. The beauty and fragrance of a rose was also a reminder to visitors of the eternal paradise that virtuous Christians would enjoy. Research: T Baptista