Tombstone Tuesday: Barnabas Horton (1600-1680)

Below is the "Tablestone" (also called a Table-Tomb) of Barnabas Horton, a 9th Great Grandfather. It resides in the Old Burying Ground of First Presbyterian Church in Suffolk County, New York. I am unaware of any older ancestral tombstone still in existence.

Photograph by Carrie, used with permission

The text in the center of the stone reads:

Here Lyeth Buried The Body of

Here slepes my body tombed in its dust
Till Christ shall come & raise it with the just
My soul’s assended to the throne of God
Where with sweet Jesus I make my aboad
Then hasten after me my dearest wife
To be pertaker of this blessed life
And you dear children all follow The lord
Hear & obey his publick sacred word
And in your houses call upon his name
For oft I have advis’d you to the same
then God will bless you with your children all
And to his blessed place he will you call.

Hebrews H & Y 4

He Being Dead Yet Speaketh

Also at his feet lie the remains of his youngest son
Jonathan Horton
The first Captain of Calvary
in the County of Suffolk
He died Feb. 23, AD 1707, AE 60

Around the outer edges of the stone is written:

Mr. Barnabas Horton born A. Mousely in Lester Shire in Old England & Dyed At South Hold the 13th Day of July 1680 Aged 80 Years.

It is said that the poem on the stone was written by Barnabas before his death. (source)

It is from Barnabas that I am related to former President Benjamin Harrison, through his grandmother Anna Tuthill Symmes. (So I am not directly related to Anna's husband, William Henry Harrison.)

BARNABAS HORTON, of Southold, L. L, was born in 1600, at Mowsley, Leicestershire, England, and died July 13, 1680, at Southold, Long Island. His wife, Mary, survived him. He emigrated to America prior to 1640, and settled at Hampton, New Hampshire. As early as 1651 he removed to Southold, and resided there until his death. He held many public offices and was one of the prominent men of Southold. He was deputy to the General Court of the New Haven Colony in 1654, 1656, 1658, 1659 and 1661. In 1663 and 1664 he was a commissioner for Southold. - Source