The Harp With A Broken String

Located on the South Ridge, this small, ornate marble headstone features the beautiful symbol of a harp with a broken string and delicately carved lettering.  It was signed by the maker, James Gazeley.

This beautiful stone marks the graves of Samuel Pruyn and his first wife, Helen.  Helen died on October 28, 1833 at the age of thirty-three.  Originally interred in the Dutch Reformed section of the State Street Burying Grounds, she was reburied here after Samuel Pruyn's death.  A small, plainer stone visible just behind this one marks the grave of Anna, a daughter of Samuel and Helen who died at the age of sixteen.  Like her mother, she was buried at the old municipal cemetery and reburied here.  There are a total of twenty members of the family buried in this lot and one adjacent.

As for Samuel Pruyn, the Albany Evening Journal provided a long and detailed death notice in the February 19, 1862 edition:

Sudden Death of Col. Samuel Pruyn.
 
Our citizens were startled this morning by the announcement that Col. SAMUEL PRUYN was dead. The announcement came with paralyzing suddenness to those who met him, in his usual robust health and spirits, last evening--rejoicing with his fellow-citizens over the good news brought to us from the seat of war. No man was happier, or seemed more likely to pass on healthfully into a green old age.

Col. PRUYN was one of our most estimable citizens. Descended from a family which has been identified with the city from a period long anterior to the Revolution, no man was better acquainted with its local history, or with the men or incidents of the past. He was himself, in all his habits, thoughts and associations, an Albanian -- linking the past with the present, and partaking of the highest and noblest qualities of both periods.

Although greatly absorbed by business cares from early manhood, as merchant, Bank Director, Supervisor, Inspector of the Penitentiary from its inception, and the prudent guardian of his own large estate, he devoted many hours of every day to the careful study of standard literature. He was profound in chronology, history and biography, and his library is adorned with many of the best and rarest works in these several departments. Those who shared his literary tastes will miss him.

Mr. PRUYN leaves a large family to weep over his sudden decease. 

The cause and manner of his death is unknown. It has been his custom to spend his evenings in his office, which is detached, by the space of the garden, from his dwelling. Last evening Mrs. PRUYN was from home, at the sick bed of a niece dangerously ill. She remained there during the night, and other members of the family supposed that he had, as usual, come in from his office and retired. Nothing different was known until this morning, when one of the servants discovered the dead body at the foot of the stairs leading up from the garden to the house. He had fallen heavily, for his nose was broken and his face lacerated. Whether he merely slipped and fell, and so received fatal injury, or fell in an apoplectic fit, is a mystery. During the day, he had complained of a slight headache, but deemed it so trifling as to require no assistance. All that is known is, that he is dead -- having reached his 63d year.

Several other monuments in the Rural Cemetery feature a harp.  The broken string symbolizes that the song of this life has ended and this instrument will never play again.

David Zeh

This fascinating stone lies well off the main road along the North Ridge.  It faces away from the road and looks towards the Kromme Kill ravine.  In between mowings, it can quickly be swallowed up by the tall grass and clover.

The monument is made of a reddish-brown sandstone and, considering how easily this material erodes, the carved details are in fantastic shape.  If you look closely at the bottom right corner below the name, you'll see it's signed by James Gazeley.  It's likely one of his earlier works. 

The style is almost whimsical and folksy;  an angle bearing tablets carved with the words "EVEN SO" emerges from puffy clouds that almost resemble clusters of grapes.  Below the heavenly messenger, there are old-fashioned scales piled with scrolls.  There is a passage from Corinthians on either side of the scales.  Above the angel, it reads, "Scripture Balance."  Below, it reads, "On Earth Peace Good Will Toward Men."  The top of the monument is certainly missing something;  a column or urn or obelisk would've have completed it. 

 

This unusual stone marks the grave of David Zeh who died on April 8, 1880, but was likely erected well before his death to mark the graves of other family members.  The first burials in this lot took place in the 1850s and David Zeh probably commissioned the monument then.

David Zeh, who was born in Berne, New York in 1802, was a Trustee of the First Universalist Church in Albany.  City directories identify him as a merchant at the corner of State and Hawk Streets (with a residence nearby at 7 High Street).  Based on the burial records, it would seem he married twice;  his first wife, Catherine, died in 1833 at the age of twenty-eight.  His second wife, Mary Janes, survived him and passed away in 1893.

William Manson's Business Card

This detailed advertisement comes from the 1869 edition of the Albany city directory (where such ads are referred to as business cards).  It shows a variety of marble items offered by William Manson's establishment, including elegant fireplace mantles and a selection of funerary work.

There are quite a few examples of Manson's work in the Rural Cemetery, including the Col. Mills monument, the massive granite marking the Appleton lot, the Fireman's Monument on the North Ridge, the Thomas W. Olcott monument, and the beautiful marble sarcophagus marking the grave of Ellen Hardin (wife of President Chester Arthur). 

It's amusing to note that the business card for James Gazeley's Monumental Marble Works just a page or two away in the same 1869 directory features some of the same images as Manson's.  They apparently came from a set of ready-made printing dies used by the publisher and were essentially the clip art or stock images of the era.

James Gazeley

This granite cross stands high on the easternmost slope of the South Ridge near the Rural Cemetery's main lodge and office.  It marks the grave of James Gazeley, one of the most prominent manufacturers of monuments associated with this Cemetery.

Born in 1830, Gazeley's stoneworks were located right at the Cemetery; old maps of the grounds identify a large lot adjacent to the Cemetery near the barn complex and nearby Jermain family estate as Gazeley's property.  He also had an office at 163 Madison Avenue.

Gazeley was responsible for many monuments throughout the Cemetery, including the impressive granite Root and Visscher family vaults.  The Bayeux obelisk and David Zeh monument are early works by Gazeley.  The Samuel Pruyn headstone also bears his name.

After Gazeley's death in 1908, his company became Empire Granite.