Thomas William King

“ The identity of families is not only destroyed by such means, but sometimes rendered incapable of being recovered by these false lights of mixed inscriptions. The clue sometimes discernible in the genealogical pursuit is suddenly cut off, or interwoven in all the intricacies attending the developement of pedigree, in the defective or suspicious evidence of such mutilated and injured memorials. The modern insertion may be questioned in future ages ”

“ It is a subject of the greatest regret to the genealogist and the antiquary that such memorials should fall, as it were, a sacrifice to this uncertainty of human views respecting them; but that regret is greatly enhanced when we find these consecrated monuments of our ancestors treated with every mark of disrespect, of unconcern, or of indecency; and, frequently, with open violence by those who have pretensions to respectability, education, wealth, and influence beyond their fellow men. ”

“ Monumental inscriptions too, which seem also to partake of the same sacred character as that of registering events in the family Bible, have received the sanction of judicial functionaries, as records of truth, by admitting their testimony to have the weight of legal evidence. On this branch of evidence I presume to offer a few observations as regards the importance of preserving the memorials of the dead from wanton or careless destruction. ”

“ Yarmouth church has not been an exception to the numerous instances of outrage so often observable as regards monumental inscriptions; on the contrary, we find the melancholy truth recorded of the sepulchral brasses having been, in 1551, torn from their places, and devoted to the purpose of making weights for the town! Whatever motive incited the commission of this act of Vandalism, it surely could not have been one of economy merely ”