I often take a stroll through Sleepy Hollow, New York, wandering past historic cemeteries where many influential figures lie. Among them are William Rockefeller and Walter Chrysler, as well as Leona Helmsley and Elizabeth Arden. Intriguingly, Andrew Carnegie’s grave is simply marked with a plain Celtic cross.
Washington Irving also resides in a sizable family plot, just behind a classic Dutch church, well-known for his tale “Legend of Sleepy Hollow.”
We have a duty now to cherish and serve what we know, having influence in our current times.
However, amid the grand memorials of those who created colossal fortunes or penned iconic stories, there are also resting places of “ordinary people”—individuals with humble lives and unremarkable backgrounds. As I walk among these unassuming gravestones, I start to perceive a unique nobility in the simplicity of their lives.
Recently, one of the gravestones caught my eye.
Deceptive repayment
On the 80th anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing, I encountered the grave of a man who passed in 1912.
In the years leading up to the bombing, Japanese-Americans, who were citizens of the U.S., were forcibly taken to concentration camps. Many likely had family and friends affected by the events in Hiroshima. In 1988, the government acknowledged this injustice, agreeing to compensate surviving detainees.
A site that merges rigorous academic research with journalistic insight discusses the contrast between reparations for Japanese-Americans and what is pursued for African-Americans. The critical point is that the situation with Japanese individuals happened during a distinctly defined period of fraud, from 1942 when internment started until the war’s conclusion in 1945.
The gravestone that piqued my interest during my cemetery stroll had a distinctive inscription. A man named John CL Hamilton rests here with his wife.
Photo by Alvin Sadar
John CL Hamilton
1842–1912
Soldiers and Patriots
He had courage to serve his country
Distinguishing from
The tragic year of our Civil War
Numerous Civil War veterans are interred in the Sleepy Hollow cemeteries, and their graves are prime markers in the landscape; Fitting Monuments:
Photo by Alvin Sadar
Patria Carrior Quam Vita.
[Country Dearer Than Life]
Ours
Union soldiers.
The name of freedom
Understanding,
They’ll be happy
wise and good;
They dared to put themselves in
Country Free,
And gave her laws
equality.
Another remarkable individual buried in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery is Amanda Foster, who lived to 97. She utilized her freedom to aid others through the Underground Railroad:
Photo by Alvin Sadar
(By the way, there’s a brief yet enjoyable 2-1/2 minute “video tour” of Sleepy Hollow Cemetery that I created about eight years ago if you’re interested).
Feel free to move forward
Many individuals (both black and white) committed to “life, property, sacred honor” to abolish slavery in the fledgling nation. If the U.S. ever undertakes genuine reparations grounded in a careful assessment of historical records, the queue of claimants—including those who have lost family and property—will undoubtedly become lengthy.
The consequences for those who participated in the slave trade and those who maintained slavery have long passed. I believe that the best way to close this dark chapter isn’t to assign blame or seek to “rectify” the past but rather to remember those individuals and events as they rightly belong: in history.
Our duty now is to nurture and serve what we know, shaping our influence today.
