The University of Massachusetts Amherst
Robert S. Cox Special Collections & University Archives Research Center
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Dudley, Joseph

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Joseph Dudley Memoir and Diary

1866-1893
1 vol. 0.25 linear feet
Call no.: MS 650 bd

Born in Cheshire, Conn., in 1822, Joseph Dudley learned “the marble business” from his father Elias, who had in turn been trained by David Ritter of New Haven. A staunch Methodist swept up in the religious ferment of the Second Great Awakening, Dudley joined his father’s business as a stonecutter in about 1845 and notes that he was among the first to letter tombstones in the rural Ever Green Cemetery in Woodstock, Conn., when it opened in 1848. He later worked in Meriden, Conn.

By generations, this volume has served as an account book, diary and memorandum book, memoir, geneaological record, and scrapbook, with each layer accumulated over all previous. Dudley’s memoir (beginning p. 78) includes a discussion of his upbringing in Cheshire, the tumultuous religious revivals during the 1840s and his reception into the Methodist Church and the Millerites, and much on his introduction to the marble business and work as a stonecutter through about 1853. The diary somewhat erratically covers the years 1873-1893.

Subjects

Marble industry and trade--ConnecticutMillerite movementSepulchral monuments--ConnecticutStonecutters

Contributors

Association for Gravestone StudiesDudley, Joseph

Types of material

DiariesMemoirs